So, I’ve been wondering this for a while now. I wasn’t sure how to write this up either and have gone through it in my head many times. Then I stumbled onto this part from a Suicide Squad review:
“In my sensible critical opinion, Suicide Squad wasn’t a complete disaster, but inexcusably mediocre. To be fair, the audience I saw the film with appeared to love every frame: big laughter, cheers for the action and clapping as the credits rolled. Is there a disconnect between critics and audiences?”
Now, I’m not going to touch on the question because I have another one. Are people disconnecting themselves from movies, shows, and books before they even start? I’ve seen so many people swear that something will be bad for months and then they begrudgingly indulge. SURPRISE! They didn’t like it for exactly the reasons either they said or the critics declared. Sometimes word for word too when they put up their social media announcement that they were right.
It seems like it’s a lot more difficult to entertain people these days. Solid opinions are being made off the promotional material, which creates a bind for an artist out to only entertain the audience. The goal changes from entertaining people to changing their established opinion, which you never knew prior to finishing whatever it is you put out there. You can’t do anything about that. It’s entirely on the head of the reader/viewer to let their opinions being influenced by the final product. This is for better or worse, but I see more people holding true to their original opinions as if changing is a horrible sign of weakness.
Honestly, I’m still confused on why people go to see a movie or read a book that they already claim to hate. You tend to search for problems that will justify your previously established opinion, which becomes your focus instead of giving the story a change to entertain you. I’m pretty sure I’ve done it in the past, but I’ve spent the last few years sticking to stuff that interests me. Honestly, the first ‘Game of Thrones’ book is where I had a preexisting opinion and tried to read it, but failed miserably. The series was described to me as ‘every character you love will die’ and that caused me to look for reasons to give up. I learned my lesson there and have been pickier about what I watch and read now. Also, who I listen to. This means I miss out on some blockbusters and end up at odds with people who hate the movies that are cool to hate on, but I don’t waste 2-3 hours of my life on something I didn’t have any intention of enjoying.
And that’s part of the ‘problem’ that I think I see. Many people don’t enter fiction with the intention of enjoying the escape and having fun. They set out to analyze and put their ‘findings’ on the Internet to prove whatever they were saying before. This isn’t even to hate what they’re looking at because you can go to the other side too. I can probably sum this up with this:
Now, this is coming from an author who writes to entertain first and a viewer/reader who does so solely to relax. Sure, I’ll get into an analysis discussion after I have fun, but I like to be in the moment when it comes to fiction. Just drift away and go on the adventure because I’m tired of thinking about bills, my exhaustion, deadlines, and all the other stresses of my life. Adding a goal to rip whatever I’m enjoying to shreds kind of defeats my purpose. This is just me though and I do think a person shouldn’t be forced to like something. Yet, we should give these things a chance instead of going in with a critical agenda. Going back to that review segment: Critics are paid to analyze a work while the audience pays to have fun. That’s how I see it. You can have overlap, but it seems silly to hand money over for something you plan on hating.
Maybe I’m naive and missing the modern day point of everything. I remember going to a summer blockbuster every weekend and having a blast. There was no bombardment of trailers, clips, opinions, predictions, actor contracts, future releases, etc. I saw what was out, picked a showing, and went to have fun. Fiction has always been a source of fun for me. Probably why I skip some big movies that don’t hold my interest and why I have so few movies that I regret seeing. So, I guess I’m missing the modern point of fiction if it’s no longer to have fun and leave reality behind for a few hours.
(I’m really hoping there isn’t too much of a fuss in the comments. I’ve gotten into this fight on FB a few times. So, let’s try to be civil.)
Legends of Windemere 
Reblogged this on POTL: All Things Books, Reading and Publishing and commented:
An insightful post about what happened to the “fun” in books and movies.
MRS N
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Thanks for the reblog. Hoping I got the point across without stepping on toes.
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I really liked it and I’m with you. When I go to the movies or pick up a book, 90% of the time, I want to be entertained. Take a look at the best-seller list and you will see a lot of sad, depressing books. My life is filled with ups and down… I don’t need to see it on the big screen. lol!
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I haven’t looked at the list, but that doesn’t surprise me. The sad stuff always gets a lot of praise. Heck, look at the Oscars and you’ll see how most of the big movies are dramas. Those made for entertainment are pushed to the side.
