- Does a work of art need to be “interpreted”?
- What gives a work of art power or meaning?
- What are the defining features of art?
- What is the role of an artist?
- What is the role of an art critic or theorist?
- How can students use art and art criticism to change the way we see?
- Understand Sontag’s key arguments against “interpreting” art
- Articulate the difference between form and content in a work of art
- Compare Sontag’s defense of modern art to other theorists
- Recognize key elements of modern and conceptual art
- Relate Sontag’s appeal for an “erotics of art” to contemporary works
- Consider the role of art, music, and popular culture in modern life
- Use art and visual displays to express complex ideas creatively
1-2 Class Periods
VIDEOS:
Against Interpretation Video and Transcript
HANDOUTS:
Unit Background
Unit Research
Handout 1
Handout 2
Handout 3
Handout 4
WORKSHEETS:
Class Debate Worksheet
Essay/Speech Worksheet
Presentation/Review Worksheet
Fine Arts Worksheet
TEACHING PLANS:
Teach Handout 1
Teach Handout 2
Teach Handout 3
Teach Handout 4
Class Debate Activity
Essay/Speech Activity
Presentation/Review Activity
Fine Arts Activity
- Art and Culture
Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
- History and Social Studies
Themes > Culture
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Essay
Place > American
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Compare and contrast
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Discussion
- Evaluating arguments
- Interpretation
- Literary analysis
- Media analysis
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Summarizing
- Synthesis
- Textual analysis
- Visual art analysis
- Writing skills
- ELA Reading: 1-4, 7, 10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-2
- ELA Language: 4, 6
- HSS Reading: 1-2, 4, 7-10
Sontag’s essay “Against Interpretation,” which led to her book of the same title, represented a major shift in American criticism. In it, Sontag argued that the theories imposed on art prevented us from truly seeing or experiencing the works themselves. She called for an “erotics” of art, seeking to replace philosophies of art with the sensual experiences of viewers, readers, and audience members. Ideas about art, in other words, were getting in the way. Sontag thought that even the content of a work of art could take away from what was most important about art, i.e. how one directly engaged with it as a lived experience. While challenging prevailing notions of art criticism, she also wrote of and for her times, an era in which pop art, performance art, and other new forms were destroying existing notions of art. This lesson challenges students to investigate Sontag’s ideas about interpretation, asking what art means to them and what they respond to most in contemporary art, music, and popular culture.
LESSON 1 HANDOUTS
LESSON 1 STUDENT ACTIVITY OPTIONS
- Watch Regarding Susan Sontag and reflect on its relevance to your students and subject area. For extracurricular organizations, community groups, and book clubs, consult our guide on adapting the curriculum.
- Select the handout(s) and student activity you will use with this lesson.
- Begin the lesson by watching and discussing the lesson video module with Handout 1
- Continue the lesson with Handouts 2-4 to deepen learning (optional)
- Complete the lesson with a student activity: options include writing, presentation, and creative assignments as well as class projects or debates
- Download or print all related resources for this lesson at our resource center (video module, handouts, worksheets, teaching plans), and prepare for classroom use. Preview the video module, familiarizing yourself with the content and any potential areas of sensitivity for your students (see Information for Teachers).
- Screen Regarding Susan Sontag and discuss with our Educational Screening Guide before beginning this lesson.
- Assign full texts or articles in place of handout excerpts.
- Assign supplementary texts or facilitate independent research with our Art & Literature Unit Research handout, which includes:
- Online art and literature resources
- Art and literature reference texts (unit citations and recommendations)
- Allow additional time for discussion, group work, peer-review, editing, revision, or student evaluations and critiques of finished work.
- Coordinate presentations of student activities outside the classroom, such as a class blog, podcast or online gallery posts, school newspaper or literary/art journal publications, student radio or video broadcasts, or all-school exhibits, panel discussions, and screenings.
- Teach this lesson with additional content from the curriculum guide. See our Interdisciplinary Diagram for help choosing related units and lessons.