Image courtesy: Cristina Polop
The term banal is a qualifying adjective that serves to designate a certain type of attitude, or phenomena or situations normally considered as unimportant, superficial and little compromised.The banal can be a way of being of a person, but it can also be a phenomenon, as for example when talking about the private life of a famous person
In this sense, although the idea of banal is subjective to each person and to each type of situation, it is normally considered that issues related to appearance, show business, gossip, material life are all examples of banal things in front of other phenomena much more complex and painful for humanity such as misery, poverty, hunger and different types of crimes.
The idea that what is banal for one person may not be for someone else is correct
However, on a social level it is normally accepted that things related to appearance, material life, luxury and the idea of being famous are always banal because there is talk of ways to entertain the mind and body that do not suppose true happiness if not that they are simply a fantasy of what life really is and what man can do to improve the world in which he lives.
The complexity of the concept of banal or banality resides in the fact that many of the things that are thus considered are highly criticized or frowned upon by an important part of society. However, they attract at the same time a large part of the population and this is so because many times the banal things are precisely those that make us forget all the problems and complications of daily life in which any human being is inserted.
