Talk about what you like
A friend of mine reviews movies on her podcast. Recently, she sent a link to me, as she does with each episode. The accompanying message went something like this
“ We have watched many movies since this podcast started and none has been as disappointing as this one.
You will enjoy listening to our conversation”
I instinctly replied that no, I won’t enjoy listening to people talk about something they did not like.
I did not bat an eye, I did not consider that the description was written to draw interest. I registered the qualifying opinion they had, ‘disappointment,’ and decided I did not want to listen to people be disappointed in art. What sort of good does that do for anyone?
I have been thinking about this article for a while. I started writing it 6 months ago with the original title: We seem to like hating things.
My original hope was to make an argument for my position on critiquing art (or critiquing in any form actually.) I wanted that argument to be objective but over the course of these past 6 months, I have realised that I cannot find objectivity. For the simple reason that there is no objectivity to be found.
Tl:dr The gist of the argument is that in talking about art, we can only say what we feel. Ergo, passing off opinions as if they are absolute and objective, is unfair. Also, criticism of art should do good not bad.
A good place to start would be a tweet I saw a while ago. It was a tweet about food where the writer had said
“ I’m sure this is not an unpopular opinion but Brazillian food is rubbish.”
And my immediate thought to that was ‘perhaps you simply do not like Brazillian food, not that it is rubbish.’ The fact that something does not meet our taste doesn’t officially mean that it is bad. But also bad things will more likely than not, not meet our taste. This springs up the question of what makes a thing good or bad? That’s an incredibly difficult question to answer and one that I have in the past attempted to.
Critique often attempts to do the same, to qualify a thing as good or bad. In doing so, often times a critic will be someone regarded as an expert in a field. That is the only way such criticism can hold any real weight, through the social currency of the person giving the critique.
I think a by product of this is that people with no existing social currency in a field will give critique using absolute statements, suggesting expertise that they do not have. And they do this because in a way, speaking as if with expertise passes one off as an expert. That is, if you pretend to be an expert, people will believe you are an expert therefore making you an expert. I am guilty of this as well in my attempts to review movies.
I think critique is incredibly important. Critique has benefited art in so many ways, for so long. It uplifts the overall quality of what is out there. It offers credit to those who create good art and offers advice on improvement for those who can do better. In the domain of critique also comes the concept of looking at art through specific lenses. Looking at Fela’s music through the lens of ‘casual misogyny’ or looking at the hunger games through the lens of ‘scarcity.’ Art is extremely influential in how we see and interpret the world around us and criticism is beneficial to how art is able to do this.
But criticism, in its colloquial use these days, feels far separated from what I think it should do. The most important thing criticism can do is find and elevate good art. So when I see criticism that only tarnishes a work of art, I wonder, what good does that do anyone?
I don’t read a book or watch a movie to find the faults in it. Not to say that there isn’t a lot of fault to be found in any art. It’s just so strange that so much attention is being invested in talking about what people don’t like rather than what they do like.
And in turn, the language used, being so objective, takes for granted the fact that we are all incredibly influenced by our own experiences. I was raised with a different expectation of food salinity than the next person. So I will seldom use language like ‘your food is too salty’ when talking about someone else’s food. I have developed this understanding that a thing not meeting my taste isn’t the same as it being bad.
So these are the two things I have a problem with
- Using criticism primarily to emphasize what we consider ‘bad art’
- Believing that our perception of art is objective and absolute/ using absolute language in describing art.
I don’t know about you but I seek out art to move me, to teach me, to transport me. When I look for criticism about art, I hope that it tells me what art will impact me in positive ways, not what will be a waste of my time. It seems so strange to me how much we talk about the things we don’t like. In not liking a thing or thinking that it is a terrible thing, I think perhaps the hope is that less people have to experience it. If I ever see a tweet that holds a dangerous idea, the best thing I can do is scroll past it; commenting on it draws more attention to it which I do not want. The only case where I draw attention to a negative idea is if it is so harmful that I want more people to assist in having it taken down.
Maybe criticism should be used in the same way. To bring more attention to the art we think deserves more attention and to say little about the art that perhaps we believe deserves less. And as consumers of art, maybe we should stay aware of the fact that our perception of art is entirely influenced by our experiences as people.
At least this is how I have been choosing to see things. You will more likely see me talk about a thing I like because I want to elevate that thing and because I want you to know what I like so you can bring more art of that form to my attention. And when I do speak of art, I almost exclusively speak of it with subjectivity. I no longer have the same need to be seen as an expert worthy of using absolute statement,
The best thing I can do for the world is help more people discover art that will touch them as it as touched me.
Plug
Since it partly sparked this article, check out my friend’s podcast where she and her cohost talk about movies. It’s called ‘Here’s what we think’
Support
I have a podcast you can support by listening to. It’s called Inside a bubble and it’s about our different our experiences are. Episodes for the second season start coming out on the 26th of March and a new episode will be out every Fridays. Go subscribe and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thepodofbubbles
