In
Democracy in America, Alexis de
Tocqueville talked of the fate of fine arts in modern mass democracy. He said
that in democracy, the arts will appeal “only to the body; and they substitute
the representation of motions and sensations for that of sentiments and ideas;
finally, in place of the ideal they put the real” (442); the arts will become
modes to nurture carnal pleasures, not the intellect or the soul. From what can
be seen from modern works of art, it appears that Tocqueville was right. To
show how he was right in saying that fine arts will become modes to nurture
carnal pleasures, Tocqueville’s thoughts on fine arts in democracy will be
explained in detail. Second, a successful modern piece of literature Fifty Shades of Grey will be used as an example
and its success will be analyzed under the thoughts of Tocqueville.
In order to explain his thoughts on
fine arts in democracy, Tocqueville compared democracy with aristocracy. In
aristocratic centuries, he believed that fine arts were made to indulge the few
educated elites who were very difficult to satisfy; the aristocrats knew the
markings of a masterpiece and those that are mediocre or subpar. The immobility
of social classes in aristocracy thus renders also the standard of arts
immobile at its finest point. Tocqueville observed that, to appease the clients
who have very high standards with regard to works of art, the artisans in
aristocracies strove to master their skills. “In aristocratic centuries, the
aim of the arts is therefore to make the best possible, not the quickest or the
cheapest” (439). While Tocqueville thought that the aim of arts in aristocracy
is to create the best, he thought that the aim is contrary in democracy. In
democracy, Tocqueville observed that the class structure is fluid and highly
mobile unlike aristocracy. In the fluidity of classes, the social bond that is
always present between artisans and elite aristocratic customers become
nonexistent. And when the bond is absent, the need to produce the best also
disappears. Also because of the fluidity of classes, one can always find a man
whose fortune multiplied greatly in a short period of time and whose desires
outgrew his fortune. From this, Tocqueville observed that “in democracies one
always encounters a multitude of citizens whose needs are above their resources
and who would willingly consent to be incompletely satisfied rather than to
renounce absolutely the object of their covetousness” (440). When there is an
increasing demand for mediocrity and broken social bond between elites, the
artisans no longer have the incentive to produce the best; they are merely
bound to the desires of their customers.
Tocqueville
did not say that artisans in democracy will not produce the best. Rather, he
said that the overall quality of whatever is produced by the artisans is
constricted by the desires of consumers; in democracy, the desires of consumers
can range from the worst to the best, mediocre being the majority. He
presupposed that the arts of the ideal are of superior quality than that of the
real; the arts of the ideal seek to nurture the intellect and the soul while
the arts of the real are mere carnal amusements. Now since the consumers are feeling
content with arts that are of mediocre quality, they are prone to seek the real
not the ideal. Out of human vanity, they reach out to understand the concepts
within arts that only educated elites can grasp. And when they fail to grasp
the concepts of the ideal, they resort to and demand the concepts of the real.
While the educated elite desire arts that satisfy the hunger of their intellect
and their soul, the uneducated social regulars desire arts that satisfy the
hunger of their flesh. Tocqueville thought that the knowledge of true art
remains in the minds of the aristocrats and social elites, a knowledge that is
lacking in most citizens of democratic societies.
In
modern mass democracy, it appears that very few of its citizens know how to
differentiate between the arts of the ideal and the arts of the real. And it also
appears that even fewer will understand the philosophical way by which the
words “ideal” and “real” are used in the context Tocqueville wanted them to be
used in the quote above. Tocqueville thought that, from their restless pursuit
to fulfill human vanity and lack of leisure, they have came think theoretical
ideas such as the ideal as “wasting their time in examining particular cases”
(415). Thus the people of democratic societies are prone to look for arts that
please them physically more than arts that please their intellect or their
souls. To show how this is so in modern mass democracy, a book called Fifty Shades of Grey will be used. Its
contents and its popularity within the society will be discussed.
The
book Fifty Shades of Grey is an
erotic novel written by an author pen named E. L. James. The plot and the
content of the novel will not be discussed in detail here for the sake of
civility. But for the sake of the current inquiry, the most basic of its
elements should be described. The book was originally meant to be a fan fiction
of another book of its genre Twilight,
but the author changed her mind and went on to write her original book. It is
about a 21 year-old woman in a submissive sexual relationship with a wealthy 27
year-old named Christian Grey. The content of the book is riddled with corrosive
immodesty and descriptions of sexual acts which many moral institutions might
regard as abominations. The book focuses solely to appease the momentary carnal
entertainment of its readers, not to invoke intriguing thoughts like that of novels
by Jane Austen. And indeed it has entertained many. The success of the book is
astounding. The erotic novel “sold more than 100 million copies worldwide”
(Bosman). It has maintained over a hundred weeks on the New York Times
best-seller list and is also currently undergoing a multi-million dollar motion
Hollywood adaptation.
