Aesthetic Tendencies Research Articles

Navigating the Beauty Bind: Young People’s Intersectional Perspectives on Appearance, Privilege and Inequality

The digital age exposes young people to a celebrity-saturated ‘beauty regime’ that reinforces ideals of physical perfection. Cultural sociologists and feminist scholars have highlighted the role of appearance as an important dimension of social stratification and demonstrated the prominence of celebrity images in popular culture and everyday imaginings. While beauty is increasingly recognized as an important element of culture and inequality, research is lacking on how young people understand the contemporary beauty regime and its intersectional complexities. This study explores how diverse Canadian youth navigate this complex landscape, focusing on their interpretations of beauty icon and billionaire Kylie Jenner. We draw from focus groups centred on the following question: How do young people understand beauty and its relationship to privilege and inequality? Our discussions highlight the intersectional nature of beauty and reveal three antinomies that young people navigate in the current beauty regime: (1) an aesthetic tension between fake and natural beauty; (2) a relational tension between elite beauty and democratic accessibility, and (3) a moral tension between looking good and being bad. The beauty bind describes the delicate balancing act young people face when navigating these tensions. Through an intersectional analysis, we aim to deepen scholarly understanding of beauty culture’s evolving dynamics, young people’s understandings of a celebritized beauty regime, and how beauty emerges as a powerful ideal that commands attention even as it often feels painfully out of reach.

Audiovisual project «Zvukoizolyatsia»: specifics of conceptual and spatial implementation of the compositional and technical principles

The relevance of the study is determined by the insufficient development of the stated problems, the lack of a systematic analysis of projects of electroacoustic and audiovisual synthesis in academic music. The introduction of technical materials from the private archives of the project authors into scientific circulation also seems important. Usually, such «internal» documents do not come to the attention of researchers due to their utilitarian nature in the organizational process of the implementation of a work/project, but sometimes they can open perspectives for the further study of similar artistic phenomena. Most often, large-scale projects, in particular audiovisual ones (requiring the involvement of significant resources to ensure technical organization), are performed «one time only»; mentions of them gradually disappear from the information space. The analysis of the peculiarities of the implementation of audiovisual projects contributes to the systematization and differentiation of existing and new perspectives of the study of this synthetic phenomenon in the modern art history discourse. The main objectives of the study are to reveal the specifics of the implementation of spatial compositional and technical principles and the peculiarities of the implementation of one of the landmark experiments in the field of electroacoustic and audiovisual synthesis, «ZvukoIzolyatsia» project (2011/2012), to understand its significance in the modern artistic space, to outline the particular features of reception of musical-spatial performance. The research methodology: historical and functional method to define and forecast the place and role of the project in the modern art space; analytical method to reveal the specifics of the embodiment of spatial compositional and technical principles; intent analysis to find the author's intentions; the method of theoretical generalization to summarize the results of the research. Results and conclusions. The first and second «ZvukoIzolyatsia» became one of the most daring and vivid experiments in the field of electroacoustic and visual synthesis. In the aesthetic search for musical expressiveness, in the logical regularity of the development of the art of the 21st century, the project covered the most important innovations of the compositional technique of the last century (in particular, the achievements of the electroacoustic avant-garde, the use of real-time sound processing technologies, the application of sonoristic principles that become a category of musical thinking, manipulation of objects which can make sounds, etc.). The expansion of the boundaries of the academic environment or a complete departure from it (in the 2012 project), as a desire to overcome the space of the concert hall, and the involvement of industrial spaces — conventionally marginal — forms a new type of aesthetic disposition (P. Bourdieu). The dialogue with the space is carried out as an action (artistic gesture) aimed at expanding the perception models of artistic expression, thanks to which the horizon of listening expectations is expanded. This leads to the formation of a new aesthetic experience in the recipient, which will potentially influence the reception of other works of modern academic practice. The involvement of VJ technologies creates a new communication situation, creating a fundamentally new conceptual field, which in some cases can act as a mechanism for destroying stereotypes of artistic thinking. Audiovisual synthesis in relation to musical art creates new perspectives for multifaceted work with audio and visual material. Researching the experience of using audio and video technologies, their interaction with the spatial factor contributes to the development of electroacoustic music. The proposed investigation can to some extent serve as a methodological aid in further art studies of audiovisual compositional projects.

