Aesthetic Experience

Why it is so hard to look at the work of art itself and for once not injecting in your personal opinion? Focus on the aesthetic experience instead of practical experience. While many Americans find “A Few Gift For My Homeland” inspiring, some of my own Vietnamese folks find it disgracing. They claim it brings back horrible memories and gives a bad impression for Ngoc Lan as a performer. I just don’t get it. Why can’t people just listen to the voice, watch the motion, enjoy the music, and leave their opinions behind?

The same reaction with Piss Christ by Andres Serrano, why can’t viewers just look at the aesthetic quality and not to worried how it was created? Same thing goes with Eminem. People attacked his lyrics because he offended homosexuality and the way he talks about his mother. Why can’t we leave all that behind and just enjoy his flowing skills and the dope beats? Don’t worry about the artist intention and just concentrate on the aesthetic experience of the work.

I am just hoping that viewers enjoy “A Few Gifts For My Homeland” as a work of art and not to get offended by it. Anyway, if you would like to learn more about aesthetic experience, here is an interesting essay! Now, if you are too excited about aesthetic experience and really want to learn it, I highly recommend Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism by Monroe C. Beardsley.