2007年專八真題
Mini-lecture PART 5

HINTS:
Christian
Christian art influences people's religious feelings towards God, but the goal of traditional art in Africa and the Pacific islands is to influence spiritual powers, that is, gods, to enter people's lives. Each tribe or village there has special ceremonies with songs and dances to make sure that crops, animals and people are healthy and increase in number. The dancers in these ceremonies wear masks, headdresses, and costumes that they believe are necessary to influence gods. So these masks and headdresses themselves are a very part of the art. As we've said, art depends on culture. Different forms of art result from different cultures. Similarly, the way that people view art also depends on their cultural background. This is my fourth point. For most Europeans and Americans, art is mainly for decoration.