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Have you ever considered how much of our reactions to entertainment are based not only on subjective experience, but pure outright chance?
Think about it. A person who got little sleep, had a terrible day and then a terrible time getting to a theater is far more likely to find their moviegoing experience unpleasant than someone who is relaxed and happy and ready for a good time. That’s not just theory, I’ve heard even professional reviewers admit that on a second viewing they found a film to be better than the first time, because their first time occurred while they were already in a grumpy mood. It can happen in the other direction as well, where an amped up crowd and things like free beer may get people raving about a movie they saw at a sneak preview, and then a year later they watch it again and wonder why the hell they insisted it was fine cinema.
When we approach entertainment with high expectations, we have a higher chance of disappointment if it doesn’t measure up. When we go in with low standards, a mediocre offering might end up putting a smile on our faces just for being “enjoyable” or “not as bad as they said”.
And sometimes it goes beyond the emotional. Case in point: the first time I viewed Captain America: Civil War I was way up in the back row of the theater. I read reviews afterwards criticizing the overuse of “shaky cam” in the opening action scenes and occasionally unconvincing CGI and couldn’t understand what those people had been smoking. Did we watch the same movie?
Well, turns out… maybe we didn’t. Not entirely. You see, my second viewing, we ended up way in the front of the theater with the screen towering at a steep angle above my head, and with that change of perspective and close-in detail, suddenly I was noticing the shaky cam and occasional computer-aided effect. I was also noticing how many face and neck blemishes Chris Evans was sporting despite portraying the pinnacle of human potential, and that’s a petty critique I doubt anyone in the back or even middle rows would have understood.
So yeah, that’s like the cinematic version of my contention that reading a comic electronically panel-by-panel and reading it when you’re able to see the whole page make for two extremely different experiences, and it’s a bizarre added layer to consider as an artist, where no matter how carefully you craft your piece there will be circumstances beyond your control which may distort the experience when it reaches the consumer.
Does the movie/play/comic suck? Or did you have a stomachache? Or the lighting wasn’t good? Or some kid kept kicking your chair? It’s enough to make me consider that everything deserves a second chance.
But then again, I ain’t got time for that. It’s enough for me to consider that again, when someone’s going on about loving things or hating things regarding a particular piece of entertainment and you disagree so vehemently you wonder if they’re existing in some parallel dimension — maybe not. Maybe you’re both just victims of circumstance.