I have, for the most part, stopped reading most recaps and TV critique sites despite it being a favorite pastime for many years. This is partially because there aren't so many options available that are to my personal taste anymore – I really do feel the loss of TWOP to this day, I miss that kind of wildly in-depth nonsense. I tried reading the AV Club for a long time because I feel like that's really all there is but I sort of ragequit that site after they reviewed The Get Down poorly – something I cannot abide. I tried to go back and read some articles there today and remembered once again why I quit: the overwhelming nitpicky negativity that I can't stand, and also just the simple petty fact that I never agree with anything anyone is saying. But that isn't just contained on the AV Club. I feel the same way when I dip into TV-related posts nearly anywhere – ONTD comment sections, Tumblr, etc. I refuse to believe my taste is that unique but I always seem to find myself at odds with the most commonly held interests and opinions. The parts of media that seem to interest me are just not what interest everyone, I guess.
I mean, this is something I felt in fandom for years – which the exception of some of my closer friends, obvi. And it's not, like, a sweeping statement that holds true for every little thing. I'm not really someone who cares deeply about what other people like or why they like it, because it's their business, but I've become so irritated lately trying to read about shows I like and every time coming up against what I find to be such a profound misunderstanding of the text in question. What sparked this off was doing some AV Club reading earlier this morning that was discussing only second and third episodes of a few different shows' seasons – there were all these complaints about wheel spinning, shows not changing, things leading nowhere. And I'm just like...everything JUST started. How can you complain about something not leading anywhere when it's barely begun?? You can't determine that something is going nowhere before it has gone anywhere. I find this especially annoying when there is clearly build-up to something happening. The point is that we don't know yet. That's the point. If shows gave everything up at once people would complain about that too.
I think part of it, with me, is that I don't and never have minded not knowing what's going on. I don't really mind being confused when I'm watching something if I understand that part of the process is me being confused. I rarely clamor for answers. It's a hard thing to delineate, though. Like, okay, for example: being confused af during a show like GG or HTGAWM is one thing, because I could not trust those shows to deliver longterm or moment to moment. Even a show that narratively obfuscates on purpose like HTGAWM does so cheaply, because it just wants people to scramble until the next Twitter-ready, Googleable question catchphrase: Who killed who? What happened where? It's about a question and answer game, it's not about... I don't know, feelings. Whereas say, Mr. Robot is an incredibly withholding show. I am aware that it is not telling me things but I am not confused, I don't really have any questions, and I am fine with the pace the show has chosen to take. There are things like Velvet Goldmine, a movie I've been watching regularly for the last twelve years and am still confounded by, but that confusion is a part of the experience. I suppose it's a matter of the set dressing being enough to carry someone through the rest of it.
I guess at the end of the day this is mostly pettiness, which I am no stranger to. Why don't people like the same things I like in the exact way I like them!! That said, I do think there is something very shortsighted about the way a lot of media is critiqued. People like to judge things homogenously (is that the right way to use that?), using the same set of criteria for everything. But you can't. You have to judge everything personally based on its genre, tone, and specific set of goals. A friend and I often talk about how we hate that so many people treat shows like games, coming up with wild unrealistic twists and trying to second-guess the tiniest details Reddit-style. People did that with Mad Men constantly, ignoring the fact that it was never a show that took part in anything of the sort. It was flatly ridiculous and stupid to expect something like that from Mad Men; however, a show like Mr. Robot is different. That show does unfold like a game and it does partake in crazy narrative tricks. That's part of its deal, so the nutty speculation has a place there. Even if it is still annoying.
Part of my problem is also that I... How to phrase it. Some people are really good at being so strong in their opinions that being confronted with other strong opinions they disagree with do not make them deflate. I am not one of those people. Even when I 1000000% disagree with someone's take on something it can be hard to get it out of my head. I can't tell you how many fics I've written specifically to fold someone else's perception (that I Did Not Agree With) into my own in an attempt to make a cohesive whole. Does that make me weak-willed? Maybe. I like to try to see every side of something so that I'm not limited by myself but it does backfire. I'm also terrified of confrontation, which I feel like weighs into this somewhere. I mean, I only like to share "stronger" opinions like this on LJ, where fewer people will read it and it has less of a direct connection to my actual identity. How's that for some brain gymnastics.
