Unit 2 Discussion: Humanities Disciplines

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Humanities Disciplines
Humanities are described as those disciplines that investigate the expression of the human mind CITATION Ren13 l 2057 (Rens). Among the humanities disciplines, the arts have been most influential on culture.Culture refers to the typical behavior patterns and shared beliefs that are passed down to generations within a community CITATION ONe06 l 2057 (O’Neil). The arts represent a very broad field and are often a reflection on society either as a critique or as an appraisal. This way, the arts molded the cultures by serving as a mirror upon which individual cultures can be evaluated and refined.
For example, as a result of the influence of the arts, cultural identifiers such as music and attire have emerged.Arts offer individual artists’ creative works to society, and society adopts the best of these. There are variations in these cultural identities, such as the samba music of the Brazilian region, and the characteristic jazz music of the New Orleans communities which underscore the difference in artistic directions.
The Greek artists have had the greatest impact on the arts. The Greeks devoted a lot of time in the definition of beauty. The creation of the Greek kouros was a defining moment in art history and happened in the fifth century during the Greek revolution CITATION Soo15 l 2057 (Sooke). In this time, art was better understood as a representation of society and beauty.There was also so much debate on what beauty is, and this drove the artists into a competitive frenzy to make art seem more real and attach a lot more significance to art.

In modern society, the performing arts have been greatly influenced by modern popular culture. For example, hip hop music has emerged as one of the most common music genres. Secondly, the emergence of a global culture from the continued interactions of individuals has resulted in hybrid arts that borrow from many different subcultures. Fashion represents one such field of art where designs of clothes constitute a fusion of the definition of beauty from different cultures. Lastly, the image of beauty in girls is a product of culture. The depiction of girls in modern art represents beauty as slim, tall figures since this is what modern culture defines as beautiful CITATION Tom09 l 2057 (Tom).

Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY O’Neil, Dennis. Human Culture: What is Culture? 26 May 2006. Web. 09 January 2017.
Rens, Bod. A New History of theHumanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.
Sooke, Alastair. “Was This The Defining Moment in Western Art?” The Telegraph 14 March 2015. Web.
What is Culture? Dir. J Tom. 2009. Web.