New Features Of Modern Aesthetic Activity In America

Aesthetics has been facing an awkward situation since the last century. On the one hand, social activity related to aesthetics stride onward in terms of quality and quantity as the domain of art has been permeated by public life, which causes the so-called “aesheticization of everyday life”. On the other hand, the very idea of everyday life has also been changed. Aesthetic activity in contemporary society has tremendously extended the scope of everyday life, a concept which used to be fixed and stable. In both forms and contents they have already shifted people's cognition about the concept of beauty. Either the publicity and advertising that can be seen everywhere, or the otherwise dazzling TV programs, is purposely connected with aesthetic experience.Aeshetics is being through disciplinary crisis. As a most fundamental and significant branch of philosophy as it used to be, Aesthetic today is no longer welcomed by both philosophical discussion and artistic contestation, despite the fact that aesthetic activity in contemporary society are so rich in contents and diversified in forms.This dissertation aims at bringing back attention to contemporary aesthetic activity by analyzing the new features revealed in a very popular and distinctive American reality show Face Off. Those new features, among others, are respectively pluralism, popularization and transcendence; so as to get a glimpse of western aesthetic trend. Face Off also features in the participation of viewers, who could get involved by interacting with contestants through social network instead of being passive audiences. The third feature is aesthetic transcendence, the most significant feature of modern Aesthetics as a disciplines as well as everyday experience. In contemporary society, however, aesthetic transcendence means more than the transcendence of the spiritual pursuit over material need, but for aesthetic object, the very meaning of aesthetic is becoming more inclusive. After all, the ultimate goal of aesthetic activity is the real freedom of understanding the world and enrich people's life.