17 responses to “Write about an example of ‘low art’ that you’ve consumed outside of this class. Explore how this text challenges the idea of ‘high art’ vs ‘low art’ and what unexpected deeper meaning or significance we can find in this text (video game, show, movie, comic, song, etc.)”
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Dragon Ball Z changed my LIFE man. When that dude Goku beat the snot out of Frieza little me was losing his mind. My whole life all I had seen was stuff like spongebob and all of a sudden I’m seeing blood and real combat with stakes. It was MIND BLOWING. And when I saw His son Gohan turn Super Saiyan 2 I jumped out of my chair. Dragon Ball Z is sick.
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In an anime ive watched its extremely wholesome and eye opening about the mortality of mam and how every day can be an adventure despite the changes life brings. Everything has a ripple affect and if you look closely you can see how one action determines something for centuries to come. That even if you weren’t there when it happened there’s still whispers of the spirit who came before you. Take each day with a grain of salt and enjoy your life to fullest even with regrets you must step forward until the very end.
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Looking at my personal life, I would say that i relate to low art more than the high art. In my opinion both kinds of arts have their own significance but it’s just the matter of how an individual looks or relates to the art. For example i believe i relate to low arts meaning songs, movies more than i would to high art like going to a museum. In my view watching a sport or a movie have the same signifance as any other form of art. Not to say high arts meaning songs is bad, just that low art is nothing less than any other form of art.
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Undertale looks like low art: a retro-style indie RPG full of jokes, silly characters, and simple graphics. Yet it forces players to confront their own choices, since every monster can be spared rather than killed. By making violence optional, the game questions why video games reward aggression and how players justify it. Its humor and charm are not distractions but tools, proving that playful, accessible games can deliver serious moral reflection.
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Roblox is a game I think most people think of as childish, I won’t deny that, however, I have been playing it since I was 9 so cut me some slack. Roblox is basically the definition of low art, a website to play a bunch of mass produced games that catch your attention just long enough that you have fun but not enough that you actually think about it in the long term. Over time however, some(like one or two out of a ten thousand) games you find are high art, when you compare the two together you can very clearly see the difference. Low art is just there to pass the time, however the high art games, they are there to capture you, trying to get you to play it more than just once. Low art is there to make you have fun, while high art is there to give you an experience you’ll remember.
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One example of low art that I have consumed is the anime Jujutsu Kaisen. At first, it might seem like a story about supernatural battles, but it explores deeper themes like death, morality, and suffering. Yuji Itadori, the main character, struggles with guilt because he cannot save everyone, even when he tries his hardest. His experiences show how people sometimes blame themselves for things beyond their control. I believe Jujutsu Kaisen challenges the difference between high and low art because it uses action and fictional characters to communicate serious philosophical and emotional messages that audiences can relate to.
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A video game that I think challenges the theme of high vs low art is the last of us, both 1 and 2. I know that it’s now been adapted as a show, but when I originally played the game I was sincerely touched by its themes on grief, anger and the cycle of violence. Despite the zombies and unrealistic scenario, the writers use this post apocalyptic world to portray events and emotions that are still very realistic to our lived experiences. Video games even allow us to place ourselves more in the characters shoes that any other medium, because we have to physically control and enact the decisions these characters make. This series stuck with me deeply and I still find it insulting how often people will brush it off for being an action/thriller video game, 3 words that are usually not paired with higher meaning, and have been considered cheap. This game delivers a meaningful story through extremely fun gameplay and beautiful visuals.
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For my “low art” text, I chose the video game The Sims. It challenges the high vs. low art divide because the player acts as the author, creating complex narratives and architecture rather than just passively consuming. The deeper meaning is that it satirizes capitalism and domestic life—forcing us to micromanage virtual people to achieve “success” critiques our real-world obsession with productivity and control.
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There is a videogame called, “The Last of Us”, the game sets some boundaries between some moral decisions, turning you into an accomplice criminal rather than just a viewer. The game leaves you with a realization that love isn’t always a good thing, it can occasionally make people do terrifying selfish things just to protect their own. Showing that there’s is no moral boundaries on what is stipulate is good in the world, this doesn’t work where in comes to people you “love”.