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I agree with you. There is so much bandwagoning going on everywhere. If we like product A by default we must hate product B. It’s the hipster approach to the world. Like DC, you must hate Marvel, etc. I like to escape too, and find myself enjoying many films the critics didn’t. Books and other media are the same way. People should enjoy what the want and make their own minds up.
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Exactly. People seem determined to choose sides even when you don’t have to. Makes no sense with fiction. At least to me, you should be well within your right to love both products even if they’re similar. One thing I didn’t mention was that I see a lot of people putting more effort into bashing the stuff they hate than praising the stuff they love. Like they take more joy out of the act.
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Sad but true. People tend to form conclusions, then look only for evidence to support that conclusion.
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Yeah. Not very scientific.
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Well you’re right, people judge things before they see them.
But also I blame the hype machine for this. Let’s take the film industry for example. I remember a time when you would see like a 3 minute trailer for a movie and that is all you would get for months until it was released.
Now we get multiple trailers, posters, photos from the movie set, teasers, interviews from cast and crew on talk shows, viral marketing, the script or the entire movie leaked online weeks if not months before the actual release date, (I’m looking at you Wolverine: Origins!), movie reviews on websites weeks before the film is actually available to the public etc.
So in the end, we the consumers end up seeing a LOT of the finished product before it’s actually released. And because of this, we have no choice but to form an opinion before we even see the finished product.
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Excellent point about the hype machine. It’s out of control at some points and will use whatever it takes to grab attention. Now we’re seeing controversy being used as a sales pitch. Didn’t realize Wolverine did that, but what you describe is why I didn’t bother with Captain America: Civil War. So much was put out, including who was going to be in a future movie, that I felt no excitement to pay money. Once they showed Spidey in a commercial, I lost the last bit of curiosity.
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Recently in the UK there was a furore when a public vote for ‘The Best Sitcom’ selected something that the critics had panned, but the audiences enjoyed. It was astonishing how many commentators wanted to line up with the critics, and abuse the people for whom the program had been made.
As a writer I agree entirely with you – our task is to entertain the audience, not the critics. (Oh, and I didn’t like GOT either. But I don’t mind saying so openly as I’ve got a tin hat on, ready for the abuse…)
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Wow. Sad to say that such a response doesn’t surprise me. At some point, we became unable to accept that people have a different opinion. I’ve seen some shows, movies, and books get praised while I found them to be unoriginal or plain bad. Yet, I figure that’s just me and go about my business. The only thing that saves me in the GoT discussion is that I tried to read and watch it. Maybe I’ll try again another time and it’ll be different.
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Reblogged this on SOMETIMES and commented:
Excellent article on what we expect from entertainment. This is my first visit to Charles Yallowitz’s blog LEGENDS OF WINDERMERE, and like it a lot. I agree that when I like a film or book…I LIKE it…and I don’t care what the critics say. Some of my favorites are works that others say are terrible. Thanks for enabling the RE=BLOG button! 🙂
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Thanks for the reblog. I’m in the same boat. There are some movies people hate that I enjoy for one reason or another. Used to be you could claim it as a quirk, but now it’s rather risky to admit such things.
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Have you seen Six String Samari? My all-time favorite example of “I-like-what-I-like entertainment.” My son says its the worst he ever saw…opinions are free… 🙂
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Never heard of it. What kind of movie is it?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-String_Samurai#Critical_reception It defies adequate description in this small space…I would say its an art film, much camp, great music, Jeffrey Falcon and Justin Maguire… Wikipedia has an excellent article. I love this film!
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Looks unique. For some reason it reminds me of samurai movies and the movie ‘Desperado’.
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wlcome aboard …
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-String_Samurai#Critical_reception
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ah, they chalk it up to naivety, not understanding the plot, belief in fairies etc, ignorance of art…on and on…
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I think everyone has their own level of disbelief. Some can sink deeper into fiction than others without breaking the effect. Weird that people think it’s all the same.
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I go with the flow of fiction, but it does stop me cold when there is a factual error, rather than a typo. Historical novels, for example. I love fiction that grips me and leaving the page is sort of like waking from sleep.
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I can understand that. Fiction based on the real world needs to retain a basic level of facts to work. I tend to stick to fantasy, which usually has to design its own rules.
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I respect and enjoy fantasy novels, and grew up on old Sci Fi back in the day. I am not a novelist, but I do write fiction as part of my eclectic blog. Most of my work is tongue-in-cheek, but readers don’t always get that. I actually am a Historian, and have worked in journalism extensively. I recently found poetry writing…but I’m not a poet either.
