Whenever someone says they don’t think a specific kind of media or specific media entry (sequels, reboots, remakes etc.) should exist or is necessary there’s almost always the inevitable response of “Well, if you don’t like it then just ignore it and let other people enjoy it” along with “Who are you to say what should and should not exist?”
What is your opinion on the argument and the matter as a whole?
I’d say it’s a tiresome response and more of a thought terminating cliche than an argument. Obviously people should be able to enjoy entertainment even if I don’t personally like it or think it should exist but that’s missing the point. It simply isn’t how media and culture work. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to acknowledge that cultural shifts impact people who live inside said culture/society whether or not they personally engage in it or consume it. Telling me I don’t have to watch something if I don’t like it doesn’t address the actual quality of the media in question. As subjective as art is we still have an interest (or at least should have an interest) in the kind of art and entertainment that’s popular and what gets pushed to the fringes as a result.
I think the argument strengthens when consumers have more choices in entertainment. When there are fewer radio or TV channels, it can feel like you’re having schlock shoved down your throat.
Most music is bad: this is an objective fact. Music tastes are shaped by our dislikes as much as our likes. From there it’s a short step to expressing a wish that you would rather not consume it involuntarily, an aspiration whose realism varies across time and context.
Also some art is actively harmful: Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney is but one example.
See? I like Silly Love Songs
No need to wax on about that.
There’s no accounting for tastes.
You can’t stop culture and artistic lisc. of the Artist.
And you can’t predict how it will be consumed. If a singer becomes an Elvis or a Beatle. And who screams for them.
Or why Picasso liked painting bulls. And who wanted those canvasses.
I believe Art of all kinds is a living thing. You can’t wish it away, ban it, burn the records or books.
It will come on at us. After we’re gone it will still come on.
It just is. If so happens it changes people or how we think, that is how it’s gonna be.
There’s a current thread about “potentially harmful Films/Television Shows,” and I thought this thread was going to be about that: even if I don’t “consume” harmful media, it could have an adverse effect on those who do.
The thread does seem to be about that, but also about media that is deemed to be aesthetically bad—not actively harmful, just low quality and a waste of time. If the “if you don’t like it don’t consume it” argument means that you shouldn’t criticize bad media for being bad, I disagree, but if it means you shouldn’t crap all over media just because you, personally, don’t enjoy it, I lean more toward agreement.
Yeah. There’s a spectrum, from Unfrosted to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. If you just think something is not enjoyable, then my telling you “Just don’t watch it” is fine. If you think something is leading to active harm in society, then make your case; but my saying “Just don’t watch it” doesn’t really work.
Often people who really mean that they don’t enjoy a work will try to build a “BUT IT HARMS SOCIETY!” argument, and their arguments are dumb. No, a black Ariel doesn’t harm society, any more than remaking The Little Mermaid with a happy ending harms society.
Other times, the case can be interesting. Is The Little Mermaid teaching young children bad lessons about romantic relationships? I can see that; and if it is, just telling me not to watch it won’t address that harm.
Do you see the contradiction here? The first person is arguing that a type of media should be pushed past the fringes into oblivion, then complains when people who happen to like that media express an interest in having it available.
So, yes, we do in fact have an interest in what kind of art and entertainment is popular and what is fringe, and what is nonexistent, thus your argument that reboots should never be made is making some people irritated. We can be fair about it, you don’t watch the garbage I watch, and I won’t watch the garbage you watch, and we can both accept that someone, somewhere, is watching a stupid movie.
As noted by others, if a work actively harms people, or encourages people to hate, harass or harm others, it’s a different ballgame.
Some thoughts are dumb enough to be terminated on sight with no discussion. “Art that I dislike shouldn’t exist” is a stellar example of the genre.
Of course we can (and should) critique the artistic merits of different works. You can make an informed critique, or just talk about what you like or don’t like, or whether you think it’s good for society.
But as for the position that “this genre shouldn’t exist”, that idea is frankly too stupid to engage with on any level.
If we had the resources to make a near-infinite amount of garbage, you’d have a point. But we don’t. Movies, even bad ones (however you define ‘bad’), cost a lot to make, and so we only make so many every year. If your ‘good’ movies are being pushed out because ‘bad’ movies are more popular, and thus are a better financial risk, you have less garbage to watch on your side of the equation, and I think that’s a legitimate reason to gripe, and someone telling you to just watch something else misses the point entirely: there is almost nothing else for you to watch.
Compare that to books these days. With the rise of e-books, the cost to publish a book has dropped to almost nothing. As a result, there’s been a huge increase in publication by smaller authors producing works for smaller audiences, and you almost never hear anyone complain that “All this vampire romance space literature is driving my werewolf cannibal alt-fantasy camp off the shelves!”
There were over 400 movies released in the US in 2022, which is down almost 50% since pre-COVID (in 2019 there were more than 700!), but that number has been increasing. Of course as in every medium, most of that is garbage, but there are always good movies to watch.
The biggest gripe I have is the numbers of “sequels, prequels and re-makes” vs. the number of actually new intellectual properties being made. And it also matters what genre you’re looking at. For movies, I mostly watch science fiction.
How many genuinely new science fiction properties have we seen lately? And of those, how many have actually been good? Not very many. Sure, there might be one or two new movies to see every year, but two movies per year isn’t very much.
I agree with this, plus, in an even stronger way, with art that you can’t avoid like music in stores, architectural eyesores, and nonconsensual performance art, you should be able to have an opinion on without the argument that you can just ignore it.
“If you don’t like it, don’t consume it” is just longhand for “enough complaining already.” If someone is complaining ad nauseum, especially if they’re sucking up all the air in the room (virtual or otherwise), then why not? Make your point and move on with your life. Nobody wants to hear your gripe forever.
Of course, if you complain once and someone tries to shut you down with “if you don’t like it, don’t consume it,” that’s worthy of an eye roll. Because, like, obviously; saying that contributes nothing to the discussion.
Most music is bad, certainly, but music is one art that doesn’t have the problem that there are few producers. Over 40,000 tracks are uploaded to Spotify every day now. Even among all the dreck there’s plenty of good songs; it doesn’t even take that much effort to find new music one likes.
@Horatius I agree. Studios have finite resources and everything they make means something else that didn’t get made that may have been of better quality. Being capitalist enterprises this is dictated primarily by profit and potential profit, not the desire to make quality art. How many Godfathers, Taxi Drivers and No Country for Old Mens have we missed out on because studios decided to fund Sequel: The Remake Part 2, Fast Car Explosion Part X and Captain Laser vs Amazing Man?
To be fair in the sentence you quoted I also said “specific media entries” meaning individual films, shows, songs etc. Very few people are outright against all sequels, remakes and reboots. The common issues people take with them are their sheer number, unnecessity, their stranglehold over the entertainment industry (in 2019 80% of the most popular films in the US were franchise entries compared to just 16% in 1981) and when they’re made solely as cash grabs or to keep rights.
Criticise all you like, just don’t be a dick about it. A portion of the backlash against people criticising media they don’t like, happens because the critic actively sought out a place where people who enjoy it were happily enjoying it together, and the critic waded in and dropped a their big angry turd in the middle of the room.