This ramble isn't about books or writing specifically, but about whether reviews of creative works are useful considering they refer to matters of taste.
Based on a recent experience, I'm focussing on movies as the creative work being reviewed, but this example can be applied to music, illustration, arts and crafts, TV shows, books, stories, and as I'll show later... strawberries.
A guest in the storyteller's world
Recently, I stumbled across a film titled: The Monster...
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I enjoyed the film and was especially impressed by actress Ella Ballentine and her portrayal of the character Lizzy.
It was the first film I had seen Ella perform in and became curious to see
if she had performed in anything else.
Roughly two weeks later, I watched another film starring Ella
titled: Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone...
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Clearly this production is very different from The Monster and romantic
comedies are not my first choice of genre; but once again, I really enjoyed
the film.
As much as is possible in this day and age, I’ll watch films, read books, listen to
music etc. *without* having read any reviews or watched trailers. I prefer approaching
any works of art (or anything that is a matter of taste) without prejudice.
When stories of any kind are involved, I prefer allowing the storyteller space to
tell their story without carrying any preconceived ideas on what I think should
or should not happen.
I prefer to let the storyteller tell the story without ‘me’
getting in the way.
I view myself as a guest being invited by the artist to join them in their world.
Opinionated Giraffes
Nowadays, for the most part, the vast majority of people are online and a vocal minority feel they *must* voice their opinion on anything and everything. They,
their grandmother, and their grandmother’s pet giraffe all spout their opinion; worse still, with some of these people, if you don’t agree with their view, you're wrong.
If you don’t enjoy what they like, or if you dare to enjoy what
they hate… in their minds you are part of what's wrong with the world.
There’s no room in their minds for an alternative opinion or differing
tastes, and some 'reviewers' feel entitled to attack anyone holding a different view,
or trashing those who created the work.
Are people entitled to an opinion? Absolutely.
Are people entitled to disguise their 'opinion' as abuse? I'd say no.
As an example, here’s one of the most unhinged 'reviews' of the movie I mentioned earlier: Rise
and Shine, Benedict Stone.
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The first and last lines are very telling.
In my opinion, that is not a review and more of an attack
on a young actress who did her best with the part and, in my opinion, conveyed the
character Gemma Stone in a playful, quirky, and charming way.
Not only does the ‘ranting reviewer’ not accept fictious characters may behave differently to them (the reviewer), the attack on Ella Ballentine appears entirely spiteful.
Setting aside that specific movie, that type of attack (disguised
as a review) is unnecessary; it comes across as cowardly and vindictive.
In the reviewer's own words (regarding the young actress):
"Sorry, I got that wrong, she's not a child, more a 40 year old with frown lines with the body of a teenager."
Really?
Would the ‘reviewer’ dare make those same comments to the
actress in person? I'd venture not.
I'd also venture the energy the 'reviewer' is giving off is that of a bully.
It's also sad to see (at the time of writing) more people had upvoted that 'opinion' than those who downvoted it; but the rising toxicity of online comments/reviews is another subject altogether.
If I like strawberries, will you?
The 'angry reviewer' marked the film 2 out of 10; seemingly based solely on the film's characters not behaving how the 'reviewer' thought they should and the reviewer's baseless attack on a young actress.
Another reviewer enjoyed the movie and and it gave 8 out of 10.
On the basis of those two reviews alone, the average rating for the movie is now 5 out of 10.
There are lots of reviews leaning both ways, but how would any of these help someone who hasn't seen the movie?
For a moment, let's switch from movies to strawberries (quite a jump I know, but please bear with me)...
Let's take a fictious person, Robyn, who has never tasted strawberries. Robyn finds a 'food review' website and half the people reviewing strawberries state:
"Oh, I love strawberries, they are delicious!"
…but the other half of the reviewers state something along the lines of:
"Ugh! I hate strawberries, no one should like them, they are disgusting, the colour red is awful, and if you do like them then you must own a strawberry farm and... blah blah blah..."
Despite the conflicting opinions, Robyn still doesn't know what a strawberry tastes like, and even if 9 out of 10 people declare they are delicious... until Robyn tries one herself, she won't know if she likes them... thus, all the opinions haven't changed anything.
Robyn has a head full of other peoples' opinions regarding what strawberries taste like, but no direct experience of tasting them herself.
Personally, I love strawberries, but there's no guarantee you will like them, and if you don't, I'd be more than happy to help you find something you do like.
This is why I feel reviews on artistic endeavours are
not particularly useful because art in any form (like fruit) is a matter of taste. Personally, I prefer the element of
surprise and approach art (and fruit) without prejudice.
Additionally, ad hominem attacks in reviews or elsewhere are never justifiable, especially on an artist performing a role--let's call that what it is: bullying.
Back to the element of surprise...
Finding fun in the unknown
I grew up in the pre-internet era (I'm Gen X), and I
remember as a teenager I’d take the bus, walk, or ride my bike (a metallic blue Raleigh Grifter) to a local video rental store and browse whatever films were on the shelves and oftentimes without any indication of whether they’d be any good
or not… and that was part of the fun.
All I had to go on was the cover and the blurb on the back; and the only thing I could be certain of, is that I'd enjoy the popcorn.
When I got home to watch the film; one of three things would happen:
I'd like it, I'd feel indifferent, or I'd not like it.
Whichever way it went there was always the excitement of discovery. If I
found a gem of a movie, it was a thrill, and if I didn’t enjoy it—better luck
next time; at least I still got to eat the popcorn!
If I didn't like a particular rental, I wouldn't scribble obscenities on the cover to warn other people not to watch it, I wouldn't abuse the cast, and wouldn't do those under some delusion I was doing the world a favour.
Back then, the approach was very much when you rented a film you've not seen before: you'll like some but not others.
I follow the same process for TV shows, books, music albums, and so on.
The joy of discovery
When I like something, I consider myself lucky and I’m happy,
because I’ve found a ‘thing’ I enjoy and can enjoy again in the future.
When I don’t like something but someone else does, I’m happy
for them because they’ve found a ‘thing’ they enjoy.
Life’s very enjoyable when taking that approach.
Circling back to when I stumbled across The Monster; I had discovered a film I enjoyed and also discovered the works of an actress I hadn't seen before which opened up a fresh set of films to watch and enjoy. To date, I've watched nine so far, enjoyed them all, and all that joy was unlocked without reading a single review regarding any of them...
Closing ramble
With regards to reviews on creative works, there is also the murky world of fake and 'paid for' reviews, bots, or orchestrated attacks which are fuelled by various motivations and further muddy the water; however, those are a gloomy rabbit holes in themselves.
The point being when reviews have unknown sources or sometimes fuelled questionable motives behind them, how useful are they?
Reviews are certainly useful when it comes to objects, like a brand of vacuum cleaner, but have questionable use when it comes to subjective matters.
Anyway, that’s my opinion on why I feel 'reviews' aren't particularly relevant when it comes to matters of taste, but they certainly appear more toxic when people hijack them to abuse others or skew perceptions.
In case you’re wondering, as per the hate-filled reviewer's baseless claims, despite singing her praises, I’m not related to Ella Ballentine. If I was or knew her in person, I'd confidently suggest to Ella she's accomplished more in her young life than 'angry reviewers' ever will.
Until next time...
Tim H.