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Poetry is fun because you don’t have to stick to the rules. Whatever feels right is what is right. That’s my opinion any way. As far as tongue-in-cheek stuff, I’ve found that humor doesn’t always translate. Some people get it, some people don’t.
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I don’t try hard-core humor, as you say some people just don’t get it. I have a lot of personal inside jokes that are not widely understood. I don’t stick to poetry forms, although that is fun to do…some of my readers “get” me, some don’t…which is fine with me
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I tend to do free form poetry more than structured stuff. Just follow the flow after a topic strikes me. I vary on humor, but I don’t have as high a limit for potty humor as I used to.
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I do free form myself, also do some Haiku and try out other forms. My personal favorite is a poem I wrote called “May in Bombay.” It took more actual writing, that is construction and literary effort, than most of my poetry that sort of writes itself.
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My favorite poem of mine is one that I lost long ago. It was called ‘Clear Nonsense’ and I did it in college. Very much like Jabberwocky, but I lost it to a computer crash, corrupted disc, and missing paper copy. Even my poetry teacher couldn’t find the one I submitted even though she had a grade. Guess it was fated to disappear.
Haiku is a favorite. Simple and quick.
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I do a lot of haiku, but my lack of sophistication with the form at times I just dont get it.
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conversely, it behooves me to find something good to say about even a “bad” blog…. even if its only to remark about the lovely shade of blue the blogger picked for background…or the choice of font.. But yes, I’m a Pollyanna. No point saying “bad blog” whatsoever, except to hurt someone’s feelings.
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I’m like that too. Rare to find anything that’s 100% bad, so I try to find the good.
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Hi…I have reblogged this article to my blog, Sometimes. My take on what you say here is this…what matters to me when it comes to entertainment is MY opinion. I decide what I like and don’t like…some of the films and books I love…other people hate. 🙂
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Very well said.
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thanks for letting me re-blog. And, thanks for following Sometimes.
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You’re welcome.
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I think “critics” feel duty-bound to find something bad in any artist’s work. Like a style-show-critic complaining that a fashion model’s ears are too big.
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I’ve wondered about that. At least with some genres and directors. There are some movies that seem to get a pass because of the franchise they’re in, the director, or the actor. I seem to be sticking to movies, which I think get it more than shows and books.
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yes, movies do get it more. Critics don’t have to be professionals in this context.
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I don’t need somebody else telling me what I like. I’m a grownup, I am more qualified than he/she is to know what I like.
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I agree. Though, it seems more like people want to tell us why to hate something than why we should enjoy it. I can respect the latter a lot more than the former. At least I know the person is talking out of excitement instead of hate.
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very true. Good post!
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Love the visual summary 🙂 Sometimes a spade is just a spade…people try to find hidden meaning even when something is transparent. Personally, when I watch a movie or read a book I do so with an open mind because both I use as a form of escape. I do listen to opinion but usually from those I trust 🙂
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We really do have to be more careful where we take opinions from. Many people think their opinions are gospel, which seems to defeat the purpose of an opinion. It’s yours, which mean it’s unique.
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You’re absolutely right – no two people view something in the same way and that’s what makes the world such an interesting place. Even if people are entertained by the same thing – the reasons will be different and the message/enjoyment factor is an individual thing 🙂
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Makes conversations great if things stay civil. I enjoy talking to friends and sharing what I like about something while they explain their own levels of enjoyment. You get different perspectives besides ‘love/hate’.
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Agreed. It’s one of my favourite things about discussing a book or movie – learning different perspectives and seeing things from different sides 🙂
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I appreciate this insightful post. I also went to every summer blockbuster back in the day, glad to see each film. Now with trailers that tell just about everything about a film, I’m less likely to see a movie if I know too much about it. Ignoring the critics, extra trailers (those beyond the initial offering), and hype helps me enjoy a film more.
I go to a movie to be entertained. If it meets my basement level expectations, great. I don’t go to a film necessarily for Oscar bait or because the story was “ripped from today’s headlines.” I go to have a great time. I also want to be entertained by the fiction I read. I don’t care if the book is a “literary masterpiece.” That’s not a draw for me. I’ve read and put down literary masterpieces that bored me.
