I have been complaining about the assumptions behind popular entertainment, but I should say something positive about the TV series "Endeavour" which is being shown on Channel 7 in Australia on Sunday nights. This is the second spin-off from the Inspector Morse books and TV shows from the 1980's. First there was Lewis, about the subsequent career of Morse's sergeant, now Endeavour tells the story of young Detective Sergeant Morse.
I like crime novels and movies. Not the suspense and chases, but the novels about crime and investigations, like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, G.K. Chesterton's Fr Brown, Maigret etc etc.
First of all, they can be read as entertaining stories. They may not be high art, but by its nature, crime stories involve:
- engagement with everyday life which is close to reality
- issues of good and evil, retribution and salvation
- central characters who are developed over several stories
- the puzzle of the crime and its solution.
In my opinion, the Inspector Morse books by Colin Dexter have a few flaws, but they are still very, very good. The TV series have reflected this, and I find myself getting involved in the characters and the assumptions they are making. I can agree or disagree with them, but I find them stimulating and interesting.
I don't know whether it is art, but I know I like it.
You are still entitled to like and enjoy a film, TV show, play, painting, sculpture, novel, short story, piece of architecture, pop song, piece of music or symphony, even if the majority of critics do not. Critics are not necessarily the mouthpiece of the common man, and the common man has more voting power than the critic. Critics are often paid to assess the worth of those who have been successful in the same art form in which the critics have been relative failures. The common man often gives life to things where the critic would wish death upon it. Let's celebrate with a Fanfare for the Common Man. Regards, Chris.
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