The need for frivolous art in our lives
The need for frivolous art in our lives
Sometimes you need to read a trashy book or watch that reality tv show.
"All art is quite useless."
During one of our pop culture criticism lectures during my BA, we were studying Critical Theory. I won't bore you about it too much (mainly because I don't remember much of it anyway), but as I thought about today's issue, I remembered Oscar Wilde's words.
Even though he's not technically the one who started the 'art for art's sake movement, I somehow associate it most with him. He's got a lot of stuff I'd like to explore deeper in the future, but today, I want to extrapolate that to frivolous, meaningless art.
Art, as usual, includes all forms of art — films, TV shows, books, and paintings are just the tip of the iceberg of human expression.
We've all got hobbies and passions we label 'guilty pleasures. It's these guilty pleasures I want to talk about today. The kind of stuff we shy away from sharing and always feel guilty or shameful about indulging in.
For me, that's reading books that are shallow and a bit ridiculous, but they've got drama and gossip, and that's what I like. One of my guilty pleasures anyway.
Now, I'm not going to talk about how our guilty pleasures are things society doesn't deem useful to us/our capitalistic world. That's a bit too on the nose. But, ironically, science tells us that feeling guilty about an activity actually makes it more pleasurable. It's to do with "Activating guilt can automatically activate thoughts related to pleasure and thus increase pleasure from consumption."
No, we're actually going to talk about how vital these works of meaningless art are — guilty pleasure or not.
All art shouldn't have to have a moral or beneficial duty
Art imitates reality and vice versa — blah, blah, blah. We all know this. But that doesn't mean that all art needs a strong social message, a call to action, or some cause to talk about. If it does, that's fine, but as humans, we also need brainless, meaningless things to consume.
We're not meant to be 'on' all the time. We've got to re-learn how to switch our brains off, indulge in the things that don't make us better or productive or whatever. They don't do anything for us, really; we just enjoy consuming them for the sheer pleasure of it.
When we continually expect the stuff we consume to be beneficial to us in some way or another, we're working towards a goal. Whether it's to be smarter, more productive, or better at something, we expect our brain to concentrate on retaining information that will come in handy later.
But it's the stuff that requires no real attention, no real understanding or effort that our brains need as part of downtime.
"...a quiet mind allows the weak connections of non-conscious processing to rise to awareness."
And how can we allow our minds to be quiet? By indulging ourselves in the things, we consider guilty pleasures.
Whether that's watching episodes of your favourite reality TV show, enjoying episodes of an over-the-top production of a Hindi TV serial/telenovela/k-drama, or reading a book that's never going to be on the shortlist for any "literary" prize — that's up to you.
Hobbies are not the same as quality downtime. Writing this newsletter is a hobby/passion. Still, it doesn't qualify as downtime because I put effort into it and expect a clear goal to be achieved.
This is different from idle time; idle time is when you do nothing — not even consume stuff or dance wildly to your favourite tune in your pyjamas in broad daylight. That's just doing nothing.
Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off. Stop consuming stuff to make your brains and lives better and just live in the (cringe) moment.
What about the artists who make ‘frivolous’ art?
Do you reckon artists or creators set out trying to make mindless entertainment? Actually, yeah. Some people state quite clearly that their work is nothing but entertainment, and it's meant to be taken as such. Others may not have lofty ambitions because we all don't share the same drive or interest in achieving bigger dreams. And that's okay — more than okay, in fact. Some just want to make something that folks will enjoy, whatever else follows is a bonus.
There doesn't need to be a deep meaning to everything we create. Take fanfiction, for example. I've read the same trope lived out by the same fictional couple thousands of times. I have no goal. It's not meant to do anything for me — I just need to turn my brain off and read some quality fanfiction to soothe my soul and silence the buzz in my brain for a bit.
Fiction books are another example of how we don't allow ourselves to indulge freely in things that are enjoyable but may not have any meaning. We're pushed to read self-help or brainy non-fic books because otherwise, there's no point, is there?
When I was researching for this issue, I came across the quote (and an article on it) that said, "Art without meaning is decoration." While the article poses some interesting questions about art, meaning, and what both mean when you're a creator, I want to flip the thing — so what?
So what if it's decoration. So what if it's just something pretty or nice to look at or consume. Does that mean it's less valuable? Maybe monetarily.
But the subjective value will always be different. For example, the Mona Lisa at the Lourve is less important to me than the hand-drawn illustration and letter my best friends posted to me when I studied abroad.
The poorly plotted horror films I watched with my friends during a sleepover are better for my brain and sense of self than any documentary would be.
Frivolous art and its consumption is essential — whether it's lowbrow television or trashy thriller/romance/erotica books (you know, those mass-market paperbacks).
Take two seconds to share your thoughts, please?
Shoutout! 🌟
I've been using Feedletter (that 3-link anon feedback thingy above) for several months now, and I wanted to take a moment to thank Jens Boje, the creator, for his amazing newsletter tool. It's the best way for me to hear what you think, and every time you take a second to do that, my wee little heart jumps for joy. Also, he offers parity pricing which is a godsend. TY, Jens.
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Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to hit like and share this issue if you enjoyed it. 🖤
I’ll see you next week — maybe not at the same time, but definitely the same place.