Comment by netcan
6 years ago
Funny...
As I write this, the office I work with is abuzz with game of thrones talk. Does Arya fullfil the prophecy. How winter fell to the Starks. If it gets to pints after work it'll be the war of roses, white walkers as a symbol of climate change, dragons as nuclear weapons...
We delve into art we like, insert meaning and extend the stories with our interpretations. Sometimes we hope, imagine or expect that the artist intended it this way. Sometimes we don't. We know this is our own embellishment.
I don't think the stuff the writer is describing is a problem really. It's fine that people understand poems in ways that are unrecognisable to the poet. I think the medium of standardized testing is just awkward applied to metaphorical babble about (possibly) metaphorical art.
You can standardize-test arithmetic, because they's an objective answer.
Poetry & literature classes are about making students engage with stuff. Most teachers won't care if the kids read their own crazy theories into a poem or whatnot.
But... imagine forcing someone who isn't into game of thrones into articulating a metaphorical theory about it. Awkward.
Now imagine your boss would grade you on how well you can recite a particular co-worker's GoT interpretation, and cut your paycheck if you get too many things wrong - or if you dared to say you disagree with that interpretation.
This is how humanities in school feel. Being told some arbitrary interpretation is the truth, being forced to learn it, and being tested on it.
And yet, when I point out that I find The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to be a story about a god-like entity that appears, saves the libertarians from their inability to play well with others, and then disappears before we get to ask any questions about its existence, or The Puppet Masters to be tedious (yeah, I get it, commies bad) and to demonstrate that Heinlein wasn't very good at seeing the consequences of his ideas,...I get a lot of crankiness from the same "humanities are about punishing disagreement" people.
> We delve into art we like, insert meaning and extend the stories with our interpretations.
Speaking as an artist, this is exactly what (some? most?) artists aspire to.
I want to paint a (word) canvas that requires you, dear reader, to do some work,... to colour that canvas and paint in the details for yourself. A canvas that evokes your own memories, your lost loves and missed opportunities, your triumphs, your dark moments, your wins and losses. If I don't pull that off, then I've failed. There are no "correct" interpretations, there are only your interpretations.
"You can standardize-test arithmetic, because they's an objective answer."
And yet you can't, because why the answer is wrong is more important that that it is wrong.