Theory of Knowledge - Essay Example

Can literature tell the truth better than other arts (Theory of knowledge) This is a interesting question. It is difficult to know whether literature can tell the truth better than other arts. First of all we have to know what kind of arts, and then what kind of literature. There are many different arts. These are film, poetry, painting and sculpture. Some people include photography as an art. That in turn is a difficult question. This essay will write about the fact that literature is good at describing some things while other arts are better at discussing others. First of all, there is no one answer to this question. Some novels are good, some are terrible. The same can be said of other art forms as well. Many paintings are really boring to look at, others you can't stop looking at them. Perhaps it is best to compare the best of novels with the best of other arts. That way the comparison will be more fair and people can see what really happens. Literature are made up of novels and non-fiction works. A novel is very good at getting the reader inside the head of the people who are involved. For example, in the Harry Potter books, the author lets the readers know what Harry is thinking. If you compare this to the films of the books, in the films you don't know what people are thinking. But in the films you see the action better. So when you see Harry on his broomstick attacking a dragon that is better when you see it then when you read it in the book. Films show action better than novels but also are more simple. Novels are much longer and can include more details than a film. A film tends to make things simple for the audience. A novel also takes longer to read than a film takes to watch. A person can read two days today but thirty pages tomorrow. They can then leave the book for a month without reading it at all. So a book is the kind of art that you can take at your own pace. Other arts need to be seen all at once. This is especially the case with a film. You can't really watc five minutes one day, thirty the next and then leave it for a month before watching the rest. It would not seem to make sense. A painting, like a film, shows things rather than tells us about them. It is a picture rather than words. A painting just shows one thing, or set of things, while a novel can tell a whole story of a person or many different generations. The fact that the picture is simple makes it easier for the person who is looking at it to understand what is happening. A sculpture is like a picture in that it shows a particular scene, and only one. The sculpture is different than either novels or films because it is very physical in nature. Some sculptures, as long as they are not too famous, can actually be touched by a person looking at them. You cannot touch a novel or a film. A sculpture can be looked at from different angles, while a novel can only really be read in one way. If you look at a sculpture from behind it will look different from in front. But it will be the same sculpture. Is this a better view of the truth than can be found in novels In one way, yes, because it is like reale life. For example, if you meet someone for the first time you can look at them from the front or from the behind. There are different angles. This is the same with sculpture. Theatre is a bit like sculpture, except it uses real people. You actually see real people in theatre, unlike in film where they are just light on a screen. That makes it different. Different because you can tell that they are real people on the stage. Every performance will be different. A novel is always the same, as is a film. Poetry is an art that is like literature more than the other artes. This is because it uses words, like the novel. The only way a person can understand poetry is to read it. The poem is different from a novel in the fact that it is rather much shorter. You can read most poems in a few minutes. In one way this is like looking at a painting, or, to less extent, a film. Some poetry can be very difficult to read, even tho it is very short. It only has a few words so its meaning may not be clear. I don't like that kindof poetry. Art should be clear as to what it is saying. That does not mean it needs to be simple. Just clear. If a photo is regarded as art, and many people don't think that it is, but if it is, then it shows perhaps the most reality of the arts. This is because a photograph simply records what is in front of the camera. But is this the truth I don't know. I have seen many photographs and don't really look at them very often. That means thats they are not really art. Art is the kind of thing that you want to look at more often than once. A photograph is a bit like reading a newspaper. You might look at it once, but that is it. A painting is like a novel. It may be more difficult to understand but it is worth it. For that I mean that it is possible to see many different meanings in a novel, but just one in a photograph. A newspaper is only interesting for a day - you get to read about what has happened the day before. Then it is gon. A novel may not be about anywhere you have been, or anywhere that exists at all, but it can still mean more than a newspaper. The characters may be more real than real people because of the way it is writen. I think novels can tell the truth better than many other arts because when you are reading a really good novel it is as if you are in the place you are reading gabout. A good writer can take you away from your school or home and let you live in another place. This is because it is happening inside your head. It is your imagination that has been taken over. This has happened to me several times already. I can't say that this has happened in other arts. Sometimes I get caught up in a good film, but I am just watching it. I am not living it. As I would be in a book. So novels at their best can tell the truth in ways that other arts cannot. Does this make them better at telling all truth No. As I said, films are better at showing action than novels. Seeing someone stabbed is always nearer the truth than reading about the stabbingd. In most films and most novels that is. To end this essay I would like to say that some arts are liked by some people and others are liked by others. So if I was a painter I would probably think that painting reflects the truth best. If I wrote or directed films, I might thing they show the truth. If I was a poet I would argue the truth is in poetry. There is no one answer to this question. It all depends on the person who is looking at the art. That is the way it should be. ____________________________________ Read More