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Notes -
But why should the reader trust you in your descriptions of art?
The way you define art is probably not what most people mean by art. It’s also not how art was understood for centuries in both the West and East. Worse yet, it doesn’t predict a subset of art that people love, like Da Vinci and Wes Anderson movies and Miyazaki movies.
Why shouldn’t utilitarianism (or approximately that) inform us about good art? For instance, we can say that good art benefits us. This includes sorrowful art where that sorrow aids in our adaption to reality. It includes horrific art, where that horror aids in our cultural wisdom. It includes architecture we intuitively find beautiful, because the experience of beauty is pleasant and healing. And it excludes art that many people find mediocre, like Michael Bay and abstract modern art. This definition would also exclude pornography, because there is little benefit to art that includes pornography, because pornography is immediately distracting due to human nature.
The only “traumatic” art I can think of for centuries of European history is the crucifixion. I’ve written about this enough on themotte, but traumatically bonding with the Christ is a way to effect beneficial personal and social change. It’s not trauma for trauma’s sake, it’s participating in a traumatic death to enjoy a dramatic rebirth.
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