An idea to ponder

[ericcoleman]

Something I have been mulling over lately.

Having as many talented friends and acquaintances as I do can lead to an interesting problem. I was raised to be a critic by my father, who taught theater for decades. I have pretty much always had a problem with the idea of "I don't like something, therefore it is bad". No, you don't like it. Sometimes it is something that is good, it just doesn't speak to you (ok, sometimes it's just bad, but that isn't what we are talking about here). There is a lot of music and writing that I don't particularly like, but that I think is brilliant. There is a lot of music that I don't like that I think is amazing. It just doesn't speak to me.

So, what do you do in a situation like this? How do you deal with someone whose work you admire, but really don't like?

Or are you one of those people who, if you don't like something, it is bad?

(and no, this isn't about you ... whoever you are)

Comments

[batyatoon]

The reverse actually happens to me pretty often: I like a lot of things that are, by any objective standard, not really very good. When I recognize something as excellent work of its kind, but I don't actually enjoy it, I just generally assume I am not its audience and leave it alone.

Are you asking how you deal with the artist just as a general thing, or how you deal with liking a person but not really enjoying their work, or what do you do if you're actually asked for reactions/critique?