If people stop being interested in an art field, does that make it any less important to culture as a whole? For example, Opera; Opera was really popular in the 19th century, being one of the most recognized forms of art, so it is really important to culture, right? But when was the last time you saw something related to Opera? Is it really that important to try to keep it relevant?
“Nobody cares about this anymore,” those are the exact words of Timothee Chalamet, American actor and producer, during a CNN/Variety town hall with Matthew McConaughey last month. During this show, Chalamet and McConaughey were talking about how to keep performing arts mediums alive in this day, as McConaughey described, of shorter attention spans. McConaughey showed his concern of how he keeps seeing Act I’s being cutoff, because the directors want action instantly without having patience for the story to evolve, Chalamet commented on this and then he proceeded to say “I don’t wanna be working in ballet or opera, or you know, things where it’s like ‘hey keep this thing alive’ even though no one cares about this anymore, all respect to the ballet and opera people out there.”
After Chalamet commented on this, he received tons of backlash on social media, talking about his career, how he is “too egocentric” now, and millions of his fans saying that he is not the same Chalamet they used to admire and that the “old” Chalamet would never say something like that. So even Chalamet, this amazing and acclaimed actor, son and grandson of professional ballerinas, thinks like this; why should people still try to keep irrelevant art mediums alive anymore?
Art has always been relevant; art was the first language of the human species and it will always be the universal language for humans. You may not be an artist yourself or you might not understand certain pieces of art, but every time you listen to a song, every time you see a movie, you are contributing to the relevance of art and the creation of more art. But if people stop giving importance to a form of art expression, then what’s the relevance of it? Who really cares?
As mentioned before, art is the human language; it should be protected and respected as it is. It does not matter what medium it is, or if you think that it is irrelevant, just because you are not a fan of it. Maybe Opera and Ballet are not as popular as they used to be, maybe you don’t care about them, maybe people around you don’t care about them, that does not mean it doesn’t matter. So even if a famous actor like Chalamet argues that nobody cares about something, it doesn’t mean he is right; everything matters.