The Charm of Transcending Times: Aesthetic Value Trends and Current Significance of Early Chinese Film Classics ——Taking 'Street Angel' as an example

Against the historical background of internal and external difficulties, early Chinese films did not give up exploration and growth, but instead emerged a batch of masterpieces that combine ideological connotation and artistic expression, demonstrating the charm of crossing the times. This article takes "Street Angel" as an example to explore the aesthetic tendencies of early Chinese film classics and their implications for contemporary cinema. By analyzing the film's grasp of the dual structure of reality, critical examination of modern cities, and display of humanistic care, its unique artistic charm is revealed. The film not only represents the peak of early Chinese film creation, but its aesthetic tendency also transcends the times and has a profound impact on contemporary film creation and social culture.

‘Yanhuo Chi’: An everyday aesthetic tourism experience

‘Yanhuo Chi’ (烟火气), rooted in Chinese culture, symbolizes the aesthetically rich atmosphere of everyday life. This study conceptualizes Yanhuo Chi as a unique everyday tourism experience, expanding the boundaries of the ‘everyday’ in Everyday Aesthetics to include non-routine settings like tourism. By integrating Eastern Living Aesthetics with Western Everyday Aesthetics, it enriches the discourse and challenges Western ideological frameworks in tourism aesthetics studies. The research also broadens borderline aesthetic experiences by identifying diverse aesthetic tensions within tourists' Yanhuo Chi experiences. This phenomenological exploration reveals how Yanhuo Chi offers a nuanced understanding of aesthetic experiences in tourism, contributing to a more inclusive and culturally diverse appreciation of everyday aesthetics.

STEM authorship, user-generated reviews and their impact: legitimate or not?

PurposeIn this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies theoretical concepts of knowledge commons to understand how individuals leverage the affordances of the Goodreads platform to share their perceptions of STEM-related books.FindingsThe analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors. Female-authored STEM publications represent popular science nonfiction and juvenile genres. Analysis of the scholarly impact of the reviewed titles revealed that Google Scholar provides broader and more diverse coverage than Web of Science. Linguistic analysis of the reviews revealed the relatively low aesthetic disposition of reviewers with an emphasis on embodied experiences that emerged from the reading.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of the impact of popular STEM resources as well as the influence of the language of user-generated reviews on production, consumption and discoverability of STEM titles.

Aesthetic Dispositions, Aesthetic Engagement, and Meaning in Life

Previous research revealed that meaning in life is related positively to psychological engagement with art (i.e., aesthetic engagement), such as interest in art, knowledge about art, awe around art, and supernatural attributions for art experiences. We extended this work by considering the relevance of dispositions toward aesthetics (i.e., aesthetic dispositions), such as openness to experience, creativity in general and in art, and religious belief salience. Specifically, we proposed a conceptual model relating aesthetic dispositions, aesthetic engagement, and meaning in life. We tested hypotheses derived from the model with an online sample of N = 696 artists. Correlational results supported our hypotheses and replicated previous findings. Path analytic results showed that interest in art mediated associations between aesthetic dispositions and meaning in life. The results contribute to empirical work on aesthetic cognitivism, the philosophical stance that art can lead to understanding, by shedding light on factors associated with meaningful interactions with art.

