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.

The writer claims that for a work of art to have merit, it must be understandable to most people, which I quite agree with. If people don’t understand a work of art such as a film, a novel, a poem, or a song, I think it would just have little or no benefit to the consumers of such art work.

Take for example, a 7 years old boy watching a movie like matrix which is too complicated for someone of his age. He would probably gain nothing from watching the movie. What would be more beneficial to him is watching cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, which he can easily grasp and understand the concept. Another example is if a boy of that same age carries a Sydney Sheldon’s novel and tries to read it, he might end up wasting his time because the concept of the novel and vocabulary used in the novel might be too complex for him to understand, which would surely prevent him from even understanding the moral of the story, which would therefore make that novel useless to him, unlike if it was an adult reading it. The kind of books that would be beneficial to the child would surely be a short story book which would be easy for him to read and understand.

Another example is in the case of art works such as a song. Singing a song in a foreign language which the listeners do not understand would probably be of little or no benefit to them. This is because songs are meant to express the inner feeling or thoughts of an individual or group of people to others. In a situation whereby the listeners do not understand the lyrics of the song or what the song means, the primary aim of the song would be defeated, no matter how good the song may be.

Although, it is atimes good for people to try and study works that they do not understand, in order for them to rack their brains. However, when an art work is been made, the proposed consumers of the art work should be considered, in respect of factors like age, language understood by majority of the proposed consumers, and so on.