Basically: enjoying stuff can be hard when people are so fuckin' dense 'bout shit.
I mean, this is something I felt in fandom for years – which the exception of some of my closer friends, obvi. And it's not, like, a sweeping statement that holds true for every little thing. I'm not really someone who cares deeply about what other people like or why they like it, because it's their business, but I've become so irritated lately trying to read about shows I like and every time coming up against what I find to be such a profound misunderstanding of the text in question. What sparked this off was doing some AV Club reading earlier this morning that was discussing only second and third episodes of a few different shows' seasons – there were all these complaints about wheel spinning, shows not changing, things leading nowhere. And I'm just like...everything JUST started. How can you complain about something not leading anywhere when it's barely begun?? You can't determine that something is going nowhere before it has gone anywhere. I find this especially annoying when there is clearly build-up to something happening. The point is that we don't know yet. That's the point. If shows gave everything up at once people would complain about that too.
I think part of it, with me, is that I don't and never have minded not knowing what's going on. I don't really mind being confused when I'm watching something if I understand that part of the process is me being confused. I rarely clamor for answers. It's a hard thing to delineate, though. Like, okay, for example: being confused af during a show like GG or HTGAWM is one thing, because I could not trust those shows to deliver longterm or moment to moment. Even a show that narratively obfuscates on purpose like HTGAWM does so cheaply, because it just wants people to scramble until the next Twitter-ready, Googleable question catchphrase: Who killed who? What happened where? It's about a question and answer game, it's not about... I don't know, feelings. Whereas say, Mr. Robot is an incredibly withholding show. I am aware that it is not telling me things but I am not confused, I don't really have any questions, and I am fine with the pace the show has chosen to take. There are things like Velvet Goldmine, a movie I've been watching regularly for the last twelve years and am still confounded by, but that confusion is a part of the experience. I suppose it's a matter of the set dressing being enough to carry someone through the rest of it.
I guess at the end of the day this is mostly pettiness, which I am no stranger to. Why don't people like the same things I like in the exact way I like them!! That said, I do think there is something very shortsighted about the way a lot of media is critiqued. People like to judge things homogenously (is that the right way to use that?), using the same set of criteria for everything. But you can't. You have to judge everything personally based on its genre, tone, and specific set of goals. A friend and I often talk about how we hate that so many people treat shows like games, coming up with wild unrealistic twists and trying to second-guess the tiniest details Reddit-style. People did that with Mad Men constantly, ignoring the fact that it was never a show that took part in anything of the sort. It was flatly ridiculous and stupid to expect something like that from Mad Men; however, a show like Mr. Robot is different. That show does unfold like a game and it does partake in crazy narrative tricks. That's part of its deal, so the nutty speculation has a place there. Even if it is still annoying.
Part of my problem is also that I... How to phrase it. Some people are really good at being so strong in their opinions that being confronted with other strong opinions they disagree with do not make them deflate. I am not one of those people. Even when I 1000000% disagree with someone's take on something it can be hard to get it out of my head. I can't tell you how many fics I've written specifically to fold someone else's perception (that I Did Not Agree With) into my own in an attempt to make a cohesive whole. Does that make me weak-willed? Maybe. I like to try to see every side of something so that I'm not limited by myself but it does backfire. I'm also terrified of confrontation, which I feel like weighs into this somewhere. I mean, I only like to share "stronger" opinions like this on LJ, where fewer people will read it and it has less of a direct connection to my actual identity. How's that for some brain gymnastics.
Basically: enjoying stuff can be hard when people are so fuckin' dense 'bout shit.