Ukrainian Identity of Vasyl Stus: the Concept of “Freedom” in the Movie “Prohibited”

Historical reactualization is a hallmark of the biofiction genre and a modern aesthetic tendency in art, that revolves around the reflection of political and social processes, which affect the common man of the 21st century. The scientific problem is the interpretation of history in art, the use of biography as a creative material in cinema and literature, the formation of reliable historical memory of Ukrainians, the debunking of "myths", overcoming post-colonial Ukrainian thinking, raising the issue of the consequences of ethnolinguistic nationalism. The aim is the underlining of the concepts “Freedom” and “Safety” in the film “Prohibited” 2019, the interpretation of the evolution Vasyl Stus artistic image in the biofiction “Prohibited” from “Unfreedom” to “Freedom” through “Danger”, the understanding of the conflict individual / power : artist / crowd. I propose to sharpen attention around the problem of ethnolinguistic nationalism through the mental conflict “Ukrainian” / “Russian”, in which the historical memory of the Ukrainian ethnos is revealed as an intellectual aspiration influenced by the experience /burden of 300 years of history. The biofiction of the life of Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus, his ethical and moral position and aesthetic concept reveals the ethnic and cultural Ukrainian stratum, where the phenomenon of patriotism will be revealed at the level of the feeling “own”. Conflicts and characters uncover ideas: Vasyl Stus's love for his native land is his free choice, which reveals his individual virtues and prowess. In the pursuit of ethnic freedom, Vasyl Stus is revealed as having been defeated during his life, but gaining fame and recognition after his death. Vasyl Stus gave his life for: the development of Ukrainian literature, culture, art, and language. He is a patriot of “Ukrainian”. The poet's life is a version of art, it is wrapped around protest, around the non-acceptance by a talented individual of a totalitarian state, which suffocates and kills. Vasyl Stusy's steps are a resistance to Russian ethnolinguistic nationalism. The introduction of ethnolinguistic nationalism was imposed on everyone as the dominance Russian language, behind which is the discrimination of Ukrainians at the levels of: language, history, literature, culture, statehood.

Individual differences in scientists' aesthetic disposition, aesthetic experiences, and aesthetic sensitivity in scientific work.

The role of personality in shaping engagement with aesthetics in science has been almost entirely unexplored. Whereas artists and arts settings (e.g., museums) are well-studied from a psychological perspective, the practice of science has often been seen as purely rational or dry. In response, this study presents novel findings on the critical role of scientists' individual differences, which shape their engagement with aesthetics, such as the frequency of their experiences of beauty, wonder, and awe in their scientific work. Based on a very large and representative four-country study of scientists in the fields of biology and physics (N = 3,092), this study analyzed the associations of Big Five personality traits among scientists with (i) dispositional aesthetics (DPES-awe), (ii) the frequency of aesthetic experiences in scientific work, and (iii) aesthetic sensitivity in science. These survey-weighted OLS regression models included extensive statistical controls for sociodemographic factors. As hypothesized, openness is positively, and neuroticism is negatively linked with dispositional aesthetics, the frequency of aesthetic experiences in scientific work, and aesthetic sensitivity in science. Unexpectedly, agreeableness and conscientiousness (but not extraversion) are highly significant and strong predictors of the three trait and state aesthetic engagement variables. The aesthetic engagement and personality framework of this paper is empirically supported and demonstrates the importance of personality types of scientists in the practice of science. The unexpectedly strong association of agreeableness with aesthetic engagement points to the importance of cooperation, collaboration, and communication to maximize scientific creativity.

‘Entrances’, ‘Exits’ or ‘Nodes’, ‘Edges’, ‘Clusters’?: Simon Stone, & the Director as a ‘Network Subject’

Australian theatre director Simon Stone has emerged as a major presence on the European stage since the International Ibsen Festival presented his The Wild Duck ‘after Ibsen’, co-written with Chris Ryan, in 2012. Prior to Stone, Barrie Kosky and Benedict Andrews, the most influential directors of their generation in Australia, had established themselves as internationally significant artists in Europe. This article explores Stone’s imbrication in theatrical networks defined by Kosky and Andrews and the director as a relational phenomenon. It shifts analysis from the director as a singular subject to a network subject by deploying datasets held in AusStage (www.ausstage.edu.au) to firstly, chart the ecosystem of artists intrinsic to Stone’s career in Australia and Europe, secondly, to anatomize the concept of the network subject by interrogating the reoccurring connections and patterns of participation constituting the director, thirdly, to examine correlations between Stone, Andrews, and Kosky and thereby the question of the transference of artistic influences and Australia’s cultural relationship to Europe, and finally, to touch on the role of repertoire in Stone’s theatrical endeavour. In doing so, the article contends that the intersecting relationships intrinsic to Stone’s theatrical experience expose critical embodied junctures in the development of his directorial signature, and as such, constitute a means of identifying and measuring (circuits of) influence and aesthetic tendencies more broadly.

