Summary of Modernity in Art, Politics, and Society

Throughout the years, both America and France have influenced each other in the many aspects that encompass art, politics, and society. Starting from the earliest voyages of men like Jacques Cartier, to the current interactions between Presidents Sarkozy and Bush, countries like France and America will always intermingle. As shown in the sources provided, the three very important facets of today's America are all intermingled. Arts and politics alike influence the workings of today's society, and vice versa. It can then only be expected that a country such as France, who has had such a long history with America, is involved and has an opinion upon the connections between three central parts of America.

But without modernity, the arts, politics, and society would never have been able to advance and expand. Contrasting from modernism, modernity depicts the outward and upward progression of culture. Politics experienced the rise of democracy, along with its critiques such as de Tocqueville. He understood the importance of modernity within a society in order to positively influence political success. In terms of the arts, the realization and acceptance of modernity caused major movements like Impressionism to flourish in France, and then America. While modernism is almost always prevalent within the arts, it is modernity that causes these modern paintings to prevail. The idea of a newer and better type of art is always appeasing, which is the basis behind the fascination with modernity. Finally, in society, modernity has never been a foreign concept. For authors such as Paul Morand and Georges Duhamel, modernity was a topic of major conflict, because while Morand believed in the positive effects of modernity and was awed by its current effects, Duhamel was disgusted by the outcome of modernity upon America in the 1930s and refused to accept its potential for future generations. It seems that while modernity is mostly highly regarded, there are always those that do not believe in it and do not wish for change. While we can not change what modernity has done for the past, we can always ask where modernity will lead us next.