31 July「Today」
Independent Writing:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
是否同意政府不应该给艺术家(musician, filmmaker, artist....)任何 financial support
It is widely accepted that artists do not contributedirectly to economic growth of our society. Based on this conception, somepeople hold the idea that governments should never afford artists any types offinancial support. However, these people fail to take into account the basicfact that artists exert profound impacts on the development of a country. Therefore,government should place economic emphasis on artists. Equipped with enoughmoney from the authority, artists not only can relieve us from mental pressurebut also can set an excellent example for us.
To the very basic first, the products of artists, such as movies, novel, andmusic, are capable of improve citizen's mental condition. This is because inmodern society, we are all under huge pressure accumulated from our toils. Morespecific, in order to making a living, we have no choice but to work overtimeespecially in economic recession. Consequently, many of us suffer from psychological diseases.Attending a live music concert or appreciating a comedy enable us to forget thework strain and get fresh in an efficient way, resulting in relieving ourmental pressure. A recent survey conducted by Peking University indicates thatthe number of workers who suffer mental disease is on the rise. The researcher,in the survey, also points out that after listening to music for one hour, 78%of people get relaxed from their work.
Inaddition to helping us keep mental fitness, artists also set excellent examplesfor us through their products. For instance, a filmmaker can show us how ahistorical hero dedicates his whole life to save his nation in a movie; awriter can teach us how to distinguish between right and wrong through recordinga hero's story; and a painter can reveal us how a scientist makes all his effortto create inventions to make contributions to society in his theme gallery. Itis essential for us to learn an invaluable lesson from all these outstanding model,which can give us a competitive edge in the future race.
Nevertheless, there is little doubt that government cannot receive direct economic rewardsfrom investing on artists. Take my close friend Frank for example, Frank is afilmmaker. Last year, he got a fund from local government. In order to makemore vivid and assorted film pictures, he spent all this money on improving hisfacilities, and thus he produced a successful movie. In this process, however, governmentcan hardly benefit a lot. Yet it is clear to me that the financial benefit mayseem to be minor when compared with all those tremendous influences brought by artists.Thus, government should give economic priority to artists.
To sum up, even though, in perspective of the government, artist cannot bring financialrewards, it does not necessarily follow that government should never offer economic supports. Investing on artists makes sense not only because they can alleviateour mental pressure, but also because they teach us to learn from anoutstanding model. |