History Main / SavingTheWorldWithArt

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* After ISIS overtook the city of Nimrud and destroyed much of the ancient sculptures, 17 year old Nenous Thabit decided to [[http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/middleeast/nimrud-iraq-mosul-artifacts/ personally carve replicas of them]] to express resistance to the terrorist group. In his words: "They waged a war on art and culture, so I decided to fight them with art."

* in Homestuck, when John plays showtime on a planetary scale, he takes the land of wind and shade[[spoiler:out of continuity, with Roxy on it]], allowing him time to alter the [[spoiler:alpha]] timeline enough to gain a fighting chance at victory.

* in Homestuck, when John plays showtime on a planetary scale, he takes the land of wind and shade[[hide text:out of continuity, with Roxy on it]], allowing him time to alter the [[hide text:alpha]] timeline enough to gain a fighting chance at victory.

* Used several times in {{Discworld}}:

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* Inverted by a organization of interest to the Wiki/SCPFoundation: the artistic movement "Are we cool yet?" Their works are extremely dangerous if not potentially world-ending. Among others are the "idea of a shark", a non-corporeal, semi-visible shark that can still eat you and a fifth-dimension CD that does things related to the number five (turns you five days/weeks/years old, cuts you into five pieces, teleports you to the fifth moon of Jupiter, etc.). An artifact unrelated to ACWY? is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-804 SCP-804]], an art installation that could destroy anything technological on the planet; fortunately, it isn't immune to its own effect.

* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems_p2.html This article]] at Website/{{Cracked}} tells how the CIA helped curb the influence of Communism in TheSixties by secretly popularizing modern art across the globe. The fad even spread directly into the Soviet Union itself.

--> ''..."Here's now we're gonna stop the war: We're gonna make the world's biggest finger painting and that'll blow people's minds!"'' No it '''won't''', for God's sakes! ''"I know how we can stop the war: We're gonna knit the world's smallest pair of hemp pants, and put 'em on a mouse, and hide the mouse in a cupboard! But which cupboard is it in, man? People'll be so busy thinking about that, they won't have time to go to war!"'' Oh God, you're '''idiots!'''

* Creator/PattonOswalt mocks the belief in this trope among hippies in his special ''No Reason to Complain'':

--> ''..."Here's now we're gonna stop the war: We're gonna make the world's biggest finger painting and that'll blow people's minds!" No it '''won't''', for God's sakes! "I know how we can stop the war: We're gonna knit the world's smallest pair of hemp pants, and put 'em on a mouse, and hide the mouse in a cupboard! But which cupboard is it in, man? People'll be so busy thinking about that, they won't have time to go to war!" Oh God, you're '''idiots!'''''

-->--'''Shinichi Suzuki'''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' supplement ''Shadowbeat''. This supplement provided rules for creating characters with musical skills, such as rock stars. It also had rules that allowed the characters to put on performances that could sway the masses to defeat the character's opponents. For example, a musician could hold a concert with songs opposing the destruction of the environment, thus causing public opposition to a MegaCorp's plan to turn wetlands into a toxic waste dump.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', the leaders of the 2 big political factions have disappeared and their followers are at each other's throats blaming each other, almost boiling over into civil war. The Gullwings plan a concert for Yuna (a figure both sides respect greatly) to sing at in order to calm things down. Only 1 song is actually sung, but the [[TearJerker song in question]] means there's only one needed.

* This is the premise of ''[[VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper PaRappa the Rapper 2]]'' in which Colonel Noodle is [[ItMakesSenseInContext turning everything in the world into noodles]], and it's up to [=PaRappa=] to deliver a KirkSummation in the form of a rap battle.

* Inverted by the SCPFoundation artistic movement "Are we cool yet?" whose works are extremely dangerous if not potentially world-ending. Among others, the "idea of a shark", a non-corporeal, semi-visible shark that can still eat you, a FifthDimension CD that does things related to 5 (turns you 5 days/weeks/years old, cuts you in 5, teleports you to the fifth moon of Jupiter, etc.). An unrelated artifact is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-804 SCP-804]], an art installation that could destroy anything technological on the planet.

* Deconstructed in the ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E21OverABarrel Over A Barrel]]''. Pinkie Pie tries to invoke this to stop the ponies of Appleloosa and the native buffalo fighting. After her show, the sheriff and the buffalo chief agree... that her performance was the worst thing they ever heard.

* This is the premise of ''[[ParappaTheRapper PaRappa the Rapper 2]]'' in which Colonel Noodle is [[ItMakesSenseInContext turning everything in the world into noodles]], and it's up to [=PaRappa=] to deliver a KirkSummation in the form of a rap battle.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' video games and its novels, certain people can use the "Art" to write a book to create a world. The world of Riven is unstable and Atrus staves off its collapse by frantically writing small changes into its book in hope of stabilizing it. [[spoiler: Subverted when Riven falls apart anyway, but he keeps it intact long enough for its people to escape.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', with the looming threat of Shuyin trying to destroy the world with [[DoomsdayDevice Vegnagun]], Yuna decides that in order to save the world she will unite everyone by...putting on a concert!

* In ''The Spongebob Squarepants Movie'', Plankton's MindControlDevice has taken control of the entire town, but becomes overloaded when Spongebob dons a guitar and sings "Goofy Goober Rock" complete with flashy music video effects.

->''Art exists for the human species. I think that all of the people who love art, those who teach art, and all of you should burn with the obligation to save the world.''
-->—Shinichi Suzuki

* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems_p2.html This Cracked.com article]] tells how the CIA helped curb the influence of Communism in TheSixties by secretly popularizing modern art across the globe. The fad even spread directly into the Soviet Union itself.

** "Day of the Doctor" has a much more literal interpretation of "saving the world with art" by having the Doctor [[spoiler: (all three of them) hiding inside of a Timelord painting so that they might emerge from it later once the picture was moved to a restricted area where the aliens were about to destroy the world]].

* ''Literature/TheShahnameh'' is an epic Persian poem from the 10th century (making this trope OlderThanPrint) that tells the tale of how two half-brothers vied for the throne and one of them died in battle with a mutual enemy, but without a wound. Their mother thought that one killed the other and it looked like a civil war was going to start. But then, the sages of the court invented the game of Chess and used the piece movements to reenact the battle, ending with the King capturing several pieces and then ultimately being checkmated, thus representing how the half-brother died of battle fatigue. In the end, the mother was appeased and the game of Chess averted civil war.