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One example of low art I have consumed is the anime DBZ. I say this anime challenges the idea of high art because it has many deep messages. One such example of a message that is portrayed is the idea that hard work beats talent. This is a pretty common idea that a lot of anime follow, but DBZ was the one that I watched that showed me this idea. Goku was from an warrior alien race with a power level of 2( farmer from each had a power level of like 5) and was exceptionally weak. The antagonist, Vegeta, was born with a very high power level and was also the price of their race. Vegeta came to earth to take wish granting dragon balls and also destroy earth, so they fought and Goku came out on top, even with the odds stacked against them. This is only one example of the messages that the DBZ anime showed to me.
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I love Death Metal. It soothes my savage beast. It is screamy and ragey and dark, just like me! Most people hate it and don’t even consider it music.
One of my favorite bands is called “Cattle Decapitation”. Ironically, they are vegetarians and some off the nicest and most intelligent, philosophical, studied and technically perfect musicians I have ever found.
I love that fans, like me, appreciate “high-art” disguised of the lowest of the low.
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An example of low art that I consumed of which I thoroughly enjoyed before were videos which explored fan made concepts. Videos that included different types of characters in power scaling scenarios such as death battles or something like an epic rap battles of history with historical figures. This sort of content & video would be considered low art but it was able to transform already given concepts and make a unique spin on them. A scenario based off combining characters of different genres or archetypes and hypothetical interactions they would have. How certain characters would greatly challenge the other or give more light to their flaws which may not be exposed in their original story. Even though it is “low art” it can you give different perspectives, worldviews and make you ponder on this where inspiration is directly shown. Perhaps it could just be a very inspired but not a completely direct copy or inspiration of these other characters whilst maintaining their flaws & strengths.
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An example of “low art” that I consume and consider meaningful is rap music. Rap is a very popular music genre nowadays but it hasn’t always been this way. A couple of years back it was associated with aggressiveness, vandalism, “thugs” and low class music. What was considered high class was rnb and a more slow sung kind of music. Music is a way of expression and it may look different for everyone, the important thing is to find where you are most comfortable letting open your creative side and a lot of people find this safe space in rapping. I remember the first time I watched the movie “Straight out of Compton”, I was 13 years old but I stuck to me because of the way the characters were treated for 1. being black and 2. for choosing rap as a career. Through their music they expressed and talked about so many social problems and conflicts such as racism.
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The Marvel show about Loki, which came out in 2021, is low art that could be challenging High Art. At the beginning of the show, Loki was his normal self, mischievous and only thinking about himself, but as the show continued, he kept realizing that he needed to change himself in order to save others. He changed from selfish to selfless.
He met people who were willing to die for one of them to escape, who were going to give everything for others. He wasn’t used to this so it puzzled him for a long time. But as he was interacting with others and questioning why he did what he did, by the end he made the most out-of-character choice ever, he sacrificed his freedom by becoming the god of time so that everyone else could have their freedom. -
When I think of low or high art, I think about traveling. When people go to another country there are usually tourist attractions, like pictures, museums, or statues. These thing are usually displayed for the public eye and each have some type of significance or meaning behind them because they can be historical or it just has to do with representing the country your in, rather than actually walking into a museum and seeing these expensive paintings. When I was in Portugal a few months ago I was standing outside a museum and I seen baby angels painted on it, and each of these baby angels were going different things like flying over someone or interacting with one other. Even when I was just walking around this plaza there were stores/malls with unique signs or pictures that made you want to stop by or look closer.
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Low art is downplayed as something cheap while high art is treated as deep and more serious. But a show like Love Island actually is a good example of this. High art hides behind serious tone, but Love Island is openly fake. It forces us to realize that all the media does it want to get an attention. Being watched 24/7 in a fake villa reflects how we live on social media with constantly performing. Low art isn’t just empty noise. By accepting the drama and trashiness. Love Island shows the raw and the real emotions of romance or even self image.
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Communication was all over on my life and all that come with. I was a child who was always trying hide myself to be involved with any kind of group Communication, class, and friends. I was feeling so stressed out about this situation until the day my religious group president told me that people want to hear what I have in mind, because they can see what I wrote, the ideas, the support sent by myself to the community. He decided to push me through a conference with my own annual report, said ” just read what you wrote” that day, I could disappear from the conference table. The art to control your own fear made me succeed on this.
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