Dec. 23th 2019
in 30 minutes

Issue topic:
In order for any work of art – for example, a film, a novel, a poem, or a song – to have merit, it must be understandable to most people.

My writing
In order for any work of art – for example, a film, a novel, a poem, or a song – to have merit, it must be understandable to most people. Abviously, it is too absolute to cover all the circumstances. For some work of art based on special knowledge background, it is reasonable that it will not be that easy to understand. While for other civic works of art, being understandable and easy to get the point is much more important.

First, some art works are created by talents who own an expertise in that specific field, which needs much more prerequisites for others to read and appreciate it. For instance, one famous science fiction movie called The Gravity of the Earth, which will not be that easily enjoyed by those who know nothing about the universe and physics. But those who have some basic knowledge about the gravity and space craft will surely enjoy it a lot. For another example, a song sung by a famous popular singer like Jay Chou whose lyrics are like a poem but whose singing words seems unclear have won a huge amount of fans among Chinese teenagers. Apparently his songs earn a great merit. However, it is also well known that many aging adults put strict critics on Jay Chou because of his strange singing style.

Second, there exists a probability about how much merit a work of art have in the society. That means we need to have a much more clear definition about merit. The worst work of art might also have at least one person who admire it, can we say it has the so called merit? In my opinion, the baseline about evaluating whether it own a merit or value depends on its social value it has contributed. That means it has some benefit to others. In this sense, when we need make a comparison about different works of art, then considering the number of people who can understand it is one of the key factors, which manifests how much can it be accepted by the public and arouse a kind of contagious enthusiasm. Some classics are so popular even between several generations and countries, just because they can be understandable by a lot of people even without the restrictions of time and circumstances. The famous literate Shakespeare and his well-known dramas are those good examples.

In conclusion, a work does not have to be the thing understandable by the majority of people to have merit. Its social value matters much than the popularity while popularity may be a factor in considering its social value.