Does greater understanding mean getting less joy out of things?
Stephen Den Beste wonders if there comes a point at which literature professors stop enjoying the very act of reading -- for knowing the medium too well. He points to the case of Mark Twain; after Twain had been trained as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi, he lamented having "mastered the language of this water" and "every trifling feature", that afterwards, "the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river". I don't share Twain's view; it's my conviction that greater understanding leads to greater appreciation.
Early in my studies of theater, I was forced by my teachers into the mindset of not just sitting back and passively watching a play, but analyzing it -- breaking it down into its component parts and evaluating them each for what they were and for what they contributed to the play. The worst critical judgment of a play you can offer is: "It was good," or "It was bad." It's far more informative to know why: was it the actors? One actor? The dialogue? The plot? How was the pacing? Did the set do its job? How was the lighting? What about it contributed or detracted from the play? The list goes on and on.
After a while, one minute into a play, and you're already sizing it up. You're attuned to the good and the bad in a way that passive enjoyment doesn't allow. You know, for instance, when that actor blurts out that line in a way that rings totally false, whether it was the actor's fault or the writer's. Or possibly the director's, for trying to force an emotion out of a scene when to do so would be contrived and unnatural.
To me, having this critical analytical mindset does nothing to sap the joy from the experience of watching a play. Admittedly, there are many plays I've been to which I otherwise might have enjoyed more were it not for the analytical mind I bring into the theater. But at the same time, having this ability to understand the language of the theater, and the tools with which the actors and director and designers carry it out, only enhances the joys of a great production. Far better to know when you're seeing great set design, or great acting, or great direction or stage management, rather than just lump it all into an undifferentiated mishmash of "good" or "bad".
The major risk of developing this mentality is that you might find that you're surrounded with mediocrity -- and now you're aware of it. But while that understanding does have its drawbacks, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Far better to recognize things for what they are. If you truly do love the theater -- or any medium -- I say: learn all you can about it, and learn to analyze it, understanding all the parts and how they fit together to form the whole. When you have this understanding, you'll find that you'll enjoy art far more than you ever could without that understanding.
What a shame it would be to be exposed to great beauty, but lack the ability to understand just how beautiful it is. The more you know and understand about a medium, the more able you are to understand, enjoy, and appreciate great art when you see it.
Posted by Matt at June 21, 2003 2:52 PM
