The Beauty of Art

Ever since man was created, many have committed themselves to leaving marks and messages around earth reflecting off of their experience of the human condition. Life is a struggle, a cruel one with lots to learn about its unfairness, suffering, and ambiguity. With all these elements in mind, mixed with the fact that an aspect of human nature is expression, art is a medium of which humans can both leaving their mark on the world and discuss and have and outlet of their opinion of the world. The following pieces of art (from all mediums, ex.: movies, video games, books, plays, etc.) are pieces that I find to be special and moving for me, and I recommend everyone reading to experience these pieces for yourself before reading what I have to say about them, I would hate to rob you of experiencing these stories the way told.

Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 is a horror video game developed by Konami. Taking influences from the film Jacob's Ladder and films from David Lynch, this survival horror game was not only an effective scary experience, but has one of the most heartbreaking stories about loss. Following our protagonist: James Sunderland. We learn he is in the town of Silent Hill to find his wife who supposedly died 3 years ago. However we learn that he murdered his wife, and the monsters within the town are reflections of the guilt and pain he has suffered and tried to suppress. The story is, in my opinion, the best story that deals with the trauma of guilt and loss. The symbolic nature of the monsters representing James' guilt, sexual frustration, and anger are extremely clever. And taking advantage of the choices you make in the game can subtly effect the ending you get, each representing a reason of why James killed his wife, either out of love or hate. This is why the game has a dedicated fanbase, still to this day discussing the happenings and symbolism within the game.

Art is an extremely valuable part of my life, I cannot bear to think what I would be without it. The important part of art to me is what I can learn from them and change my life with. I believe art to be not only an important part of me, but life itself. Life it strange, and what better way to document our revelations and beliefs than with the visions and ideas we can conjure up in out minds. I believe that life is filled with questions and uncertainty, and art's objective is to try to push the understandings and ideas we humans have collected throughout our lifetime. Like a path of light in a dark maze, teaching the new ones the right way and encouraging to push on into the darkness to find the answer. Every time I think about this topic, I am reminded of a quote Albert Camus once said: "If life were clear, art would not exist."