II — Questioning and denunciating

Art et contestation — LLCE Anglais Terminale

📘 Art et contestation — II : Questionner et dénoncer

Committed art uses multiple forms to question and criticize society: utopia/dystopia (More, Orwell), protest songs (Dylan, Kendrick Lamar), social novels (Dickens, Angie Thomas), protest art (Rockwell, Guerilla Girls), and socially engaged cinema (Ken Loach).

📐 A — Questioning society: utopia and dystopia

Form	Definition	Examples
Utopia	Idealized imaginary society that implicitly criticizes the real world	Thomas More, Utopia (1516); Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719); Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
Dystopia	Imaginary society of great suffering/injustice, warning about the future	Orwell, 1984 (1949); Huxley, Brave New World (1931); TV: Black Mirror (Joe Wright)

Orwell’s 1984: explores mass media control, government surveillance, totalitarianism — “Big Brother” controls every aspect of life. Black Mirror, “Nosedive” episode (2016): social grading system — proved prophetic with China’s social credit system.

English	French
A dystopia / A utopia	Une dystopie / Une utopie
Totalitarian	Totalitaire
A cautionary tale	Une mise en garde
To warn	Prévenir
Mass surveillance	La surveillance de masse
A distorting mirror	Un miroir déformant

📐 B — Denunciating injustices

1. Protest songs: Bob Dylan (Blowin’ in the Wind, 1963), Joan Baez (Saigon Bride, 1967) → anti-Vietnam War. Public Enemy (Fight the Power, 1989), Kendrick Lamar (Alright, 2015), Jay-Z (The Story of O.J., 2017) → racial injustice. Eminem’s 2017 freestyle challenged Trump supporters.

2. Social novels: Dickens, Oliver Twist (1839) → poverty. H.B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) → slavery. Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (2017) → police brutality and Black Lives Matter.

3. Protest art:

The Problem We All Live With, Norman Rockwell, 1964 (Look Magazine): A young Black girl, Ruby Bridges, is escorted by four US Federal Marshals (shown only from the waist down) to the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans during the desegregation of Southern schools. She is dressed in white and carries school supplies. On the wall behind her, a racial slur and a splattered tomato are visible — thrown by protestors opposed to desegregation. This painting became a symbol of the Civil Rights movement. — *The Problem We All Live With, Norman Rockwell, 1964 — Ruby Bridges and the desegregation of schools*

Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into Met. Museum?, Guerrilla Girls, 1989 (last version 2012): graphic poster featuring the back of a nude female figure wearing a gorilla mask, with the provocative question 'Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?' and statistics showing that less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female. The Guerrilla Girls are a feminist activist art collective who use data and humour to denounce sexism in the art world. — *Guerrilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked?, 1989 — feminist protest art using data and humour*

4. Movies: Jim Sheridan, In the Name of the Father (1993) → Guildford Four. Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich (2000) → corporate corruption. Ken Loach → poverty, labor rights.

English	French
To voice	Mettre en voix, articuler
Police brutality	Les violences policières
A burning social issue	Un problème social controversé
Personal plight	La détresse personnelle
Gender, race, or class prejudice	Des préjugés de genre, de race ou de classe
A racial slur	Une insulte raciste

💡 Key takeaway

Committed art denounces injustice through dystopian fiction (1984, Black Mirror), protest songs (Dylan → Kendrick Lamar), social novels (The Hate U Give), protest art (Rockwell, Guerrilla Girls) and socially engaged cinema (Loach, Soderbergh).

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Entreprise

Juridique