55. In order for any work of art-for example, a film, a novel, a poem, a song-to have merit, it must be understandable to most people.

Whether the work of art can be understandable to some people depends on two factors: one is the degree of straightforward, which means if these masterpieces are easy enough to be comprehensible; the other factor is the education condition of these readers, or audience. It is undeniable that the discrepancy exists among producers and readers, thus it is unreasonable to asserts that any work should be understandable to most people.

At the first place, the theme that the art work would like to convey should be common all over the world. The readers or audience, once they know the masterpieces, their emotion or feelings would be the same to most extent. The love, happiness, sadness or some other feelings of the masterpieces should be felt or received by most people, since this is the ultermate purpose of the authors’. For example, when most read When You are Old, most people would feel the love conveyed by the author. If the art work lacks sense of beauty, or it does not convey any comprehensible emotion, it will be pretty difficult to be loved by most people.

However, since most art work is produced in different places and time, it is hard for most people to understand the art work thoroughly. For example, if a native European looks the dance given by some Afican tribe, it is probable that he or she does not know what their performance means. If certain art is not introduced or explained to most people, we cannot assert it does not have any merit just because they are unknown for us. On the other hand, with the vicissitude of society, many thoughts of masterpieces are not perceived by modern standard. For instance, much art work hundreds years ago may imply the race inequality or gender inequality, which are out of date already. Although it is difficult for most modern people to understand, we cannot say these work lack merit.

Furthermore, the merit of some masterpieces is elusive for most amateurs. Some poems or songs with extremly difficult skills cannot be understandable for most people. For example, when practitioners and amateurs are attending to a two-hour symphony concert, it is a strong possibility that practitioners enjoy it deeply while the amateurs fall into sleep. Without the skills or long-term training, it is normal for most amateurs does not understand these art work. Hence, these work cannot be judged as lack of merit.

In conclusion, although the emotion and feelings of good art work should be comprehensible for most people, the discrepancy of places and time, and skill barrier would also prevent art work from being understanded by some amateurs.
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