Someone once said, “I don’t have to eat garbage to know that I won’t like the taste,” which I think is a suitable rebuttal to the idea of “You can’t judge a book by its cover” or “You can’t say you won’t like something if you haven’t tried/watched/read it yet.”
In many instances it is perfectly reasonable to judge a book by its cover (if a book cover says “College Trigonometry” you wouldn’t expect to open it up and read about Shakespeare, or if a bookstore has a novel with a romance-novel cover art on the jacket, you wouldn’t expect it to be about Java programming), or to already know in advance that you won’t like something that you haven’t tried yet. Someone who already knows that they have an intense phobia of spiders will be able to guess that they won’t like a documentary video that shows 1 hour of footage about spiders. Given that humans have finite time, energy and resources you don’t have to try everything under the Sun; you have to discriminate on what you know you probably will like and won’t like.
But at the same time there are indeed some people who will criticize a movie that they haven’t even seen, or a book they have never read. So can people truly know in advance whether they will like or dislike something they have never tried or read?
The answer, for me, depends on the nature of the criticism.
If you criticize a movie you haven’t seen by saying “The action sequences are shitty.” - then, well, that’s not really a valid opinion. Even if you’ve seen part of one sequence in a trailer, you don’t have evidence that the action sequences are shitty.
If you criticize a movie you haven’t seen by saying “The plot is stupid.” - based on a review that summarizes the plot, you’re on firmer ground, but it’s subject to how well the reviewer relayed the plot information.
If you criticize a movie you haven’t seen by saying “It’s filled with Nazi propaganda!” - based on a website that contains stills and detailed textual summaries of all the subtle Nazi stuff the filmmaker worked in, you’re good.
Generally, they can. If a person has hated every action film they’ve seen, it’s a pretty safe bet they’re going to hate the next action film that comes up. It may not be a 100% certainty, but it’s ridiculous to ask them to keep watching action films in hopes that the next one is that magical one in ten thousand that they might not hate.
These sayings cover two different concepts, both of which are valid.
“I don’t have to eat garbage to know that I won’t like the taste” is saying you don’t have to experience something personally in order to have an informed opinion of it.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover” is saying you shouldn’t judge the actual nature of something by a different thing which is just associated with it.
The difficulty is knowing which principle is applicable to a given situation. Somebody suggests going to a movie and you say you won’t like the movie because you didn’t like any of the director’s previous movies. Is the director’s past record sufficient evidence for you to form a judgement on his filmmaking abilities? Or are you wrongfully condemning this movie based on the poor quality of other different movies?
It’s amatter of applying some interpretation and analysis. Can you identify the contents to genre? Can you identify the author/director/script writer? Have you been exposed to samples of any of the preceeding? How did you feel about them?
There are some genres that I know I’m not interested in. There are some authors, directors, and screenwriters that I loathe. Nope, not going to waste my time. OK, sure, it’s possible I might miss out on the one single masterpiece, but realistically, that’s unlikely. And if it DOES happen, I can always look it up later when it comes out in paperback/digital/what-have-you format.
I have a pool of trusted resources for reviews - not necessarily industry greats, but people whom have similar tastes, and have been reliably accurate for me in the past. Every now and again, I’ll find that a favored reviewer, author, director has missed the plot horribly, or gone insane (Robert Asprin, I’m looking at you!), but that’s a rare surprise.
edit:
Where I have no experience, I will sample and test. I’ve found some good stuff that way.
I can judge a book by its cover, if the author’s name is printed on there. Authors have a reputation that goes around with them. Some of them I will read and assume a likelihood that I will like it, some I wouldn’t waste my time reading them.
Pretty much what **Little Nemo **said.
If you already have a poor opinion of a director/author/musician, you needn’t subject yourself to every new work they put out just to be sure you still don’t like their work.
A related saying is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, but if the chef’s last three dishes already made you violently ill, there’s no need to stick around for dessert.
It also depends on what’s at stake.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover”. But if that’s all I’ve got to go on, you can bet that information will be important in deciding whether or not I part with my cash.
Right, like Little Nemo says, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” isn’t actually analogous to “You can’t say you won’t like something if you haven’t tried/watched/read it yet.” Book covers are notoriously misleading. Same with Hungry Man frozen dinners. Sure, they look gross on the box, but that’s studio food. The actual contents are delicious.
Or maybe that’s backwards, I’m not sure. The point is, like a horny Catholic school girl or a diddling Catholic priest, the saying applies when the inner character of something is somehow disconnected from the outward appearance. Nothing about eating garbage really fits that.
Man, this post is needlessly antagonistic towards Catholics.
There are foods, dishes, and especially combinations that you might very realistically not know if you’d like until you’ve actually tried it.
Baked persimmons is on my radar right now: I can’t even begin to guess whether I’d like 'em or not.
For years, people told me how much they hated okra – “It’s slimy!” I heard, over and over – and so I was reluctant to try it. Finally I did…and loved it!
Some experiences can be judged by extrapolation. My b.i.l. hates football, basketball, baseball, and the Olympics, so it’s a really fair bet to guess he wouldn’t care to watch Rugger or Cricket.
I’m a fan of Charles Dickens, and so it was no surprise at all that I loved Wilkie Collins.
I thought the “book by it’s cover” saying was a lot more useful when applied to the judgment of people. Judging actual books (films etc) is supposed to be the obvious part of the analogy, so perhaps fully stated we could say “obviously you can’t just a book by it’s cover, so you shouldn’t have pre conceptions of this man because of his ripped jeans.”
In which case the garbage retort would be a little rude.
[QUOTE=Fredescu]
I thought the “book by it’s cover” saying was a lot more useful when applied to the judgment of people.
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That’s what I thought too.
I was waiting to make a right turn on a busy road one day and no one would let me in. Sweet looking old grannies, well groomed men, white-girl-in-yoga-pants types, even a cop…not one would slow to let me in. The one and only person who did was a completely tatted up dude with a ponytail that many people probably judge as mannerless or whatever based on his appearance, but he was the only one willing to do something nice for a stranger. That’s what don’t judge a book by it’s cover means to me.
You can easily judge a book from its cover: the cover of a science fiction novel looks different than the cover of a chick lit book; the cover of a true crime book looks different from a romance. It’s not just the titles and authors, but the actual design, don’t, and artwork. Go to a bookstore and see the similarities.
The bigger issue is this: contradictory maxims exist because they can be used in different situations. Sometimes you apply one, sometimes you apply the other.
These are known as “dueling maxims” and there are many examples, like:
“Look before you leap” vs. “he who hesitates is lost”
“Good things come to those who wait” vs. “Time and tide wait for no man”
“It’s the thought that counts” vs. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”
Maxims illustrate general truths, applicable to certain situations - not absolutes to be used always.
I have been surprised many times. I don’t usually care for science fiction but have been pleaseantly surprised many times. However I have been right often enough to stick with judging a book by its cover. If I have time to blow and am not too concerned I will at least start reading something or watch a movie I wouldn’t nomally watch.