Name four art forms that do nothing for you

Cafe Society
21
  1. hip hop/rap
  2. singers like Mariah Carey who stretch out every phrase, syllable. Usually labeled “R&B”, but not entirely fair to R&B. There must be an accurate term for this besides screeching caterwauling.
  3. Improvisational jazz. In fact, most recorded jazz (I can enjoy the musicianship when I hear it in person). was told I was a philistine for this. I even went to “jazz appreciation” and “jazz history” classes. didn’t work; jazz still puts me to sleep.
    • last choice difficult. Toss up between golf or poker as spectator sport; most TV shows; pretentious self-important modern poetry, dance, or art. (yeah, “pretentious” is vague. but like “art” or “porn”, you know when you see it.); misogynistic stuff (esp. manga or anime involving rape; psychics…wait I’m veering off from “art forms” to “general pet peeves”. sorry.
22

I don’t consider it art, but what’s with people being famous for…being famous. Like Paris & Nicky Hilton.

23

Sports: all.
Music: Classical, including opera; modern R&B (all types); country, jazz.
Conceptual art.
Television, movies, literature about space/aliens/monsters, faeries, and anime/manga.
Notes:

  1. One of the radio stations where I work is classical. I try never to monitor it if I can avoid it. Haven’t ever heard anything I liked.
  2. According to legend, drummer Buddy Rich was being wheeled into the hospital for an operation. The doctor asked, “Are you allergic to anything?” and without pause, he replied, “yeah, man. Cowboy music.” That makes me laugh.
  3. My wife collects manga and anime. If I have to listen to that 7-year-old girl wailing at the top of her lungs in Japanese one more time, I’m gonna kill something.
  4. I didn’t say that any of these things sucked. Just that they don’t appeal to me.
24

Just out of interest, do you include West Side Story in that category?

25
  1. Hip-hop/rap
  2. NASCAR
  3. The kind of jazz where they noodle around forever and never get anywhere
  4. Baseball.

If I can add a few more “honorable mentions,” they’d be: soap operas, golf, soccer, opera, pornography, modern country music, and Firefly/Serenity–or rather, its rabid fandom.

26

Nah, I meant stuff like the production of Coriolanus as a biker gang that I saw a bit ago–the original Roman warrior mindset, with black leather and rpms. Lots of Will rip-offs (homages), OTOH, are fun.

27
  1. Mime
  2. Reggae
  3. Science fiction
  4. most ‘retro’ trends in fashion/music/architecture/product design
28
  1. Ballet
  2. Opera
  3. Modern art
  4. Science fiction, although I’m really loathe to call it an “art form.”
29

It’s not. It’s a genre.

30
  1. rap (crap)
  2. Abstract art (like jackson Pollack’s)
  3. ee cummings
    4)poetry slams
31

For this thread, I’d contend that “dislike” and “not appreciate” are two very distinct things. There are plenty of art forms I dislike–Competitive figure skating, country music, the English sonnet, and modern sculpture spring to mind–but I’d be hard-pressed to say I didn’t understand what the goals/methods/values of these art-forms are (certainly not as much as someone who enjoys and actively studies these arts, but enough to say I appreciate them). In addition, I’d have to admit there were certain artists within these art forms that I liked even though I generally dislike the form itself.

I think we also need to stipulate how broad a term must be before we can call it an “art form”. I have no like or appreciation for, say, Eric B. and Rakim, but can appreciate hip-hop though I dislike it in general (though I like a few artists like Jay-Z, P.E., etc.), and would never say I dislike or do not appreciate music in general.

IMHO, once something is labeled an “art form”, it is by definition broad enough that almost anyone can find something they like that fits that art form, and so develop an appreciation for the elements of that art form. Thus, every art form can be appreciated; believe me, given my general loathing of things like the “art” of comic books, it truly pains me to concede that I too can appreciate it given enough exposure.

32

I think that in genre forms, it’s possible to object to pure-genre works while recognizing there’s a lot of stuff in the genre that works very well, partly by virtue of being at the genre’s edges. Those of you who love literature but hate Westerns, try picking up Blood Meridian. Love literature but hate science fiction? Try The Dispossessed. Love literature but hate romances? Try A Bloodsmoor Romance.

In doing so, you’ll be seeing some of the best works in the genre (IMO), not the most typical. And that makes a big difference.

That said, the little bit of opera I’ve seen, including La Boheme (which folks tell me is an opera for opera-haters), left me cold. Classical ballet doesn’t do much for me. Most two-dimensional visual art doesn’t do much for me, either. And any art form in which the concept is the main focus, with very little attention put into technique, is likely to irritate the shit out of me.

