Comments on: this post may be about illegal substances http://www.baldingangrily.com/2008/05/19/this-post-may-be-about-illegal-substances/ not gracefully Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:04:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: MagnusFromBerlin http://www.baldingangrily.com/2008/05/19/this-post-may-be-about-illegal-substances/#comment-5372 MagnusFromBerlin Tue, 20 May 2008 22:30:38 +0000 http://www.baldingangrily.com/2008/05/19/this-post-may-be-about-illegal-substances/#comment-5372 Why are people so obsessed with this "objective criticism" concept? Objective criticism would have to be purely based on facts and therefore can only be rather dull (and as often is the case subjective by the choice facts it happens to present). That would be the difference between a. "Xanadu is a 1980 musical movie, starring Olivia Newton-John with impressive visual effects and an enormously successful soundtrack..." and b. "Xanadu, which started production without a finished script, completely failed at the box office and lost the first ever Razzie Award to "Can't Stop the Music...". In criticism and culture there are very rarely things that can be expressed objectively (a documentary can of course always be criticised for not being objective, but once again I would challenge you to find me one that is). If many people happen to think something is beautiful, than that only means that it appeals to many, it does not mean it's objectively beautiful. This is also true if those many people happen to be extra intelligent. If opinion of many starts equalling objective, then things generally start to become very dangerous fast. For me personally the most important component to criticism of anything that doesn't have a clear defined purpose (like art, music, film in contrast to a door handle, which is already "well made" when it opens doors easily) is "tone" and "respect", because knowing that your opinion can only be subjective, you should also know that other people might have very good reasons to arrive at theirs. "tone" and "respect" are of course very much subjective as is the rest of what I just said... Why are people so obsessed with this “objective criticism” concept? Objective criticism would have to be purely based on facts and therefore can only be rather dull (and as often is the case subjective by the choice facts it happens to present).
That would be the difference between a. “Xanadu is a 1980 musical movie, starring Olivia Newton-John with impressive visual effects and an enormously successful soundtrack…” and b. “Xanadu, which started production without a finished script, completely failed at the box office and lost the first ever Razzie Award to “Can’t Stop the Music…”.

In criticism and culture there are very rarely things that can be expressed objectively (a documentary can of course always be criticised for not being objective, but once again I would challenge you to find me one that is). If many people happen to think something is beautiful, than that only means that it appeals to many, it does not mean it’s objectively beautiful. This is also true if those many people happen to be extra intelligent. If opinion of many starts equalling objective, then things generally start to become very dangerous fast.

For me personally the most important component to criticism of anything that doesn’t have a clear defined purpose (like art, music, film in contrast to a door handle, which is already “well made” when it opens doors easily) is “tone” and “respect”, because knowing that your opinion can only be subjective, you should also know that other people might have very good reasons to arrive at theirs.

“tone” and “respect” are of course very much subjective as is the rest of what I just said…

]]> By: alex http://www.baldingangrily.com/2008/05/19/this-post-may-be-about-illegal-substances/#comment-5418 alex Wed, 21 May 2008 14:25:29 +0000 http://www.baldingangrily.com/2008/05/19/this-post-may-be-about-illegal-substances/#comment-5418 You just hurt my head. The idea of objective v. subjective was really just a starting-off point for me. I totally agree with you, as soon as a person edits, he becomes subjective - your argument that all documentaries are, to some extent, subjective. Until we all reach enlightenment, we all view the world through our own experience-lenses. You just hurt my head.

The idea of objective v. subjective was really just a starting-off point for me. I totally agree with you, as soon as a person edits, he becomes subjective - your argument that all documentaries are, to some extent, subjective.

Until we all reach enlightenment, we all view the world through our own experience-lenses.

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