Hi,
I’m Sam,
Please
permit me to rant a little, well it’s not going to be a rant per se but as
always, I'm getting this off my chest. Art in this case means entertainment.
Whether we see it or not, agree with it or not, entertainment has changed; I’m
not really sure if it’s changed positively or negatively but I am very sure
there has been some sort of shift.
First
off, Art, or in this case entertainment is subjective; it is personal which
ultimately means you enjoy what you enjoy, it absolutely doesn’t matter what
someone else thinks about it or has to say about it. I would also like to think
that making/ consuming art is also subjective which is ultimately the reason why
everyone who makes art can never make the same thing and people who consume art
cannot enjoy every art available. This is where variety comes into play. My
mood affects my chances of enjoying any form of art; what I enjoy when I’m sad
is different from what I enjoy when I’m happy, some people don’t even want to
be entertained when they are emotionally down.
Ratings/
reviews are not new, it has been around for as far back as we can remember, what
changed is the form in which they are given. I believe at my current age, I
have a decent idea of what I find entertaining and what I don’t wish to waste
my time on and I think that is also the case for a lot of people. For movies
and music, I stay away from reading reviews or checking ratings because the
reviews are tainted by so many personal conditions relating to the person
giving the review. Not liking a particular artist or art does not in any way
have anything to do with the quality of the art. There are times you find
yourself enjoying a particular movie, song, or painting but you find it
difficult to point out exactly what you enjoy about it, all you know is that
you find it pleasant and you enjoy it even when you do not want to and other
times you can explain in details why you love a particular art.
Reviews
or ratings should never make me not see a movie or listen to any song especially
if I desire to or not to but sometimes they do. Like I said earlier, art is subjective which means
the review is going to be personal no matter how objective the reviewer tries
to be. Some sort of bias must creep in somehow, whether you’re a fan or not. I
am only interested in enjoying art for myself and not for anyone, so if I read
or check a rating before going in, I will have the words of that one or two
reviews I read at the back of my mind, which will ultimately affect how much I
enjoy or not enjoy the art.
Ask
yourself this, when you read 2 or more opposite reviews about a movie or a
song, how do you choose which one to side with after? Most times your personal
feelings towards the art helps you decide, so why not in the first place go in
blind and be entertained on your terms and not by what someone else decides for
you?
Reviews
affect me more when it comes to movies; I consider reviews spoilers for movies
even though there might be very little detail given about the movie, I always
feel lazy getting myself to watch the movie. You will probably be very
surprised if I list a lot of blockbuster movies I have been finding very hard
to see because of the official and unofficial reviews I stumbled upon about
them.
I
guess all I’m trying to say with these few paragraphs is to enjoy art for you.
If you cannot genuinely enjoy art without getting reviews on them, then that is
fine. I just believe we should do what feels good and genuine to us and not
what we think people are doing or what we think is cool. Enjoy the art,
appreciate the artist and when it comes to art, see it as a good thing when you
cannot predict it, that way the art and the artist stay fresh to you and you
will always get that fresh feeling whenever you are about to dive into a
freshly released artwork. As an art maker, the best thing you can do for
yourself is to be authentic and proud of your work; in most cases, people will
see your work first through your lenses before they see it through theirs. You
cannot explain what you do not know or be proud of something you didn’t do. We
all need to strive for authenticity!