History in the Making

After we had finished doing the advertisement analysis, I realized the comparisons between what we did there, and what we are doing in my Honors Civilization Music 201 class. In that class we discuss the different ways that the art reflected the culture of the time, and so we can see the ways that cultures developed just by looking at their art. Even if we didn’t have any papers about their history, we could make educated guesses. When I was looking at my ad, I realized that it had a lot to show about our culture in the picture. The person in the picture was holding a soda can, which a lot of people like to drink today. It also shows people sitting out in the sun on a blanket, which is what also a lot of people like to do. Anyway, as I was looking at the ad, I made the connection that just as I am staring at ancient art and learning more about those people, today we are making ancient history for people in the future. All of the art that we have could be indicative of the artist and the people who admired it. I realized that what I am learning about in my ancient civilization art class can also be applied into modern day art. It is the same way with all of our music, and ancient music, and photographs, and ancient portraits. Everything around us can be useful to some historian centuries down the road.

Jamey Jones