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Mar. 13th, 2004 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaIt was watching an Akira music vid that did it this time.
I just remembered seeing this mini-review of that anime which kind of knocked it, saying there was basically nothing there, no -sense-, you know, no resolution. Something plot-related, I think was what the reviewer was looking for. I remember seeing Akira ages ago-- it was one of the first anime-- if not -the- first-- that I ever saw. I didn't love it, but I did see where it was going as a work; I saw what the reviewer was missing.
Thing is, it's a psychological study, and if you're looking for continuity and some sort of typical sci-fi progression, it's going to disappoint you, probably. But it has this... intensity, Akira does. It has a heart, and I respond to that.
This makes me think of the idea of an "ideal reader"-- that we're all writing for a certain kind of audience, and the further people are from that ideal, the more likely they're going to think it's crap. Not just incomprehensible or confusing-- usually, they'll just think it sucks. They'll blame the work or the artist rather than thinking that there's something missing in their own range of perception.
I fall into that trap a lot, actually, that's why realizing this seems reassuring to me. I get pretty upset-- even enraged-- at the various things I find stupid or pointless or overdone in fic. I'm very sensitive to what I find of both good and bad quality, so I probably get more emotional than most people would. If a fic seems senselessly dark or morbid, I feel as if it's a challenge to my whole world-view in some obscure way. Like it's a "wrong" that should be "righted", this alien world-view. I really believe that sometimes.
Mostly, as with everything, it's a question of quality. If the work is made with great talent, it's more likely to reach you even if you're not the ideal audience. And with a lessening of talent, maybe there's an inversely proportionate relationship where the less intrinsic kinship the audience possesses to start with, the more they'll be alienated by the material.
I have to believe that all those fics I think suck rotten goose eggs are also saying something that I just can't hear, to -somebody- out there. Similarly, the people who jeer at the popular fics they find pedestrian or whatever should consider that maybe all those fans are seeing something they're not; maybe they're even using entirely different criteria for judgement. Like with Akira-- you can tell it's saying something... and that probably means that there's people out there who want or need to hear it-- and also people who won't understand, or who'll actively resent it.
I'm not talking about opinions, or all opinions being valid or anything, because I don't believe that. I just keep noticing how much people dismiss what they don't understand as worthless-- me included. And it's kind of arresting to think that you can bet that in almost every one of those cases, there are people out there who -do- understand, to whom it might be a revelation. And I think with a work of high quality, like Akira, if you allow yourself to really listen, you can hear the voices speaking in an alien language you could slowly begin to understand.
I just remembered seeing this mini-review of that anime which kind of knocked it, saying there was basically nothing there, no -sense-, you know, no resolution. Something plot-related, I think was what the reviewer was looking for. I remember seeing Akira ages ago-- it was one of the first anime-- if not -the- first-- that I ever saw. I didn't love it, but I did see where it was going as a work; I saw what the reviewer was missing.
Thing is, it's a psychological study, and if you're looking for continuity and some sort of typical sci-fi progression, it's going to disappoint you, probably. But it has this... intensity, Akira does. It has a heart, and I respond to that.
This makes me think of the idea of an "ideal reader"-- that we're all writing for a certain kind of audience, and the further people are from that ideal, the more likely they're going to think it's crap. Not just incomprehensible or confusing-- usually, they'll just think it sucks. They'll blame the work or the artist rather than thinking that there's something missing in their own range of perception.
I fall into that trap a lot, actually, that's why realizing this seems reassuring to me. I get pretty upset-- even enraged-- at the various things I find stupid or pointless or overdone in fic. I'm very sensitive to what I find of both good and bad quality, so I probably get more emotional than most people would. If a fic seems senselessly dark or morbid, I feel as if it's a challenge to my whole world-view in some obscure way. Like it's a "wrong" that should be "righted", this alien world-view. I really believe that sometimes.
Mostly, as with everything, it's a question of quality. If the work is made with great talent, it's more likely to reach you even if you're not the ideal audience. And with a lessening of talent, maybe there's an inversely proportionate relationship where the less intrinsic kinship the audience possesses to start with, the more they'll be alienated by the material.
I have to believe that all those fics I think suck rotten goose eggs are also saying something that I just can't hear, to -somebody- out there. Similarly, the people who jeer at the popular fics they find pedestrian or whatever should consider that maybe all those fans are seeing something they're not; maybe they're even using entirely different criteria for judgement. Like with Akira-- you can tell it's saying something... and that probably means that there's people out there who want or need to hear it-- and also people who won't understand, or who'll actively resent it.
I'm not talking about opinions, or all opinions being valid or anything, because I don't believe that. I just keep noticing how much people dismiss what they don't understand as worthless-- me included. And it's kind of arresting to think that you can bet that in almost every one of those cases, there are people out there who -do- understand, to whom it might be a revelation. And I think with a work of high quality, like Akira, if you allow yourself to really listen, you can hear the voices speaking in an alien language you could slowly begin to understand.
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Date: 2004-03-13 05:48 am (UTC)I have to believe that all those fics I think suck rotten goose eggs are also saying something that I just can't hear, to -somebody- out there.
It probably depends, I'd say. I remember in Creative writer-class, once, we had a discussion about how you need to find exactly what it is with the story you're writing, that you want to tell. And we came to the conclusion that if you wrote a story that's, somehow, important to you, then big chances are that it's important to someone else, as well, because no human being is unique. So I think that could be what you're talking about, a story that's important for the writer, and as a consequence, some readers as well, but it may not be important to you, so it's either you who miss something that's there, that other people see, or the story is written in a way, that makes you unable to see what the writer really wanted to tell (it could be both).
I suppose many things are written only to make money, or if we're talking about fanfic, I assume some is written only to gain popularity or whatever. These works don't necessarily contain anything that's important to the writer (they can, of course, but not necessarily), and in that case, I'm not sure anyone else will necessarily see something in them either.