That's Entertainment! (or is it art?)
One member of our poetry salon/gathering, Zina Gomez-Liss, whose poetry bona fides far outweigh mine, has, in her last two posts to her Substack, “The Beauty of Things” (please do visit, and consider subscribing), addressed two different issues related to poetic accessibility: 1.) the case for Mary Oliver, and 2.) song lyrics as (or as not) poetry. In the comments to the latter post, Zina hints that she will discuss in the future still another related topic: Art vs. Entertainment.
I won’t parse what Zina has to say so far; I await eagerly her future post. But I will share my own inchoate ideas on the hope that by putting them down on virtual paper they might begin to solidify.
My favorite piece of musical theater is Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s exploration of Georges Seurat’s 1884 pointillist work “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” The musical, “Sunday in the Park With George,” is as much Sondheim’s story as it is Seurat’s. Its main character compromises his relationships with people at the altar of his art while simultaneously producing work that much of his audience misunderstands. We understand that for Seurat and for Sondheim the sacrifices and misunderstandings are worth it when the curtain closes on Act 1 with Seurat’s painting complete and Sondheim’s song “Sunday” soaring.
What Sondheim and Lapine do in my humble opinion is totally muddy any borderline between art and entertainment. Giuseppe Verdi did the same in the 19th century, employing generally weaker books and lyrics than “Sunday…” to create works of art. Yet, most people I suspect would categorize musical theater as entertainment and opera as an art form. Why? The end result in either case is a theater piece intended to draw an audience.
My take is that art can spring up in any genre if the product goes beyond mere entertainment to touch on something deeper. Wim Wenders’s recent film, "“Perfect Days,” is a work of art not because it’s a four-star movie, but because it explores through a rich combination of visuals, music, character, and incident how mindful living can transform routine into magic. John Grisham writes popular fiction, while Thomas Pynchon produces art, although oddly enough, Grisham works for me (in moderation) and Pynchon, not so much. “Ted Lasso” was a highly entertaining series, but not art, while HBO’s miniseries “Watchman",’ based on the graphic novel of the same name, is a hugely entertaining work of art (as is the graphic novel, by the way).
When my youngest child visited the University of the Arts in Philadelphia during their college application process (they ended up graduating from there), I attended a student panel, where the participants impressed me by the manner in which they presented themselves: as artists, responsible for honing their craft and finding or creating vehicles to advance their art. Some of them I dare say will find their way to popular entertainment media, while never losing sight of the idea that they are artists, and that some (not all) of their output will qualify as art.
Entertainment can be good or bad (does it sustain our interest/put and keep a smile on our faces?); art can be good or bad (does its combination of form and content touch a deeper place in our souls?). Thankfully in many cases (such as “Sunday in the Park With George”), one can encounter a first-rate entertainment that is also a life-changing artwork. Long may it and its ilk muddy our definitional waters.