Iggy Azalea. "Suicide Squad.' "Twilight." Figure Skating. Hillary Clinton. Burger King. Black Veil Brides. "Superman." Marching band.
Odds are you’ve criticized and judged at least one of the above subjects. Now, some people really hate things for a reason -- Burger King’s food may always be served cold. Iggy Azalea may not have the best music. Hillary Clinton may have copied everything that Bernie Sanders stood for. But, we are not fully educated or exposed to everything about all of these subjects. We hear other people’s critiques on them, which sway our way of thinking. Why do we decide to join the negative critics so often?
After being excited about seeing "Suicide Squad" this weekend, I was actually impressed with how good the movie was after all of the negative critiques that I’ve heard about it (and also any other DC movie, for that matter). I heard about how it didn’t follow the plot of the comics, there was poor character development, and the interpretation was just wrong. Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think 100 percent of the people who went to go to see the movie were very educated on the DC Universe or the characters' backstories, for that matter. Yet, even people who hadn’t read the comics were very bothered by how inaccurate the movie was.
In Charles Taylor’s Dissent article “The Problem With Film Criticism," he brings forth the question about all movie criticism: is this story good and does it deserve to be told? Though it’s easy to criticize movies or music or people or activities, everything should be judged based off of it’s own value and its own effort. Music is meant to entertain and speak to audiences, not to be analyzed to where it loses its art. Sports are meant to display athleticism, not create stereotypes about athletes. Books are supposed to make us journey into another world and give us a lesson, not preach to people or be compared to other books.
There’s a reason why certain people like certain things. I like figure skating because it shows artistry in athletics, yet I’ve been told that it is “gay” and “not real athleticism.” I like Black Veil Brides because they have catchy music and because they’re not too scary of a rock band, yet I’ve been told that the band is for 12-year-olds.” I like marching band because of the teamwork that is involved, and also being able to make music while also getting in shape, yet I’m told that it, “Isn’t hard to walk in a straight line, and no one cares about the instruments.”
Why must we criticize something just because it isn’t our favorite thing? Why does the internet team up on hating people like Iggy Azalea and Hillary Clinton, just because they aren’t Nicki Minaj or Bernie Sanders?
The constant comparison of everything to everything else related to it is what is making these bandwagon critics relish in thinking that they are being elitists. You are correct if you hate something that everyone else does, and if you enjoy something that other people don’t, you are not educated and are naïve.
I don’t want to say that people’s expectations are too high, but it has become more apparent that some things are standard and expected. A book should make someone cry, a song should have a great bass drop, a movie should have badass characters with a lot of development. When we miss out on these things, it feels like a part of the work is missing, and we are disappointed. The fanboys and fangirls of the internet are quick to tell others how something is awry, and the internet critiques are spread quickly enough to where the whole audience has only one opinion.
When it comes to criticizing anything, we should keep the questions in mind, Is it good? Does it deserve to be payed attention to? We should treat everything as individual and evaluate its value based on only itself. Being swayed by others' opinions, no matter how positive or negative they may be, distracts from you learning about what you enjoy. Don’t be ignorant to the value of each work, but fully expose yourself to what it is -- you may be surprised about how much you may end up liking something.
