Enjoy More Things and Trust Me...You'll Enjoy More Things
This is sort of a link up to my earlier statements about me liking well-rounded people. The older I get the more I realize that the wider variety of stories, movies, plots, games, etc... I find fun and merit in the more likely I'll actually enjoy a randomly selected product from those categories.
I mean sure, total crap is still total crap, but I find I don't waste a lot of time declaring how my time was "utterly wasted" and feeling like I have to piss on someone else's work since more often than not I'm finding at least bits and pieces of various works that I like. For example, I might not feel the overwhelming urge to own Troy on DVD but I can still be really impressed and entertained by Eric Bana's performance as Hector.
Sadly, so many of my fellow geeks seem to do the opposite. I see a lot of complaints on a number of subjects that break down into three annoying categories:
1) It sucked because it's not part of the fairly limited group of things I am inclined to like and it wasn't stellar enough to overcome this...even if the actual work is, in fact, stellar.
Seriously, the next time you run across some geek who owns 100 different flavors of magical girl anime and trashes on something like Casablanca because they were secretly put off by the lack of Ingrid Bergman jumping onto Sam's Piano and yelling "Nazi Fighter Magic Transformation Go!" please punch them in the nuts for me.* If they try to defend this weird bias as some sort of objective failing of the creative work itself, feel free to slap them upside the head too.
2) It sucked because I'd already decided it.
You see this all the time. A so-so movie trailer, a book cover by an artist one doesn't care for, etc... and it doesn't matter if the work is in fact good, the mind is already made up. This usually goes hand in hand with the next reason which is...
3) It sucked because it's not the magical piece of crap in my head.
Oh dear god this is the worst. Seriously, every once and awhile you'll see some goofball talk about how he/she would have made a particular work "better." This might be fanfic, an internet forum post, or just a comment to this social circle but it's almost always utter shit. I encounter too many ideas along these lines that are in essence, "In my version we appeal only to my limited interests and eliminate anything I didn't like from the original and act like this is the one true way." These are the assholes who want a Batman film where Robin gets gang raped, a line for line translation of a novel to film with no regard for the difference in medium, or something equally craptastic.
They also bitch the loudest when someone messes with the "classic" version of a character or story. Problem is, their version of "classic" is whatever they were first exposed to. So a guy who started reading comics in the early 90s has a "Classic X-Men" line-up which includes Gambit and someone connected to Cable. And that's fine, but it's not classic in any sense of the word save that which exists in that person's head.
As an aside, I think this is how bad adaptations get made...the major difference being that the person with the magical piece of crap in their head sadly has a movie deal or something.
Anyway, I've found a great way to not fall into these traps and/or be an asshole about this kind of stuff is to try and read, watch, etc... some new stuff every once and awhile. And don't pick up something to reaffirm why you only read lesbian furry fantasy or whatever, actually give it a shot and even if it doesn't thrill you, recognize the stuff that does work or that you do appreciate.
And yes, that means you might be exposed to some crap. And hey, if you don't want to risk and that and want to stick with the safe stuff...then go nuts. But shut the hell up about the stuff you actually have little knowledge of. If you've never actually seen a western most fans of the genre would agree is at least entertaining, don't say they're boring. If the reason you don't like an author is because an ex-girlfriend loved him/her and raved about how they were better than your favorite writers but in fact you've never even read a single word of this person's work...own up to that or just shut up about it.
But if you actually do expose yourself to a variety of things I think you'll find that overall you're ability to enjoy various aspects of literature, film, and maybe even life increases. At the very least you can hold conversations about things other than Italian zombie films or dark fantasy rpgs. And believe or not, that is a useful skill.
* or kick 'em in the tits, I'm nothing if not a supporter of feminism.
I mean sure, total crap is still total crap, but I find I don't waste a lot of time declaring how my time was "utterly wasted" and feeling like I have to piss on someone else's work since more often than not I'm finding at least bits and pieces of various works that I like. For example, I might not feel the overwhelming urge to own Troy on DVD but I can still be really impressed and entertained by Eric Bana's performance as Hector.
Sadly, so many of my fellow geeks seem to do the opposite. I see a lot of complaints on a number of subjects that break down into three annoying categories:
1) It sucked because it's not part of the fairly limited group of things I am inclined to like and it wasn't stellar enough to overcome this...even if the actual work is, in fact, stellar.
Seriously, the next time you run across some geek who owns 100 different flavors of magical girl anime and trashes on something like Casablanca because they were secretly put off by the lack of Ingrid Bergman jumping onto Sam's Piano and yelling "Nazi Fighter Magic Transformation Go!" please punch them in the nuts for me.* If they try to defend this weird bias as some sort of objective failing of the creative work itself, feel free to slap them upside the head too.
2) It sucked because I'd already decided it.
You see this all the time. A so-so movie trailer, a book cover by an artist one doesn't care for, etc... and it doesn't matter if the work is in fact good, the mind is already made up. This usually goes hand in hand with the next reason which is...
3) It sucked because it's not the magical piece of crap in my head.
Oh dear god this is the worst. Seriously, every once and awhile you'll see some goofball talk about how he/she would have made a particular work "better." This might be fanfic, an internet forum post, or just a comment to this social circle but it's almost always utter shit. I encounter too many ideas along these lines that are in essence, "In my version we appeal only to my limited interests and eliminate anything I didn't like from the original and act like this is the one true way." These are the assholes who want a Batman film where Robin gets gang raped, a line for line translation of a novel to film with no regard for the difference in medium, or something equally craptastic.
They also bitch the loudest when someone messes with the "classic" version of a character or story. Problem is, their version of "classic" is whatever they were first exposed to. So a guy who started reading comics in the early 90s has a "Classic X-Men" line-up which includes Gambit and someone connected to Cable. And that's fine, but it's not classic in any sense of the word save that which exists in that person's head.
As an aside, I think this is how bad adaptations get made...the major difference being that the person with the magical piece of crap in their head sadly has a movie deal or something.
Anyway, I've found a great way to not fall into these traps and/or be an asshole about this kind of stuff is to try and read, watch, etc... some new stuff every once and awhile. And don't pick up something to reaffirm why you only read lesbian furry fantasy or whatever, actually give it a shot and even if it doesn't thrill you, recognize the stuff that does work or that you do appreciate.
And yes, that means you might be exposed to some crap. And hey, if you don't want to risk and that and want to stick with the safe stuff...then go nuts. But shut the hell up about the stuff you actually have little knowledge of. If you've never actually seen a western most fans of the genre would agree is at least entertaining, don't say they're boring. If the reason you don't like an author is because an ex-girlfriend loved him/her and raved about how they were better than your favorite writers but in fact you've never even read a single word of this person's work...own up to that or just shut up about it.
But if you actually do expose yourself to a variety of things I think you'll find that overall you're ability to enjoy various aspects of literature, film, and maybe even life increases. At the very least you can hold conversations about things other than Italian zombie films or dark fantasy rpgs. And believe or not, that is a useful skill.
* or kick 'em in the tits, I'm nothing if not a supporter of feminism.
posted by Jack at 3:52 AM
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