Literature : what is it for ? Do Movies belong to literature ?
Published On: 23 July 2019 | Bollywood | By: Ravi Mondeti
Literature represents the culture and tradition of a language or people. The concept is difficult to precisely define; the accepted definition of literature is constantly changing and evolving. For many, the word literature suggests a higher art form; merely putting words on a page doesn't necessarily equate to creating literature.
Works of literature, at their best, provide a kind of blueprint of human society. From Vedic Puranas to Indian independence struggle Memoirs, works of literature give insight and context to all societies. In this way, literature is more than just a historical or cultural artifact; it can serve as an introduction to a new world of experience.
Literature saves time, it looks like wasting time but it gives you experience to a range of emotions and events that would take you years, ages or lives to experience them yourself. Literature puts you through innumerable situations that you wouldn't encounter directly , like repurcussions of killing someone, cheating your partner , etc . Literature takes you through continents and makes you a global citizen and that to with no cost! It is the best simulation machine available.
Literature shows us the other perspective, it allows us to consider consequences of our actions on others which we wouldn't have known otherwise! It shows us examples of kindly , generous and sympathetic people ! Literature strictly stands opposed to the dominant value system, the one that rewards money and power. It makes us sympathetic to ideas and feelings that are deep important but find no space in commercialized, status concious cynical world. It makes us Nicer! Example, The likes of the Epic Ramayan, Baahubali!
Literature helps us articulate our weird thoughts. We are weirder than what we are ready to admit. We can't say what really is in our minds, but in books/movies we find characters describing us genuinely as if the writer knows us better than ourselves. In the works of great writers we find our neglected thoughts!
All our lives our greatest fears are of our failures , of messing up, of becoming a loser. Interestingly a lot literature is about failures and flawed characters . Great literature evoke pitty for the Hero and fear for ourselves based on a new sense of how near we all are to destroying our own lives. Great literature don't judge as harshly or one-dimensionally as News or Social media, example the Likes of Kabir Singh/ Arjun Reddy.
A Movie belongs to literature if it can do any of the above treatment to you. But If literature, a movie, can do all these things then we might need to treat it differently than we do now, we tend to treat it as a distraction, an entertainment. It's far more than that, it's really a therapy in the broad sense. Its a tool that help us live and die with a little more wisdom, goodness and sanity!
Tags: Cinema movie literature
Meet the author
Cinephile and an aspiring Storyteller. Sharing my views and experiences (before and after watching a Movie) in this Space. Believes in Alfred Hitchcoc's principle of three things that can make a Great Movie - The Script ,The Script and The Script.
