This post is titled 'Criticism' This is an issue that has been bugging me for a few days now but now I believe I can put it behind me, mostly thanks to Once upon a time in Hollywood and Quentin Tarantino. First off, I saw 'Once upon a time' over the weekend (in 70mm!) and while it's not my favorite Tarantino film, I enjoyed it. I even looked up some reviews to see what the critics thought. What ended up intriguing me wasn't what the critics said, but the back and forth of the comments from readers (viewers?). No one commented on the themes I saw being portrayed (basically how hippie peace and love culture was a pale comparison to the strength of the 1960's white male) instead they focused on How many lines Margot Robbie had and how this movie didnt have a strong enough female character(oddly no one has mentioned the lack of a single black person speaking in the entire run, but I digress) and those people made me think more about a conversation I had with a couple of listeners of my podcast ,Dead Pixel Live, when I solicited reviews of my own writing in progress.
What I received wasn't positive , but I wasnt expecting positive feedback, or do I need it even. But what I did get was complaints about issues I had not even considered to be issues. I re-listened to the section of the podcast again and took in the questions about 'whats a ship' (It's a science fiction story based on a giant space ship controlled by a young woman) and 'i don't like the character names'. Now I spent a lot of time mulling over these criticisms until I realized the people complaining and in a way demanding changes be made, had not read the story they were critiquing. In fact, they seemed proud of the fact that they had not read any of it. Here's the thing, it's not that they didnt like the work I did, its that they have no real basis not to like it yet they feel entitled that it cater to their whims.
You know how when you ask someone to try your favorite dish, and they respond 'No , I dont like that food'. and you ask 'Have you ever tried it?' and they return with, 'no, but I know I dont like it'. Before I go any further, I dont want it to sound like I believe my silly story about a giant spaceship is without flaws or that it's even good. There's a good chance it's trash. But at the end of the day it's still my trash story and I should'nt be made to feel bad by people who dont like it existing for the sake of it existing.