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Funny that you mention Oscars. I’m always being told that I need to see more Oscar-worthy films. Didn’t know that was a rule. They don’t really draw my attention like action, comedy, sci-fi, etc. Not sure why those are mandatory.
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The only Oscar films I usually see are the foreign films and the animated ones. Or films like BROOKLYN, which I loved. Other than that, the fact that a film is an Oscar contender does not really move me.
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I used to watch movies that got Oscar nods. Not on purpose, but they were more interesting. I don’t even pay attention to the Oscar contender thing any more. Barely even realize the show is on until the day off when I can’t find anything worthwhile to watch.
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The numbers of choices today for leisure time activity puts pressure on any venue to be worth the time invested. I can’t answer the question ,”Why people go and look at what they said they hated before they went to go look?” Must be some kind of need to be right no matter what. I personally would not walk into a movie theater, spend $20, lose my shoes on the sticky floor, listen to all the whispers, and text tones if I hated the movie. Are people nuts?
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I think there are those who find worth and justification in the things that they hate. Doesn’t make much sense to me, but I’ve met many who focus more on the negative than the positive when it comes to fiction. Don’t even get me started on the phones. Though, I haven’t run into that problem as much in New York as I did in Florida.
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Well, the folks in NY aren’t sitting in the sun wondering who to torture next.
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This summer might disagree with you. It’s been brutal for the area and the power companies are taking full advantage of it.
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🙂
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Great post, Charles! For me, I don’t follow the mainstream stuff. like I don’t read the first Chinese Nobel Prize Winner, Mo Yan’s book after I painfully finished reading his Big Breast and Wide Hips. My personal habit is that there must be something good hiding somewhere that I can’t see unless I try first. And there is, though sometimes very little. This is about reading a book.
But as for movies, I love watching movies with beautiful images and a good story and good directors/actors/ actresses/ and good characters. Mostly I love dramas and art films. It depends on how I feel. There was a time, I feel so gray. So I watch Lars Von Trier’s films.
For Game of Throne, I read the first book but watched them all. I wonder, if I read all the books first, would I ever finish the TV Show? Probably not. Violence, sex, humanity and death. And it’s the cheap death that keeps me hanging in there. The more I “hate”, the more I fight and the stronger I will be. This is just a personal experience. (Before, for years I could have never finished the horror movie Hostel each time I tried. But only after I viewed it “philosophically”, I finished watching both last year. I felt a great achivement then.)
Maybe this is a bit “insane”, but it is true. Just like I hate money, but I can’t live without it. I have to live with it.
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I don’t think I’ve ever read a Noble Prize book. Didn’t even realize there were those, so you’re a step ahead of me there. 🙂
Horror and I don’t really get along, so Hostel has never been on the list. I’ve gotten better over the years, but the genre still makes it hard to sleep for a few days. I’ve heard that GoT is very different between the books and show, but I don’t know if one is more violent and sexual than the other. Sounds like the same story told in two different ways. Kind of like how there are two Fullmetal Alchemist anime series. I haven’t really watched GoT, so I’m not sure what the cheap deaths are. These the ones that come out of nowhere?
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How does the song go? Haters gonna hate?
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Yeah, but I think people are using that for permission these days.
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Reblogged this on Kissing Bandits and commented:
As a writer and an English teacher, this is what I want for my readers/students–to think/judge for themselves, and to formulate their own opinions regardless of what others think.
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Thanks for the reblog. Great to hear an English teacher say those words. I keep hearing how things are more about finding the right answers instead of forming your own thoughts in education.
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You know, there are two kinds of people. The Glass-Half-Full kind, and the Glass-Half-Empty kind. The Lemons kind, and the Make-Lemonade kind. The… okay, enough metaphors. Just as you say, I think that some readers/viewers do make judgments based on cover, reviews, trailers, et all without ever seeing the thing. Others prefer to actually read/see the thing before judging.
Although social media provides opportunities for both, the advance publicity will always have greater volume than comments based on seeing/reading the thing. It’s a thorny thicket, and we all bushwhack our way through.
No, really, that’s enough metaphors, Deborah!
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I agree with all that. The thing that confuses me is when someone looks at all the hype material and decides they hate it. That part is fine, but then they go into the experience with the purpose of hating it. I’ve been made to watch movies that I had no interest in, but I tried to give them a chance. I guess my perspective is that if you’re going to see something then leave yourself open to enjoying it. Especially if you’re spending money on it.
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Nice Post!
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Thanks. 🙂
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