“The first step to controlling your world is to control your culture.

To model and demonstrate the kind of

world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.”

Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist and journalist

The role of cinema and art in shaping communities

One of the fundamental mistakes we commit when we approach civilization and humanity
through the perspective of evolution can be reduced to separation of the arts from this process,
positioning them as a result of that evolution. A rather bad decision. Art, in all its multitude of forms, is
one of the few things responsible for the evolution of humanity.
Art lived alongside with humans in the Stone Age, when they carved Venus with its large and
unrefined forms, like the earth that give birth. Afterwards, this figure turned into Venus of Milo, Olympia
and Maja.
Regardless of the place where they are born, children start with drawing their mother - a circle
with two sticks at first, then, they write “mama” when they can, and then, they draw a house because in
this house they live. After that, they will compose a little song and will thump it down on the instruments.
Composing, creating, writing poems, even in a unskillful way are the essence of our being.
The XXI century has an abundance of art. We now live in better times than when art was mainly
used for the entertainment for privileged social classes and aristocracy. There are entire industries,
available for consumption to an increasing number of people. In terms of economic meanings, the
demand for art has grown rapidly, which has in effect conditioned an enormous increase in supply. In this
context, it is worth mentioning that the speed with which the gaps in the size of the industry art offer had
to be filled, inevitably conditioned transformations that have not always been positive, edifying or
constructive, the way the art itself must be, but this is a subject worthy of another paper.
We talked about the fact that art has taken the form of whole industries, bringing enormous
amounts of money. And yet, how do these industries influence (human) communities?
In the past, people were influenced by their cultural environments, these being defined by certain
individual peculiarities. That made us different, dividing us in some way. We cannot talk about a
meaningful dialogue between a resident of Sulawesi Island of XIV century, and a resident of Alaska. Why?
Because they spoke different languages, they lived in different environments, and last but not least, they
were carriers of millenary cultures formed in absolutely different circumstances, with their different,
particular arts.
Today, however, in the more digital era and the globalization of information, such a dialogue is no
longer a crazy idea but a real possibility. And this, for the most part, is due to cinema merits.
We're growing up with the same movies. The same fairytales and histories contribute to the
formation of our images and perspectives on the world and the realities that surrounds us. Many times,
we can find that people living ten thousand miles away from each other have much more in common than
they do with neighbors in the same neighborhood.
There are fan clubs that meet transnational, even world-wide communities with members of
diverse backgrounds with a variety of concerns, but which, in certain situations, to achieve a common
goal, a value that they all share, can conjugate the efforts and reach them.
 Cinema does not just bring people with the same interests together. Cinema provides models of
conduct, ideals, value axes.
Along with other arts, they are building bridges. Yes, invisible bridges, but which are, therefore,
much more durable than any other element of last generation infrastructure.
Art raises reactions, admiration, awe, evokes feelings and emotions, even existential questions.
All artistic trends have a concrete purpose for the development and perpetuation of both the individual
and society in general.
Documentaries, scientific papers and monographs tell us about the world we live in and how it
works;
Fantasy films and fiction literature aim to stimulate creativity and imagination, which will later be
used to solve the problems faced by society;
Music has the purpose of reconciling and calming, etc.
All these taken together share the purpose of a universal language. You may not know English or
Arabic, but you can understand others through the language of the music or the language of the painting.

During my conducting practice, I had the opportunity to lead several collectives of other
nationalities. Leading a symphonic orchestra is quite complicated. The harder it should be, when you
speak a language other than that of your musicians, around 65-70, are using. Well, it’s not just about that.
Because all of us, still have one language for communication - the language of music. And you do not need
any translator to understand it. Through music, I have always been able to approach their souls, and I
know they could do the same thing with mine.
Art is able to bring people to the streets, to provoke reactions. Even the Vatican, who would seem
to have nothing to do with the interventions in artistic development, has prompted the boycott of several
movies over the past two decades, such as “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons”. This is not
because of the actual content but the impact that it might have.
And it must be so! Art must make an impact. Art is the most effective mean and the most valuable
tool of soft diplomacy. And artists are the most effective ambassadors of general human values. That’s it,
or it should be so, more precisely. Here's the big dilemma. We have to make those who create more
responsible, while at the same time avoiding the censoring, because art does not tolerate the restriction
of freedom of speech and expression.
The only resource we have at our disposal is the time. Because only time is able to ensure the
creation of authentic, beneficial and meaningful art for humanity, leaving all other scrap to forgetfulness.

