[
](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=187190)OK. Can I just say this kind of thing really bugs me?
On two counts.
First, what can it possibly benefit you, plnnr, to stick your head into a lovefest for something that holds no interest for you, only to share the fact that it holds no interest for you? You’re obviously speaking almost exclusively to people who disagree with you, so where’s your thrill? If I see a thread title inviting fellow fans to glurg over something that I find lame, then I consider myself off the guest list and avoid the thread; the alternative is nothing but rude, in my opinion. I’m not suggesting that there are rules that any such thread is off limits to me—nor even yet to you, plnnr, so don’t waste our time with any first amendment garbage, unless you weren’t going to, in which case nevermind—I’m only suggesting that it’s rude and childish.
It’s to be hoped, I would think, that Dopers will participate in threads to which they have something substantive to contribute; to the extent to which a post is more noise than signal, it’s annoying to the rest of us.
In the second place, this gets another of my goats (I’m runnin out of goats here). All art is subject to opinion. There can’t possibly be one single work of art, in the history of mankind, that EVERYBODY likes. This doesn’t mean that some people are right and some people are wrong. It may mean that some people get it or some people don’t; or some people see it from one perspective and some people see it from another; or that some people were dropped on their heads and some people weren’t. Getting the common thread here? The difference of opinion on any particular piece of art is 100% a reflection of the viewer, not of the artwork. OK? Every work of art is a Rorschach test. No exceptions, again I say 100%: it’s about the viewer of the art, not the artist.
So (getting a little further afield here, plnnr; you did not quite do this, so please feel free to bow out at this point), I really HATE it when someone comes into a thread like this and implies that they are smarter or better for NOT liking something that someone else likes.
It’s rude, it’s insulting, and it’s often cruel; and it serves only one purpose: to make the critic feel bigger by belittling others. (Again, plnnr, not you here.)
If you see nothing of value in something that others DO find valuable, that doesn’t mean that you have clearer vision. In fact, it might just mean that you have LESS clear vision. To imply otherwise is to imply that those who see something you don’t are imagining, or worse yet inventing, that thing which you for whatever reason of context or culture fail to recognize.
Why can’t more people say, in such an instance, “You know, I just don’t get [X movie/book/song/whatever]; it just didn’t speak to me,” instead of “You LIKED that movie? It SUCKED! That was the worst piece of crap that’s every made it to the big screen!”
The THIRD thing I hate about this (did I mention there were three things?) is the whole “Speed Racer” bullshit you hear from Anime uninitiates. I have a friend who says he can’t stand to watch ANY Anime because “they all have the same eyes.” And get this—the guy’s a WALT DISNEY fan, for chrissakes. Hasn’t he ever noticed that Disney heroines only have one style of eye? So what? So “anime” has a recognizable visual style? What the dripping bloody hell does that matter? Totoro is a masterpiece of writing, of characterization, of detail, of every frikkin thing you can think of, except perhaps for eyes. So focus on the eyes and REFUSE to see anything beyond that; it’s your own feet your shooting yourself in.
People who hold artistic ignorance up as some kind of badge of honor really get on my tits.
