I first discovered the TV show; The Marvelous Mrs Maisel [a cute alliteration!] on a rainy October afternoon like this. It was two years ago, and I was introduced to it by a friend, just something nice to watch while I had dinner, or something.
The details about the show are very ordinary on the surface. It is a story about a young woman named Miriam [or Midge] Maisel.
Married with two children, whose life is suddenly blown up by her husband’s actions [watch the show to find out what, I am giving no spoilers].
She then has to pick up her life where he left it, and strangely she turns to a career in stand up.
Stand-up comedy.
Considering that the show is set in New York in the 1950’s, this is a very strange career choice. For anyone. Especially for a person who had all along been a housewife. But the odd thing is that it works. She finds that she can filter her experiences into comedy, into comedic genius.
And the show is a very funny show, but it also betrays its humorous overtones by being complex, by examining very difficult and sometimes off-center topics. Of that time, and of now. But it does so in a way that is as welcoming as it is nuanced.
There is something the lead actress said about the show that struck me; that while it is a story that generally details the highs and lows of a pretty ordinary woman, at its core is joy.
I really do agree with that, the show genuinely has a very joyful element to it.
So in this post, I want to consider something that element gets overlooked these days in conversations about art in literature or music, or otherwise; I want to consider joy.
BUT FIRST, WHAT COUNTS AS ART
Recently, I was considering why TV series in their multiplicity, and with their sprawling stories that sometimes go on for years - are not considered as art.
It requires a lot. To create something that engages peoples’ attention, that gets people to be involved, even if for only an hour or so. To get people to invest in the life and trajectories of characters that are outside of their own sphere of experience. It is not an easy thing to do.
It is why I see television shows as their own craft, their own art.
Yet I have been wondering about it, why they are not seen as proper art.
Another thing I have been asking is, what really is proper art?
There are many other mediums for creativity that in their own right, should be considered as art. But are not, and it is odd that they are not. It is something I am still trying to understand.
There are many reasons why they might not be considered art enough; they aren’t ‘serious’ enough, they are too far outside of the categories we expect art to fall in. Too strange, too simple. Too common.
Too common might be the reason that applies here. But I think that is unfair.
And I think the heart of it is echoed by something the amazing Speculative fiction novelist Ursula K Le Guin said; that we consider happiness, good things, to be something trivial. “Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting”
A show, or any art, as light-hearted, or sometimes uplifting as this, carries the weight of that problem; it is simply not sad enough. Or the happiness it holds is seen as sentimental, not something we can trust. As though pain were a safe option.
SO, WHAT IS ART’S ROLE IN CREATING JOY?
I have always seen art as a tool to help us see the full range of being human.
To understand and to document our experiences, our triumphs and tales.
But joy, an experience that we crave, long for, sacrifice a lot for, is not often given center-stage in conversations about art. Or even within art.
Yet what do we try to do when we engage with art? We want to look beyond what we see around us in the present moment. To be transported to a higher ideal, a freer and more pleasurable experience than what we have around us. Even the art that is written centering pain, is in the end, trying to overcome it. Trying to hope beyond the hurt, and reach for the promise of joy on the other side.
In this TV series, I think about how this truth is translated into the every-day scenes we see.
A woman gets many obstacles thrown at her as she works towards her career in stand-up comedy, but something about the series makes us feel as though in the end she will be a big star in her field. That we are only watching the humble beginnings, the starting-and-stopping that eventually leads to her triumph.
Perhaps this mirrors the hope we have in our own lives; that our own humble starting and stopping towards our goals is worth something. That we are not seeing the full picture.
There is something precious about being given the gift to see that.
CAN JOY BE TRUE?
One other thing that I love about this series is that it is a comedy.
And comedy is a very unique art form [yes, I said it].
It is unique in that it uses humour to bring us closer towards truths that are hard to hear.
We laugh at ourselves, at our problems, at the absurdity of having problems in the first place when there is so much to laugh about.
And even more, comedy, laughing, leads us fastest towards the notion of joy. It has its palm right on the door that leads to, even if sometimes fleetingly, a very ready happiness.
Even happy music cannot do this. Music can only change how we feel about ourselves, or our present situation in general. But comedy gets to the heart of things, it cuts through even pain, and brings out the steady, pulsating joy underneath it. I think this series has been able to capture this, skilfully. Artistically.
The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel is going towards its fourth season soon.
Finding out what happens next is exciting. The last season ended off with a bit of a cliff-hanger, it would be interesting to see where her career, and the rest of her life goes on from there.
Now, while we have been talking about the value of considering joy as legitimate in art, I want to talk about the sacrifices artists make to create art.
The main character of this show has to give up many comforts [and so do the people around her] to accommodate this dream, and I often wonder if artists get to experience joy in their own lives while creating joy in their art.
I am not sure why, but I want them to be okay, too, I guess.
But maybe it is the truth in the end that artists, even in the beauty they create, are just as invested in figuring out how to reach for happiness. Like every other person.
Sometimes they do, and they get to show the rest of the world what they have found, and join us into it.
I think that is something. Something this show, and the characters here do so well.
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