Literature – Art or Entertainment?
Article By Mattia Miranda
A story, like anything in life really, is composed of its superficial aspect and its inner core or essence. This essence is what makes a story worth reading and a life worth living. Notwithstanding that, it seems that many people base their existence on the idea that surface is what matters most. In the art world, masses of people appreciate works that are clever, revolutionary, and that do something supposedly unseen before. The meaning is important, but it doesn’t matter much what it actually is, as long as maybe you can identify with it, or find it clever, revolutionary, and supposedly unseen before.
We are generalizing, but the idea is that we want to be amused, surprised, entertained or, at best, learn new things. And then we move on to whatever is next. It is similar to what Dostoevsky said, while talking about young men ready to die for a cause:
These young men unhappily fail to understand that the sacrifice of life is, in many cases, the easiest of all sacrifices, and that to sacrifice, for instance, five or six years of their seething youth to hard and tedious study, if only to multiply tenfold their powers of serving the truth and the cause they have set before them as their goal – such a sacrifice is utterly beyond the strength of many of them.
How many stylish deaths we die every time we jump not only onto the next series or mystery novel but also the next spiritual book, clever teacher, or bite-sized cheat-code to improve our lives and so on and so forth? The pattern is the same.
But why is entertainment so popular? Can I please be made to understand why do I want to read another chapter instead of washing the dishes? To answer these important questions, we need to endeavour to understand what entertainment is. Entertainment is easy. It is the path of least resistance. It is style and perceived innovation, craftiness and craft, but at the service of what? It does most of the work for you and leaves you somewhat satisfied, craving for more, and ultimately empty. Pretty much like carbs.
While entertainment gives you transitory pleasure, a real story transforms you. Entertainment is hollow, and if we want to be a bit dramatic, we could say that it is the perfect pastime for a society that has alienated itself from what it means to be human, that doesn’t care for what is true and beautiful, and that just loves to be addicted to the next exciting thing. Pay attention, entertainment is an experience that leaves you with nothing but an exciting memory that will fade, just as the part of you that enjoys it will.
But is there something wrong in just wanting to have a laugh or to be thrilled? Do we have to feel guilty for not spending all of our time in philosophical lucubrations? Do we really have to struggle in the mud for anything worthwhile in this life?
We set off looking for answers, and we are left with more questions. Look how I struggle, lost in this dichotomy. It sapped my energies, and now I just want to crawl into bed. But I’m already writing this from my bed! Perhaps the solution lies in finding some balance by introducing a mysterious third element.
The simple fact of the matter is that, if a brave character in a pulp novel inspires you to be better, the lowest entertainment will have changed your life, it will have transformed you. And that’s the double key of it. Entertainment gives you transitory pleasure, and a real story transforms you. The best stories? They do both. But the truth is that in any story, entertainment and true art are intertwined. Any play of shadow and light is ultimately a representation of the highest. But the middle point, the third element and ultimate arbiter of what entertains you and what transforms you, that is always you, the person who experiences the story.
Image Credits: By Stas Knop | Pexels | CC BY PD
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By Stas Knop | Pexels | CC BY PD
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