Metaphor of Disease and Its Psychopathological Analysis in Eileen Chang's Novels

In modern Chinese novels, disease is a common theme, and different works also show different flavors. This paper mainly studies the metaphors behind the characters' diseases and the characters' morbid psychology in Eileen Chang's three representative works Flowers Wither, Golden Lock and Red Rose and White Roses. Through the research, the author can find that Eileen Chang's disease writing is related to her personal loveless family life experience, her love for tragic aesthetics and the aesthetic tendency of morbid things, and the popularity of medical treatment in society at that time. At the same time, this paper analyzes the cruel living situation of women revealed in the female diseases in his works. Whether it is arranged marriage or new-style marriage, women have lost the right to choice and autonomy in marriage, so the unhappiness of their marriage life is also the main reason for the disease. Finally, through the analysis of specific characters' diseases, the article shows the pathological psychological state of the characters' hearts under the disease in detail, and analyzes the relationship between them. Through the study, the author can find that the disease in Eileen Chang's works is not only as simple as the disease itself, but also shows a social style and the pathological state and psychology of the characters living in it.

A Deep Learning-Based Study on the Graphic Semantic Analysis of the Children’s Picture Book “Jangal”

Abstract Jangal contains the rich literary value and aesthetic value, which has important research significance. Through the application of deep learning technology in graphic semantic analysis, this paper specifically describes the extraction method of graphic features in the children’s picture books of “Jianggeer”. Then, the BERT framework is used as the basis to construct the graphic semantic analysis model JCDB-BRET in this paper, and it is applied to the actual analysis of the graphic semantics of the children’s picture books of “Jianggeer” after training. In this paper, the model is used to recognize all the images in the picture book and branch out their semantics to be expressed, and the proportion of geographic images in the picture book is the highest at 36.55%. The rationality and pursuit of a harmonious home in “Jianggeer” are shown through the visualization of Benba Ledu, where Jianggeer lives. The textual semantics focuses on analyzing the praise words in the picture book of Jianggeer, and the description of the “fragrance” on Jianggeer’s body and the “warm fragrance” on his neck are used as examples to elucidate the aesthetic tendency of the Mongolian people embodied in the text.

EMOTIONAL DESIGN OF CHINESE ANIMATION IMAGE BASED ON AUDIENCE'S PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL

Рurpose. Study the underlying logic of shaping the image of Chinese animation with the help of emotional design, on the basis of respecting and understanding the transformation of audience's psychological needs. Starting from the psychological level of Chinese animation audience, analyze the aesthetic tendency and characteristics of Chinese animation image-building. 
 Methodology. In the way of combining theory with demonstration, the relationship between the psychological transformation of animation audience and animation image is deeply discussed. It includes case analysis and comparative analysis.
 Results. Animation creation is deeply influenced by the audience's psychology and emotion. On the basis of understanding the audience's aesthetic experience, have been analyzed the different emotional needs of Chinese animation images in the audience's instinctive level, behavioral level and reflective level, which are embodied in the tendency of "popularization", the combination of realism and freehand brushwork. By comparing the successful and classic animation images, have been researched the internal emotional connection between the audience and the animation images, indicating a tendency for future creation of animated images.
 Scientific novelty. In terms of studying the image of Chinese animation, this paper proposes to correspond the three levels of emotional design theory to different levels of emotional needs of animation audiences, and focuses on summarizing new phenomena in animation image from the perspective of audience psychology.
 Practical significance. Relying on the emotional design of animation images caused by the psychological needs of the audience, this paper makes an in-depth analysis of Chinese animation image design, providing new ideas for the design and creation of animation images, opening up a new situation for the animation market in China and creating new animation images for more audiences.

