Hello, dear readers! Today’s post is something I’ve drafted a few times this year, but always ended up deleting. It’s something that I’ve discussed a lot with my friends, but I’m finally going to try to put my thoughts on the subject into writing. It’s going to be something a little different for me; a sequel or perhaps spiritual successor to my post in March about Nostalgia Goggles. Don’t get too excited, Universal Studios, I don’t think there’s a cinematic universe in this one. I’m going to come back to something I said in that post:

JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK SOMETHING IS GOOD, THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT OBJECTIVELY GOOD.

As I said in March, this goes for any kind of criticism or opinion, but it was another post for another time – and that time is now. To try and get the majority of my thought on the matter out, I’ll divide it into different avenues of advice.

Know thyself

This first one helps to mitigate the death of discussion via statements of “I just liked it/ I just didn’t like it”. I’m aware not everyone finds it enjoyable to analyse and heavily critique art we interact with – whether or not I agree with it, it’s perfectly fine to watch or listen to something and go “Here’s my initial thoughts/ feelings, that’s your lot”. However, I think there’s a lot of value in knowing where your initial reaction comes from: You don’t need to know all the terminology of the medium, perhaps you can just compare it to similar things you liked. It’s also good to try thinking about any biases you might have: Contextual things like nostalgia, our level of excitement for something or even just what kind of day we are having can all effect our opinion of something in subtle ways. There’s something to be said for interrogating one’s own opinion of art, and while it can often bring a bit of a change to what your opinion is, it can also be helpful and may even reinforce how much you liked/ disliked something.

A personal example would be the film Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Whether intentional or not, the movie seems to go at a breakneck speed, leaving you very little time to form your own thoughts and instead sweeping you up in the action. For movies like The Rise of Skywalker, you often leave the cinema going “That was good!” because your poor brain didn’t get a chance to actually process anything happening before the next scene thunders in: However, I often find that once my brain gets a minute to catch up I realise that the movie wasn’t that good at all, it just didn’t give me a minute to think while I was watching.

Furthermore, thinking about it like this will arm you for a healthy discussion with others; you’re ready with examples of things that did/ didn’t work for you and maybe even reasons why you feel this way. However, I don’t think it’s ideal to go into such discussions with the aim of changing people’s minds – we can just focus on explaining what we think, which can lead to less frustrating disagreements.

Don’t take it personally – A criticism of your opinion isn’t an attack on you

Why might we get irate with someone disagreeing with us about a book or a film or a painting? Well, I think it’s because we are apt to not only inflate the value of our own opinions, but often tie our identity too tightly to them. It’s something we all go through when we are younger, but often struggle to grow out of: Defining ourselves by our reactions to things, what we like and don’t like about them. It’s perfectly natural, because our opinions often reflect our beliefs and values, and can be shorthand to tell people who we are at any age. But it’s very easy to tie up too much of our self-worth in those opinions, and before you know it you’re getting into online shouting matches with people who think a core part of your childhood is CGI-heavy garbage bereft of any artistic merit (hello again, Star Wars Prequel apologists.)

I think there’s a very fine line between discussing your opinions on something, versus blindly defending them and remaining closed to any and all outside influence. I’m not saying we should all be brainless, easily swayed and think what someone else tells us to; just practise a little more flexibility in your opinions. It’s always best to discuss art with an open mind to learn about others’ views and interpretations. This might end up changing your opinion on something, or it may reinforce how you feel, but it’s valuable to have an awareness of other perceptions of something and be able to factor that into your views in a healthy way.

If they’re not engaging in any sort of good faith discussion – being angry because you don’t Like The Thing or attacking you for your views, don’t bother giving it back, just go. Walk away, close the browser, whatever it is – they’re being an Artshole (Or maybe just a regular arsehole) and it’s not worth your time.

Have no shame – You can enjoy shit things too!

Many people have something they think is really bad, but still find enjoyable. I certainly found no joy in the constant pandering nostalgia bait and awkward prose of Ready Player One, but it kept me reading to see if and how it could get any worse. Tommy Wiseau’s accidental masterpiece The Room does not get cinemas full of people throwing plastic spoons because it is the epitome of deep and thoughtful art; it’s just entertainingly bad. Sometimes we can enjoy badly made art, because of or in spite of how bad it is, and that’s fine. I enjoy the Star Wars Prequels and they sparked a years-long obsession with the franchise during my teens, but I still think they’re really bloody bad.

Linking to the two above points; try and figure out how to verbalise why you enjoyed it, and also don’t take offense if someone is shocked you enjoy it. Everyone has a different threshold for “so bad it’s good”, and for some people the concept is entirely alien! Try to frame the discussion around what the participants got/ didn’t get from the art – you don’t need to agree or change your mind, but again the goal is to arm yourself with an understanding of other viewpoints. You might even find the person you’re speaking to just plain likes it and doesn’t think it’s bad at all – no problem, have that good-faith discussion!

So there you have it! A bit of a long-winded ramble, which I hope doesn’t come across as too preachy. As I mentioned near the start, this topic is something hard to cover accurately in a post: I’ve tried to put my thoughts down, but the subject is much better as a continuing discussion amongst friends or other interested parties. If you have anything to add to the conversation, why not pop a comment on the post, or find me on Twitter here and let me know what you think? If you fancy supporting me, my Ko-Fi can be found here. Until next time, dear readers, take care!