Module 8: Video Review

The two videos I watched were "More Human than Human", and "The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and Human Design". The first video, "More Human than Human", focused on the discovery that art history reveals that we prefer images that actually don't look like us. Venus and Willendorf created one of the oldest representations of the body ever found. All of these discoveries have shown that the brain is hardwired to favor exaggeration. They are so many ranges of the human body that artists have created during this time. This video relates to the readings in the book because the same statue found in the book was also used in the video. It was the statue that was found of the women and the reason why it is important is because it shows that the world is so prominent on unrealistic images. The different styles of the human form from the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were mentioned in both the video and readings. I chose to watch the second video about Greek art and the human design because I have always thought that Greek art was fascinating and very interesting to look at and learn about. This video went through and demonstrated the cultural transformation of Greek Art from religious functions to human-centered form. The Greeks began to create human forms for Gods, people, and even animals. Realism began to evolve in the process of creating these sculptures. It has been said that the Greeks were "obsessed" with the human body and humanity's place in nature which is why there was so much emphasis on creating these forms. The type of realism changed art forever. The sense of ideal beauty became more important rather than real beauty.