A Work of Art Equals a New World
What is the nature of culture? Let us narrow down the question to: What is the nature of art? And let us start with something one can point to—a work of art. What is it?
Let us take an example, say, The Lord of the Rings. What happens when we read it? At least two things. First, we accept another world, one built by J. R. R. Tolkien, as if it is ours. We identify with the heroes; we love and hate; we get scared, triumphant, sad, happy, impatient, avenged, etc. It is as if we are living and acting there—we take whatever happens there close to our hearts. Again, their world becomes, in a sense, ours. Second, it is a different and strange world. That is why it is interesting to us.
And so, here we can sum up the first definition of a work of art: it is the paradox of a new, strange world accepted as our own—an alter ego of our world.
This alter ego, in a sense, is less real, yet, in another sense, more real than the physical world. It is less real because it is virtual. You can enter and exit at any time, at will. However, it becomes more real when it affects you, evokes strong feelings, and influences your decisions to a greater extent than the physical world.
One could say that this definition was deduced from just one specific example, one of fantasy. What about other genres?
They are all the same. Let us take an example that is close to physical reality—a newspaper article. Try to extract a list of pure facts from the article and compare it with the article itself. Which one is more real in terms of influencing the reader? The list or the article? Which one is more likely to get noticed? Which one is more likely to get genuine attention, understanding, and empathy? The answer seems obvious; it is the article or, in other words, the list of facts processed by the journalist (thus presenting a conditioned world), which is more visible and understandable. How has this reality been achieved? The journalist has turned the physical reality into “more ours” (so it became touching) and, at the same time, “more strange” (so it became interesting).
