What Makes Good Art

It seems that everyone wants to be an artist these days. Music artists, filmmakers, playwrights, painters, novelists. Everyone has something to say. Well, everyone should have something to say.

Unfortunately, all of the above categories contain a vast number of people with a wonderful sense of technique and mechanics, who use their talent to create...

Escapism.

Yes, that is what the public wants. After a long day of hard work, who wants to come home and read something that strips back human nature. Why would I want to experience a piece about human nature? I have to deal with the baser parts of human nature every day!

Yes, you have to deal with it. But have you sought to understand it? I doubt that very highly. And yet, that is what good art does. It pulls back layers and lets us see humanity in the light of day. It is the 10,000 candle power flashlight that illumines, at least for a minute or two, the truth about everyone.

This makes people uncomfortable. Noone wants to think about truth. They don't want to dwell upon what man is capable. They don't want to think about the fact that, without God, any of us are capable of anything. We are inherantly evil.

The books we have read this semester share this common goal. The House of the Seven Gables sought to reveal the greed and superiority complex of the aristocracy. Uncle Tom's Cabin seeks to reveal the prejudice within the hearts of its readers, and compels them to see all humanity as equal. Puddin'head Wilson again takes a peek at human nature, and seeks to disprove the foolishness of racial inequality. McTeague is for everyman, a mirror which humanity can look in and see the evil that common man is capable of.

Good art reveals something about human nature. It reveals something about ourselves. It is our responsibility as readers to seek out this type of literature. Escapism, while a lot of fun, should not be the bulk of our reading. We must seek out true art. What is the point of writing/reading a book if it doesn't add to the discussion of humanity?

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