What We are Thinking re: What She Said After Seeing 'Slumdog Millionaire'

'What is arguably present in every successful work of art', suggests de Botton, is 'an ability to restore to our sight a distorted or neglected aspect of reality.' Hear, hear! we say to this nicely-written aphorism, which rather effortlessly encapsulates the reason why we, as artistic consumers, often say, 'Well, now, that [enter art genre here] changed my life', in response to first encountering the piece in question. Of course what we mean in all truthfulness (but fail to simply say b/c of our general addiction to clichés) is that, more specifically, our perspective has been altered by an outside force. Yes, this worldview (egh), point-of-view, interpretive bent, universal bias, standard disposition and/or attitude, or - for the mathematically-inclined - metaphorical angle, slant, or panorama of ours has metamorphosized, that kind of change that cannot be overlooked. Now this marked diversion may not last for long; it may be that the perceived metamorphosis was in fact a false dawn, and by the next morning, we will have returned to our standard position. This outcome, we think, happens to be the case described as 'most often'.

But at least the film, the painting, the song, the symphony, the drama, the photo, the poem, the design, the sculpture, the performance, the words did...that is, altered...something...that is, you...however briefly.

We do not doubt that certain art will have a much more lasting effect.