Daniel

33

Unlike all of the previous answers, which show the posters to be narrow-minded and ignorant, my post is based on the objective truth of which genres/art forms are objectively truthily terrible.

  1. Hardcore/Noise - talentless hacks
  2. Photography - if I wanted pictures of reality, I’d look out my window
  3. Documentary - more like, not-creative-enough-to-make-a-story-tary
  4. Math - I don’t know anyone that would call this art
34

Most anime/manga. I liked “Spirited Away,” and “Princess Mononoke” was ok, but otherwise… I really, really hate people who do drawings and illustrations in an anime/manga style and never bother to define their own style.

Death metal. It sounds like a bunch of goddamn screaming, and the religious themes don’t interest me at all. Demons and disturbed masoleums and Satan, oh my. Also the clothing styles that go along with this are completely ridiculous.

Most modern jazz.

Those R&B songs where the singer can’t decide on a note, so they go up and down all over the place. Just pick one note and stick with it. I think this is called “melisma” but I’m not sure.

35

Good point Daniel. I think in critical theory the argument is: ‘minor’ figures are those who establish the ‘rules’ for the genre; ‘major’ figures break the rules.

36

Conceptual Art
Performance Art
Tone Poems
I’m on the edge with ballet – the music to some is very interesting, although I’ve never seen the accompanying dance. But the stuff I have seen didn’t interest me. But with a skilled enough and attractive enough cast I could change my mind.

37

I participate as a hobbist in all kinds of art, myself, so these might be a bit esoteric.

  1. Twelve-tone music. I’m so glad this was a short-lived musical experiment; true, there are some people who can write utter trash with traditional tonality, but abandoning tonality itself wasn’t a good idea. I went to a long, agonizing 12-tone concert at the local liberal arts college — perhaps you know the type of school where they’ll do anything anti-structural and non-traditional for the sake of it, whether or not the results are pleasing to the audience. This is esoteric music for musicians.

  2. Abstract meta-art. I’m sorry to fans of Kandinsky and Mondrian, but I just don’t get all those circles and triangles and squares. And Jackson Pollack, too — sorry, it’s just paint dribbles to me. This goes double for those big, boxy and/or cylindrical hunks of aluminum that pass as public art. Pretty much if you have to put “this side up” on a piece of art, or explain to me why it’s art, then I’m not part of the target audience. This is art for artists.

  3. Campy drag humor. I just don’t see how this is funny.

  4. Cutting edge runway fashion. Whatever world those designers are living in, where a model wearing pasties, moon boots, and gold plastic wrap is considered proper attire, that’s not the world I live in. It’s fashion as designed to one-up other designers, fashion for fashioneers, but not for real people.

38

  1. Noh; I am keen on Japanese culture, but having seen two performances and many clips of the art form I can only say. Noh it’s not for me.

  2. Country Music; all I’ve heard is just too simplistic and sleep enducing.

  3. Soap Operas; I have never wanted to get into any soap opera which isn’t also a comedy or action series. (So Buffy and Gilmore Girls are as near as I would get to a soap opera)

  4. Atonal noise; if any one presents this as an art form, I’m sure I wouldn’t like it.

39

  1. Modern Country Music – fake accents, tight jeans, and slide guitars do nothing for me. I do like “classic folk” country though, Buck Owens, Tom T Hall, Patsy Cline, e.g.

  2. Abstract painting – I see no qualitative difference between art museum splatters and what I can see in the wallpaper samples at Home Depot.

  3. Dramatic “chick flicks” – I enjoy movies for their escapist fantasy, situations and events beyond the everyday routine and experience. I have observed far too much personal emotional relationship drama in real life to find it interesting to also seek it out for additional entertainment.

  4. Interpretive dance – I can respect and enjoy the skill, timing, and athleticism of tangos, swings, ballets, etc. Randomly writhing and gyrating in some manner purely subjective to some unseen emotion the dancer is trying to express just misses me completely.

40

Since sports are considered part of the “arts” forum,

  1. NASCAR or any motor sport that involves going around in circles. I would pay to see an off-road rally, though.

  2. Genre fiction of any kind - Science Fiction, Historical, Romance, etc. I don’t understand why some people can only read things if they are crammed into a narrow frame.

  3. Modern Interpretive Dance - It all looks to me like people running around randomly doing poorly executed scissor kicks. It makes as much sense to me as it would if Barry Sanders his touchdown runs thusly - “The spin move I made at the 35 represented our earth spinning off its axis due to nuclear holocaust, represented by Billy Joe Rhubarb, the linebacker. The high stepping into the enzone was a satirical protest of our Fascist government.”

  4. Scrapbooking