Hate?

There's something I don't understand: why do people say they hate art?

I don't mean Art with a capital "A", I mean any art: books, music, films, actors, TV and stuff.

I discuss this with the Teacher from time to time. The way people say they "hate" - for the sake of argument - the director Michael Bay.

Why?

They don't hate him at all, they don't know him. They don't like the film, okay, but they don't hate the director. It's a complete lie. It's as if they have to have their emotions turned up to 11 just to make sure people notice. Simply having an opinion is not enough, you have to have everybody around you agree.

(It's the same with music, people saying they "hate" Band X - it doesn't matter if you don't like their music, that's fine, that's your opinion - but you don't hate them. Hate is a very particular emotion.)

I find this strange. I'm very relaxed about things, why get all worked up over a personal opinion?

It's become popular to criticise Independence Day. I don't get it. It's a fun film, it was never meant to be anything else. Have people lost their ability to suspend their disbelief?

I like lots of films that are supposedly "bad". I don't necessarily think they're great, but I'm willing to accept them for what they are and enjoy them on that basis. Sometimes a film is so bad I am forced to turn it off - like that silly Infected on the TV this evening: terrible plot, terrible dialogue - though the actors were making the best of it. But I don't hate anything to do with this movie, it was just poor.

Let's take the Matrix:Reloaded - the fight between Neo and the Agent Smiths is widely criticised for being pointless. One of the reasons why the two sequels are supposedly "rubbish". But the so-called pointlessness is the point. Neo can't beat them, that is the point. Neo becomes more effective and more Smiths turn up, until Neo realises - character development point - that he cannot fight them.

But it's fashionable to attack these films, so people do. Perhaps it's that some people cannot bear to have their own opinions.

Anyone know why people do this? Or should creators be hated for creating art that you don't personally like?

In other news

Today the Daughter, with the assistance of Director Chris, recorded her audition for the Welsh-accent-required movie - it was a short scene from the film itself. Not done in the best conditions: outdoors with pouring rain, and planes going over regularly. But we ended with a good take and her slight Welsh twang (she was channelling Eve Myles) worked well and only once crossed to Eire. (It didn't go East at all which was good.)

We also went to a falconry centre and flew two Eagle Owls, two Harris Hawks, a Barn Owl and a vulture. The vulture was great, a real character. They are incredibly light and we learned interesting facts about their care and flying them. This sort of thing is definitely not for people who are squeamish - food preparation involved cutting open chicks, and dead rats. And later holding bits of dead animal to bring the birds to the gauntlet.

The Teacher, Daughter and the Boy (and I) took it all in our stride. We were also appropriately dressed and genuinely interested, and asked (hopefully intelligent) questions.

Intelligence-wise I'd say the birds are slightly sub-dog. They have the same sort of food obsession as dogs, and they're clever enough to understand hand signals but not quite so good at handling the complex stuff. It was an excellent experience for the whole family, and you never know when something like this will be needed in a story.

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What's on the turntable? "Orange Crush" by R.E.M. from the "Best of" compilation