Reflection 1: Popular vs. Artistic
“Popular”
books mean that they appeal to several different audiences. If these books
contained language full of imagery and craft, less people would probably
understand them. When we read “artistic” books for school, we spend time going
over the symbolism behind within every word. I think this is the reason that
most best seller books aren’t used for teaching purposes in schools. I have
read the entire Twilight series and I
understand why these are best sellers instead of winners of different literary
prizes. It isn’t fair to say that best sellers aren’t well-written, because they
definitely are, but more of the time they lack different literary elements such
as underlying meaning and symbolism. From what I picked up for the work of
Stephanie Meyer, it was a simple fantasy story that was written for the main
purpose of attracting the heart of teenage girls. I could be wrong, but I didn’t
find a deeper issue being addressed within a tale of vampires and werewolves.
However, reading To Kill a Mockingbird
was a completely different experience. Harper Lee’s books spoke about the very
controversial topic of racial discrimination. Popular works can be great when
it comes to language, plot, and characters, but they can often leave out
literary aspects that make people consider novels like To Kill A Mockingbird “great”.
I beleive what you are saying is true to a point.I see the comparison you are making to best-sellers and "true" Liturature a circumstatnial thing. However When you say that for school the reason we read the books we do is because "for school we spend time going over the symbolism behind within every word.' and some/ most " best sellers do not have the capibility to be analyesed that deep. but i belive they do have that potiental. Every writer when they write something no matter it be a poem, or a short story each thing they write has a meaning to it. The writers don't just write willey nilley they take their time choosing the seeting the people the items they wear all to make up the story and give it meaning.School i see it has takin the time to look at a book and really see what the auther is trying to show us the hidden things that are there to make us apreciate the book a little more. A best seller has that quality it just needs to be saught out.
ReplyDeleteYou raise a good point on this topic, that popular books are written jus tto tell a story and attract many different types of people. I agree that literary works are written to be analyzed and really talked about in depth, so they're written with a very large amout of undertones that make it about a bigger issue.
ReplyDeleteYou do make a very important point. Many bestselling books are written for the sake of entertainment and many are written to attract a large audience and make money. The classic examples of Twilight and Harry Potter, they were both written with no huge symbolism behind almost every single character and word. They were written to enteratin, which is why they were made into movies. The Great Gatsby was only made into a small production film, at least until the recent production of the new Gatsby movie. But the public didn't demand a Gatsby movie be made for entertainment when the book first came out.
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