At the same time, the implementation of a wide arts education at the central level might seem
desirable. We must stimulate and develop the aesthetic taste and creativity of each individual, for
producing a man who is a free, tolerant and a responsible person, as we all want to be.
The most important thing art can do is to extend the concept of "us" from a local one to a global
one. I have previously mentioned that the artist must be responsible. The idea that artists have
responsibilities may come as a surprise to some. But I certainly believe that the responsibility of artists is
to help people not only get to know and understand something with their minds but also to feel it
emotionally and physically. By doing this, art can mitigate the overwhelming feeling created by the glut
of information we are faced with today, and motivate people to turn thinking into doing.
Engaging with art is not simply a solitary event. The arts and culture represent one of the few
areas in our society where people can come together to share experiences even if they see the world in
radically different ways. The important thing is that we consider sharing an experience rather than just
agreeing on it. In art and other forms of cultural expression, disagreement is accepted and embraced as
an essential ingredient. In this sense, the community created by arts and culture is potentially a great
source of inspiration for politicians and activists who work to transcend the polarising populism and
stigmatisation of other people, positions, and worldviews that are sadly so endemic in public debates
today.
I am convinced that a good piece of art can bring us together as a species overall and can teach
us to be tolerant and accepting of each other. These encounters help us associate with one another. They
expand the notion of „us” and most importantly they show how each individual’s contribution to the
world can have a big impact on societies and cultures. That’s why I hope that in the future, art will be part
of discussions about social, political, and ecological issues even more than it already is, and that artists
will be included in the decisions of all leaders from local to global, consider solutions to the challenges
that we face in the world today.
Our world is determined by large collectives: states, political parties, corporations, scientific
societies, etc. People within those collectives can not make use of their possibilities, act and reach their
own limits based on a behalf of a personal or individual experience: these actions are absorbed by the
actions of the collective and are understood as common or collective action. At the same time, our arts
system is based on the assumption that the responsibility for creating one or another artistic object or the
commission of one or another artistic gesture is expressly attributed to the artist. Thus, in the present
world, art is the only recognized domain of individual responsibility. Can an individual hope to change the
world they live in? In this sense, art must be perceived as an area where there are regular attempts to
change the world. The results of such attempts do not matter in our question, but there are the strategies
used by artists and creators which really do.
In front of the artist, who wants to change the world, there is a question which arises: How can
art influence this world? There are two answers to that question. The first answer is that art can conquer
imagination and change human consciousness. If people's consciousness changes, people who were
influenced by art will change the world they live in. In this case, art is perceived as a language, which
allows the artist to launch a message, which supposedly will penetrate into the souls of the receptors, will
change their visions, perceptions, ethics. This could be regarded as a summary of an idealistic perception
of art, analogous to our understanding of religion and its influences on the world.
But to launch such a thing, the artist has to use the language his audience uses. The avant-garde
trends of art, which have become very popular lately, contradict this postulate and do not want to be
liked by or influence the audience, but from the outset.
In this case, we appeal to the second method of changing the world through art. This time, art is
perceived not as the production of messages, but rather as the production of things. Even if the artist and
the audience do not speak the same language, they have a common material world. In this case, art does
not propose the changing of the soul of the audience. Instead, it changes the world in which this audience
lives. The audience will try to adapt to a new environment, they also change their visions and perceptions.
Operating with a Marxist language, art can be perceived either as part of an additional construction or as
part of the basis - or, in other words, or as an ideology or as a technology. Representatives of avant-garde
chose the second path, the technological transformation of the world.
They tended to create a new environment that would change the people placed in it. The avant-
garde art did not like or accept the audience in its current state. They have set it out to create a new
audience. As such, when someone comes into a new visual or auditory environment and lives in it, he or
she begins at one point adapting his/her visions and begins to learn to love this environment. A relevant
example is the Eiffel Tower, which was vehemently rejected by French society at the time of its
construction, is now considered one of the most recognized monuments in the world.
Regardless of the way we set out to change the world through art, one thing is certain: art can
and must change the world. The role of cinema and art is crucial in establishing human values and the
developmental path of the world and civilizations. It is our duty to be fully aware of this role and to address
it with a higher degree of personal responsibility and implication.
We draw too much attention to words, while things that really change reality are only the facts
and actions. We have to act. For the world, for the peace, for the beauty!
The „Earth” without „Art” its just an „Eh”, therefore, art is the one to give our planet proper sense.

Andrei ZAPȘA,
Titular of „Mihai Eminescu” Medal, state honor of Republic of Moldova,
granted for great merits in creative work;
writer, conductor, lecturer of economy sciences
andreizapsha@gmail.com
+37369717641,
Republic of Moldova,
Passport number: 053787168