Fifty Shades of Grey
reflects Tocqueville’s thoughts on fine arts in two ways. The first way is that
it is not of fine quality. If it is to be compared in quality to that of other
books of the genre, the book will turn out to be mediocre, if not below mediocre.
The author’s characterization and her stylization “hew close to worn-out romance novel archetypes” (Reaves). Tocqueville
observed that arts will not be made to be the best possible but to be mediocre
by quickest or cheapest means in a democratic society. Like so, the book
utilizes a similar process by which the precedent works of its genre, therefore
the cost of mental process on the author’s part was minimal. Further, the book
was originally meant to be a fan fiction of another book, therefore its
concepts were quick to produce.
The second way the book reflects Tocqueville’s
ideas is that it is a work of art that is of the real, not the ideal; its prime
purpose is the carnal amusement of its readers. The book’s main plot focuses on
the sexual life of its main female character. Further, her sexual life is not
what would be considered as normal in societal terms; it involves abusive
sexual fetishes. Apart from its awkward romantic elements, the book is, in its
essence, pornography. Tocqueville thought that the arts of aristocratic
centuries sought the ideal whereas the arts of democracy will seek the real.
And like so, the book sought after the real; in its contents, the book placed the
representation of motions and sensations over sentiments and ideas.
From
what can be seen from the success of Fifty
Shades of Grey, it appears that the current condition of modern democratic
society also reflects Tocqueville’s thoughts on the fate of fine arts. The very
fact that the people brought about its success reflects it. Tocqueville thought
that artisans work to appease the taste of their clients. Whereas artisans work
to produce the finest of goods to appease the social elites in aristocracy,
artisans in democracy work to appease the mediocre taste of social regulars. In
the case of Fifty Shades of Grey, it
can be deduced, from the fact that the work is not of fine quality, that the
author produced her product to appease the mediocre standard of taste of social
regulars. It can also be deduced from the astounding popularity of the book
that the vast majority of the current democratic society consists of social
regulars, not elites; a fact Tocqueville also observed. And since the knowledge
of the finest of arts is within the minds of aristocratic elites and not within
the minds of social regulars, the middle class consumers are prone to invest in
things that are of lower qualities. Further, from what can be seen from the
success of Fifty Shades of Grey and
its highly sexual content, it appears that one of the most attractive qualities
within mediocre or subpar works of art is appeals to carnal desires.
Tocqueville also warned that it can be “particularly dangerous for democratic
peoples to indulge in general ideas blindly and beyond measure” (416). The
general idea that has consumed the minds of the democratic peoples, it seems,
is hedonism, a philosophical thought that places pleasure as the chief aim of
human beings. This is also reflective of Tocqueville’s thoughts because
hedonism is perhaps one of the most real of all philosophical schools of
thought. Tocqueville considered the ideal superior over the real. It can be
deduced that Tocqueville would have considered works of art that reflect hedonism
are of inferior quality. The book, therefore, came to reflect Tocqueville’s
thoughts because the author appealed to the people’s desire for inferior
hedonistic arts.
It
can thus be concluded that the book Fifty
Shades of Grey reflects Tocqueville’s thought on the fate of fine arts in democratic
society because it fulfills two factors. The first factor is its contents.
Tocqueville thought that the arts will appeal to the real, not the ideal, and
that the vast number of them will be of mediocre quality. Fifty Shades of Grey appeals to the real and is of mediocre quality
in terms of its literary style. The second factor is its massive success in the
market. Tocqueville thought that the people will desire works of inferior
qualities without knowing and artisans will make arts to appease the tastes of
their clients in democracy. The author achieved an astounding success through Fifty Shades of Grey by appealing to the
hedonistic inferior appetite of her clients. It appears that if any praise
should be given to the book, it should praised on how well it reflects
Tocqueville’s thoughts on the fate of fine arts.
Works Cited
Bosman,
Julie. “For ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ More Than 100 Million Sold.” New York Times. The
New
York Times Company. 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
Reaves,
Jessica. “Fifty Shades of Retrogade,”
Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. 14 Apr. 2014.
Web.
26 Nov. 2014.
Tocqueville,
Alexis de. Democracy in America.
Trans. Harvey C. Mansfield. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Print.
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