Research on the Artistic Language of High Temperature Colour Glaze Porcelain Paintings

High-temperature colour glaze is the fire phoenix in ceramic art, its development history has a long history, until now there have been thousands of years of history, is a great symbol of mankind towards the history of civilization. High-temperature colour glaze ceramic painting has a unique artistic language and strong artistic expression, and has a long preservation time, never discolouration process advantages, contemporary high-temperature colour glaze ceramic painting combined with the humanities trend of the times, presenting the works of the times with a cultural outlook, spiritual beliefs and thinking about life, become the pursuit of artistic value and artistic taste very good carrier, so more and more people have broken the high-temperature colour glaze ceramic painting. Therefore, more and more people have broken the high temperature colour glaze porcelain painting value and meaning can only depend on the porcelain decoration and the existence of the inherent thinking, began to consciously go from a purely aesthetic point of view to the creation of painting, this paper combines the modern aesthetic tendency, innovation on the basis of tradition and then fused with the characteristics of colour glaze, the colour glaze porcelain painting of the art of the language of research.

Research on the Artistic Forms and Connotations of Folk Witchcraft Culture in terms of Visual Representation: A Case Study of "Nan Huan Nü Xi" in Yixing

"Nan Huan Nü Xi" is a representative traditional folk dance in Yixing, which also holds significant importance in Nuo ritual ceremonies. Through centuries of evolution and inheritance, it has developed into an aesthetic manifestation that combines historical culture with modern trends, with its performance costumes being particularly representative. This paper aims to analyze and summarize the expressive costumes, artistic features, and inherent folk culture of the current inheritance of "Nan Huan Nü Xi," delving into its geographical attributes, social background, and religious beliefs. The research demonstrates that while preserving the core elements of inheritance, the costumes of "Nan Huan Nü Xi" in Yixing constantly adjust themselves to the aesthetic tendencies of the era, reflecting the profound historical significance and vitality of folk dance represented by "Nan Huan Nü Xi," as well as the transition of traditional folk art from being "god-centered" to being "human-centered."

Integration of Chinese and Western Art in Late Ming Dynasty: Imitation and Innovation with Wu Bin as an Example

The late Ming Dynasty witnessed an art exchange between two distinct civilizations, the East and the West, which served as a microcosm of globalized art history in China. In the context of numerous Western religious paintings introduced to China by Jesuit missionaries during the late Ming Dynasty, whether Chinese artists who painted in ink at the time borrowed Western painting techniques in their paintings has become a subject of discussion among contemporary scholars. To further explain the integration triggered by this artistic exchange, the research analyses the attitudes of Ming society towards foreign painting. Furthermore, the study conducts the visual comparison methodology to identify the elements of Western painting that were incorporated into Chinese painting during this period, centering on the works of artist Wu Bin (1550-1643) and employing specific information as corroborative substantiation. The results of the study indicate that late Ming society did not exhibit overt animosity towards Western art and that Wu Bins paintings contain discernible Western painting inspirations. Yet, these factors did not impede the prevalence of indigenous artistic and aesthetic inclinations in his oeuvre.

Breaking the chains of television: Streaming and the ‘Netflix effect’ in Turkey

Scarcity is the defining characteristic of television's history in Turkey due to the late arrival of a multi-channel structure, and the experience of television in Turkey is shaped by the extensive involvement of the government and the high level of social control over broadcasting. The dissatisfaction during the pre-streaming era among the audiences in Turkey started to intensify by early 2010s because of the formulaic and similar stories with no diversity, strict regulation and censorship, and the tediousness of long, slow-paced series and extended ad breaks. The arrival of streaming services in 2016–17 was initially disruptive of the strictly regulated market due to the lack of necessary laws for regulating online streaming. Streaming continues to be a significant alternative for producers/creators and audiences in Turkey, with increased political and cultural diversity in local stories and the emergence of diverse genres and formats with different aesthetic tendencies.

