06 February 2008

Montrose Adventure Theory

The Montrose Adventure Theory Club
Artists discussing Art.

MAT#1: figuring out why you DON’T like something is at least as important as figuring out why you DO like something.


Let's take cartoons... we all like 'em, but what I don't like is straight-to-dvd animated movies. The production values are inferior, of course, but what specific production values make it bad? The lack of movement fluidity, the limited colour palette, the lack of well integrated background art, poor sound design, bad dialogue...

This can be applied to Soap Operas as well. What's makes them so bad? The overhead lighting, the lack of camera movement (only zooms), poor sound design, bad dialogue...

Now what about the sound design, for instance... why is it bad? how can it be better? is it technology, or time/effort that truly makes it better? how can we incorporate these ideas for better quality in our own work?

This are the kind of questions we should be asking ourselves and other artists. with real and honest and helpful answers. and don't be afraid to not know something, to not have "an opinion" on something... but be honest about not knowing! and always, always be willing to find out the answers.

Let the adventure begin!

1 comment:

00fauve said...

okay okay okay,
get ready for a whole lot of art talk.
once i get started its hard to stop....

Yes, most definitely. Understanding why you don't like something is extremely important.

The thing I have been figuring out though, is that its not very helpful to label things good or bad. I am heading toward viewing all things equally. Different, yet equal. I mean you can find some great truth/beauty/meaning in just about everything.

Generally when I find something that i instantly have the desire to label bad (or good), i think about it for a minute... what exactly causes me to have this negative (or positive). reaction And generally, I have to say, it comes down to some predjudices or emotional baggage i happen to be carrying.

I will use one of your examples:

Soap Operas-

What causes my negative reactions:
Well, they are played up, over dramatic. Honestly I am a little insulted that someone would create something like this, and I feel like if i watch it and enjoy it, I am lowering myself to the level they where they expect me to be. I am not stupid enough to fall for your cheap entertainment! I am intelligent! I deserve good overhead lighting! I deserve logical, and realistic plots! I am not hungry for over sexed plots! I don't need this! etc.

What causes my positive reactions:
OMG, I really love drama and sex and cheap thrills. The ridiculousness of the plots is hilarious. I am strangely uplifted to see that something so ridiculous can exist. It reminds me of my mother watching days of our lives when i was little, the first time i ever saw people 'having sex' was on days of our lives. etc.

So great information is here for me to use. In the negative and the positive....
Tons of truth and meaning here...

The thing that i have been finding REALLY helpful is connecting these feelings and reactions to personal 'influences'.

For example:

Why do I like drama, sex and, cheap thrills so much? Maybe its because I grew up in a christian environment, and a culture where all of these things are supressed. Instead I was always faced with stoic facades. I connect blatant sex and drama to the honesty that my environment wouldn't allow. It is connected to my desire for human connection...

Why is my intelligence insulted by these shows? Why do I take it so personally that I am being fed half assed entertainment? Well, many times in m life I have felt like I needed to prove my intelligence. I feel like people assume i am unintelligent, and I have this desperate need to prove that they are wrong. Maybe this is because I am scared that I am not that intelligent? When really, it doesnt even matter how intelligent I am or how intelligent anyone thinks I am and I don't really need to prove anything because things just are the way they are.

Okay, so as you can see, I get a whole lot out of analzing my reactions to things... the positive and negative reactions... there is tons of meaning in them both.... Generally I figure out that things aren't 'bad' I just have issues about them. they might not accomplish their intended purpose, or they might completely fail their goal, but still there is tons of things to be learned from them. Things that I want to see, and begin to understand....

Posted by Julia on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 1:56 PM
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bryce!

oooooooohhhh... I like that.

so all 'objective' opinions about something, are really just reflections of deeply personal reasons/biases/experiences. So when you talk about what you like or don't like about art, or overhead lighting, or whatever, you're really talking about yourself...

gosh, that makes me want to be VERY careful of giving any opinions... which itself is actually a reflection of my personal feelings about limiting what I show of myself... which reflects a whole 'nother set of reasons and feelings and so on... which can and should be examined to discover IT'S meaning for existence in my life, so I can become a fuller person.


But if all arts are not bad or good, just different... how can things be judged? "why does THIS hang in a gallery, and not THAT?", "is this bad form and compostion, or just different?", "is this bad spelling, or just different?" it then becomes a reflection of societies traditions... decades and centuries of bias. [the spelling thing isn't art, so that doesn't/shouldn't count... unless it's made INTO art... and the spelling/misspelling is on purpose... but how much of art is on purpose?] I think I'll leave it at that, because then the discussion goes into 'what is art?'... and that hardly has an agreeable answer... but I think a big part of it has to do with purpose and process.

ahhh... good discussion. just what the montrose adventure theory club is all about.

Posted by bryce! on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 10:35 PM