Art and the Human Body

How are good and bad art distinguished from one another in the Third Reich? Stemming from the film's claim that all of the Nazi heirarchy are artists, it seems that good and bad art are judged on the criteria of Hitler's view of racial superiority. Everything from paintings and sculptures to the actual human body are fair game for the Nazi regime's critique. This obession with "good" art, i.e. Aryan specimens and symbols, and "bad" art, i.e. diversity, consumes the cultural revolution created by the Reich. The film does a wonderful job of explaining the beginning of the Nazi state's involvement with the average citizen's body through the segment on German physicians. By gaining the loyalty and support of the medical class, the Nazi's are able to control the public view of health and the human body. Since doctors are generally trusted (or at least in the beginning of the Reich they were), then when they spout off the party ideology concerning Aryan medical supremacy, they sway the national view on health. This new view of Aryan = health and Diversity = unhealthy directly translates to the Nazi belief of the body serving as art for the state. All of the propoganda films we have seen thus far corroborate this claim; many of the men and women in the films are strong, Aryans who serve as art. This takes us back to last week's discussion on mass ornament, in that these "perfect" Aryan specimens depicted all together provide the Third Reich with overwelming artistic shots and pictures in their proganda films.