i've detected some of the same neuroticisim in the Monsters author as you did lol
ahahaha. it's SUCH a specific vibe lol. like, there's this whole bit in the book where she's agonizing over something along the lines of "well, can [movie] be considered Great Art TM, given [stuff about the director]," and she's going back and forth for ages, and even though i think the point she's leading up to is reasonable enough (your feelings about the-circumstances-in-which-art-was-made may well be part of your reaction to a piece whether you like it or not, and while it's pretty limiting to use that as The Sole Thing To Define The Work, you shouldn't feel an obligation to tamp down & ignore all those feelings when you're thinking about the art, and people who insist that The Only Mature And Correct response is to analyze Solely The Work Itself are often simply people who do not have those feelings and thus don't have anything they would even want to ignore)... i mean she is just SO ANXIOUS about the Great Art TM designation specifically, and also what her friends think, and also how we pick film canons, and what even IS art and bla bla, and like... she's just twisting herself into knots! my essay would be so much more boring, lol, like "girl who cares what your friends think, you can Just Not Like Stuff for any reason under the sun, relax." which is why she got the book deal and i didn't, but, yeah, just a Vibe i am very familiar with lol
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Date: 2023-08-17 07:49 pm (UTC)ahahaha. it's SUCH a specific vibe lol. like, there's this whole bit in the book where she's agonizing over something along the lines of "well, can [movie] be considered Great Art TM, given [stuff about the director]," and she's going back and forth for ages, and even though i think the point she's leading up to is reasonable enough (your feelings about the-circumstances-in-which-art-was-made may well be part of your reaction to a piece whether you like it or not, and while it's pretty limiting to use that as The Sole Thing To Define The Work, you shouldn't feel an obligation to tamp down & ignore all those feelings when you're thinking about the art, and people who insist that The Only Mature And Correct response is to analyze Solely The Work Itself are often simply people who do not have those feelings and thus don't have anything they would even want to ignore)... i mean she is just SO ANXIOUS about the Great Art TM designation specifically, and also what her friends think, and also how we pick film canons, and what even IS art and bla bla, and like... she's just twisting herself into knots! my essay would be so much more boring, lol, like "girl who cares what your friends think, you can Just Not Like Stuff for any reason under the sun, relax." which is why she got the book deal and i didn't, but, yeah, just a Vibe i am very familiar with lol