It’s only natural to look towards the thing we know best when interpreting art and literature: ourselves.

After all, how can we make sense of such a subjective realm without relating it to our own thoughts and experiences?

But subjectivity is limited. It can only go so far. There’s much we’ll never truly come to understand. Much that we’ll never experience, or never want to experience.

The driving principles of popular entertainment now rear their way into the reactions of work that require deeper consideration from outside our immediate, limited perception. There is a trend of black and white thinking, where art must align with our personal moral codes, and our modern sensibilities, and fit like a comfort blanket over our frame of mind.

In literature, the role of the protagonist takes up a weirdly significant chunk of discourse. Their motivations, their morality, and how their thinking aligns with our own. There is a casual assumption that the protagonist is an avatar, with direct access to interpreting their thoughts and actions. There’s little need to reach into the unknown because we can interpret with what we already know and feel.

​Perhaps it's time to rethink our ideas about 'highbrow' art

This mode of writing is all over modern fiction shelves, as expected as it is particularly in the........

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