Aesthetic Paradigms of the Sacred in Contemporary Bessarabian Poetry

The article summarizes some important views of famous philosophers, theologians, scientists as Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, Lucian Blaga, Carl Gustav Jung, Leszek Kołakowski, Jean-Jacques Wunenburger, on the idea of sacredness, spirit, mister, exposing, in a concise way, the evolution of the meanings of the sacred in religion, mythology, philosophy, poetry, in order to reveal transparently and conclusively how some successive generations of Bessarabian poets relate to the theme of the sacred specifying aesthetic tendencies and formulas in which the imaginary of the sacred is cultivated in contemporary poetry.

Duras and Beckett: Close Encounters at a Distance

Marguerite Duras and Samuel Beckett, both prominent writers internationally during the same period, and both living in Paris during most of their careers and rooted in French literature, appear to be a remarkable case of closely parallel writerly trajectories in conjunction with an apparent absence of exchange between them. Living in the same capital, they shared aesthetic, theatrical, editorial and political allegiances, and were both at some points intrigued by each other’s work and life. Both produced a medially diverse oeuvre including novels, theatre plays, screenplays, both worked as directors, rather often with the same actors or troupes, and they were regularly considered as examples of the same aesthetic tendencies in literature and the theatre. Their writing – themes and styles – tends to diverge importantly on several points, but Beckett was impressed by Duras' first theatre play, and Duras occasionally identified strikingly with Beckett. Nonetheless, hardly any form of contact or of direct influence between the authors is known.

A Transnational Canon of African Literatures in Portuguese?: Mia Couto, José Eduardo Agualusa and the Circulation of Lusophone African Literature

AbstractAfrican literatures in Portuguese were first canonized in the 1970s. During and in the wake of decolonization, the main force driving their internationalization was the solidarity with the struggle for liberation. This trend weakened, however, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the same time, the 1990s marked a turn in the process of literary production that also corresponded with a shift in style, themes, and aesthetic inclination by a younger generation of writers. A few of these names became standard reference in the translational canon of these literatures: notably Mia Couto and José Eduardo Agualusa, the two most prominent beneficiaries of this system, alongside Paulina Chiziane, Germano Almeida, Pepetela, and Ondjaki. Offering a comparative mapping of this transnational canon alongside the publication and reception of these literatures in the Portuguese-speaking world will give us a better understanding of their relationship to world literature and of the functioning of the world literary consecration machine.

동양의 미의식으로 본 아름다움의 본질

This study examines the etymology of the concept of ”beauty“ to understand the nature of it, followed by the exploration on the new context and value of beauty based on literary materials that examines oriental aesthetic consciousness.
 Oriental aesthetic consciousness has shifted from the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements theory of the Spring and Autumn period through Taoism and esthetical awareness of Confucianism, each representing art spirit and artification of human life, then to the 'Yi Jing psychology' which emphasizes subjectivity, desire, and pleasure. However, in the East, aesthetic pleasure was not perceived to originate from phenomena and forms. This was because the Holism perspective, which identifies the world as a whole, pursued after the invisible power 'Tao', that is, the essence of all forms and phenomena. In Confucianism, aesthetic consciousness was developed from a social and ethical perspective, and in Taoist philosophy, it was promoted from a naturalistic perspective through psychology and artistry. For this reason, Confucianism saw beauty in the essence of sublime human beings, focusing on the fundamental values of love of “benevolence” and “goodness”. And in Taoism, it aims for a more fundamental “Great beauty(大美)” and sees beauty in the world of the Tao, which is hidden behind all creations. In both Confucianism and Taoism, ‘Mi[beauty, 美]’ denied its relativity to 'Chu[ugliness, 醜]' in the phenomenon world and emphasized the vitality of the universe, and since then, it has tried to find out the reality of beauty by throwing aesthetic propositions such as ‘Ui[意]’, ‘Sang[象]’, and ‘Gyeong[境]’.
 Everything in aesthetic consciousness is the manifestation of the mind that perceives, and the body of existence is only made up by the mind. Beauty is only one's own philosophical and aesthetic tendency created in the course of life, and it is the creative value of life given therefrom.