EPT
A New Art
Brett Coburn clasps his hands together and listens to the excited young man in his office. The boy is enthusiastically describing an Art form he'd has always been aware of, but never really interfaced with on a high level. Brett Coburn, you see, is a powerful man. He may not be a politician or a businessman, but his word is law in the right circles. A master critic of painting and sculpture, Brett worked for radio station after radio station, and now has his own evening show: The Coburn Hour. Though he hates it, he branches into music, both classical and popular. He loves music, but any time not discussing visual Art is lost time to him. You do what you have to for the ratings.
Brett holds the object before him, a book. Not just a book, he reminds himself, as the youth continues talking, but a Novel. It contains within it Art, and if so many young men (and some young women) consider it so, Brett has a duty as a public intellectual to weigh in. Yes, he assures the young man. Yes, he'll feature it on his show. Relief washes over the man's face. And joy. Yes, if you can judge Art by how people react to it, this is Art. And what else is Art, thinks Brett, but that which people find good? He smiles to himself as he walks the boy out. He'll leave that one to the philosophers. For now, he has new Art to evaluate. If he's going to do a segment, he'll probably need more than one, too.
* * *
The show goes better than you'd expect. The Coburn hour doesn't usually draw a live studio audience, since the typical viewer is in his 30s or 40s and watching from home. Brett is pleased to see an unusual demographic showing up, and, according to the live survey results, tuning in. After his initial segment on the latest in the sculpture world, he dives into Novels.
Novels, Brett tells the audience, are a new Art form, used by young people to entertain and please. Whereas your typical book or document is used to convey information, a Novel uses this same medium for Art. As you can see, this Novel is a popular one with young men. Tonight we'll be doing our first-ever Novel reviews, live on stage...
Several of the older people in the crowd raise eyebrows. Oh yes, they'd heard the stories, about how young people are more and more antisocial, about the boy who died from reading Novels for hours and hours on end with no sleep, food or water. How Novels glorify violence, sex, and even the supernatural.
Brett will show them, though. He holds up his first Novel for the audience, the one the boy brought in the other day, titled A Game of Thrones. He applauds many things about it: the construction is sturdy, the outer cover is stiff and firm to the touch. He notes that the coloration of the cover images is acceptable, but could be better, but the fonts chosen for the title and the excerpt on the back are superb, with elegant serifs and clean, elegant ligatures. The Novel's interior, he complains, is very bland-- mostly pulpy paper and black-colored words, always in the same shape.
Next, the Novel he found on his own: John presents Captain Underpants to the studio audience and his viewers at home. He notes the bright colorations on the cover images, and the even stiffer cover and firm spine. He is pleased to explain to his audience that the interior of this Novel is much better than the last one: there are many bright colors and images accompanying the text, which itself comes in many colors. Although the particular color composition in the panels isn't quite as elegant as the other Art he reviews, Brett says that this Novel has real potential.
He tempers his passion with cool analysis and states the genre has a long ways to go. With throwbacks like A Game of Thrones involved, it's possible to see why people might overlook the raw potential of Captain Underpants. In time, this fledgling art form might become more mainstream. Brett was never a sycophant for the mainstream, of course-- no other shows would even consider talking about Novels with the stigma they carry-- but he outlines how much Captain Underpants was just like any other form of Art. He can feel himself convincing the audience, and eventually, he feels the rush of applause wash over him. Uncued applause, goddamnit, and it feels good. A few older viewers walk out, but perhaps the show will be better off without them.
As Brett closes up his show for the evening, the critic takes call-in questions. Several people ask about Novels and where they can buy them, and there's the usual smattering of random call-ins. As things settle down, Brett braces himself for what he knows his coming. People begin to call in and question whether something that uses text can really be Art. Many callers complain that writing and words should be used to instruct and to teach, and that their usage for Art and entertainment is antisocial. They say that subverting a tool of productivity for pleasure is exactly what's wrong with the new generation, and say that these so-called Novels could never be Art. They say that Novels are garbage and bad for society.
To his great credit, Brett shoots all these people down. He is an open-minded lover of Art, and he points out that there is a pretty decent portion of young people, mostly men but with more and more women, who read Novels regularly for entertainment. They work hard and this is a real medium that doesn't disrupt their daily lives. He calls for understanding and willingness to try new things. He really goes to bat for Novels and readers, in part because he needs the younger viewers, and in part because he truly believes in this new Art.
One of the final calls is from a Novel reader, and Brett relaxes, ready for a softball question. He's surprised, though, to find this caller complaining about the inclusion of Captain Underpants in the show. The caller says that Captain Underpants, though it is brightly colored and pleasing to the eye, is an infinitely less complex and meaningful Novel than A Game of Thrones. Even though many people read Captain Underpants, it doesn't represent real Art, and that trying to judge Novels by the same criteria as paintings or photos is incorrect. He claims that the experience of reading the Novel comes from the complexity of the story, the development of the characters, the writing style and the immersion you get from reading it. The actual physical looks of the Novel can be important if they get in the way, but are largely irrelevant to any real hardcore Reader.
Brett shoots this guy down, too. He's a professional Art critic, and he knows what he's talking about. Captain Underpants is pleasing to the eye, and uses short, easy to read words in a large font. It's colorful and the spine is stiff, and even better, the pages are thick and unlikely to rip. A Game of Thrones lacks all these qualities. It sacrifices so many important things required to be called Art that it's worthless. This arbitrary focus on the content of the Novel as opposed to its Artistic qualities is overwhelming, and makes it unreadable. This sort of monomaniacal writing, Brett lectures the man, is precisely what would prevent Novels from going mainstream. He cuts off the call with the irate reader, and assures the audience that most readers are not at all like that. He cues the closing music and wraps up his show.
* * *
Brett relaxes in his office. He did pretty well today, he thinks. Helping a fledgling Art form is exactly what critics like him are supposed to do. Being unpopular with the mainstream media lets him take small risks like this. Some of his viewers might be cheesed, but they'll come back-- nobody can critique sculpture and oil like he can.
A Game of Thrones sits unread on the new Bookshelf he had installed between his frames and his CD player. He smiles, leans back, and cracks open Captain Underpants for some enjoyable casual reading.
