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alobearOn Friday night, we went to see The Great Wall, a film by Zhang Yimou, in which Matt Damon helps an army repel lizard monsters from the Great Wall in ancient China. My anticipation of an enjoyable evening was high, despite relatively bad reviews. Four of us went along, and opinion was very much divided at the end.
Two of the party came out pulling the film to pieces, declaring it dreadful. They, and the reviews, variously said the film was ridiculous, the internal logic non-existent, the dialogue stilted, the plot hackneyed, the acting wooden, etc, etc.
My third friend and I could not disagree on any of these points - and yet we both absolutely loved the film! It was visually stunning, the action was breath-taking, the silliness of it all actually added to my appreciation because it made me laugh so much - and the whole thing was just so much fun. I wasn’t expecting it to make sense, and I didn’t need it to - I just gave myself over to the experience and let it take me with it on a gloriously over-the-top romp.
Was the film good? No, it was not. Was it enjoyable? Given the right frame of mind - hell, yes!
I had a similar experience with the audiobook I finished this week. It was called The House of the Four Winds, the first in the One Dozen Daughters, co-written by Mercedes Lackey and John Mallory. The overall premise of the series is that a tiny kingdom with twelve princesses is unable to afford twelve royal dowries, so each princess chooses a trade to learn and then goes out into the world at the age of eighteen to seek her fortune.
This first book follows the adventures of the oldest princess, Clarice, who trains as a sword fighter, disguises herself as a boy, and embarks on a voyage to a different continent, aboard the cargo ship, Assassino. There are storms, mutiny, pirates, sorcery, treasure maps, sea monsters, and the inevitable complications that ensue when Clarice falls in love with the ship’s navigator.
The whole thing is wildly predictable - for example, someone gets bespelled, the only thing that break the enchantment is true love - but it’s exciting, emotive, engaging, and any other similar words you can think of that begin with ‘e’! It’s very much not high literary art - or even remotely original fantasy - but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I very much hope more books in the series are published soon. I imagine the plan is for there eventually to be twelve books, each following a different princess, and I would certainly listen to more.
I had a very different experience last night, on a trip to the English National Opera to see Pirates of Penzance. Now, I’ve been a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan for many years (I have very fond memories of being in Iolanthe at school, pink lycra leotard and all) and Pirates of Penzance is the one I’m most familiar with.
I loved the policemen (as usual), and the pirates’ rendition of “With Catlike Tread” is always fun. There’s so much great humour in the lyrics, and the music is excellent.
However, I have to admit, I didn’t enjoy last night’s performance nearly as much as I’d hoped. The set was made up of large brightly coloured blocks in various configurations, which jarred against the traditional costuming. The singing wasn’t distinct enough for me to be able to make out the words without the help of the subtitles (on a screen above the stage) but reading the subtitles ruined a lot of the humour by revealing the jokes before they were actually sung. The case were generally good, but not amazing, and the whole thing started to drag a bit towards the end.
Now, Pirates of Penzance is a really good show, but unfortunately this was not a particularly good production of it. It didn’t help at all that I’ve had very little sleep this week, and was really, really tired by yesterday evening.
So, it seems clear that an enjoyable experience of entertainment can very much be affected by its presentation (regardless of the quality of its content) and also by the attitude with which the consumer approaches it.
Two of the party came out pulling the film to pieces, declaring it dreadful. They, and the reviews, variously said the film was ridiculous, the internal logic non-existent, the dialogue stilted, the plot hackneyed, the acting wooden, etc, etc.
My third friend and I could not disagree on any of these points - and yet we both absolutely loved the film! It was visually stunning, the action was breath-taking, the silliness of it all actually added to my appreciation because it made me laugh so much - and the whole thing was just so much fun. I wasn’t expecting it to make sense, and I didn’t need it to - I just gave myself over to the experience and let it take me with it on a gloriously over-the-top romp.
Was the film good? No, it was not. Was it enjoyable? Given the right frame of mind - hell, yes!
I had a similar experience with the audiobook I finished this week. It was called The House of the Four Winds, the first in the One Dozen Daughters, co-written by Mercedes Lackey and John Mallory. The overall premise of the series is that a tiny kingdom with twelve princesses is unable to afford twelve royal dowries, so each princess chooses a trade to learn and then goes out into the world at the age of eighteen to seek her fortune.
This first book follows the adventures of the oldest princess, Clarice, who trains as a sword fighter, disguises herself as a boy, and embarks on a voyage to a different continent, aboard the cargo ship, Assassino. There are storms, mutiny, pirates, sorcery, treasure maps, sea monsters, and the inevitable complications that ensue when Clarice falls in love with the ship’s navigator.
The whole thing is wildly predictable - for example, someone gets bespelled, the only thing that break the enchantment is true love - but it’s exciting, emotive, engaging, and any other similar words you can think of that begin with ‘e’! It’s very much not high literary art - or even remotely original fantasy - but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I very much hope more books in the series are published soon. I imagine the plan is for there eventually to be twelve books, each following a different princess, and I would certainly listen to more.
I had a very different experience last night, on a trip to the English National Opera to see Pirates of Penzance. Now, I’ve been a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan for many years (I have very fond memories of being in Iolanthe at school, pink lycra leotard and all) and Pirates of Penzance is the one I’m most familiar with.
I loved the policemen (as usual), and the pirates’ rendition of “With Catlike Tread” is always fun. There’s so much great humour in the lyrics, and the music is excellent.
However, I have to admit, I didn’t enjoy last night’s performance nearly as much as I’d hoped. The set was made up of large brightly coloured blocks in various configurations, which jarred against the traditional costuming. The singing wasn’t distinct enough for me to be able to make out the words without the help of the subtitles (on a screen above the stage) but reading the subtitles ruined a lot of the humour by revealing the jokes before they were actually sung. The case were generally good, but not amazing, and the whole thing started to drag a bit towards the end.
Now, Pirates of Penzance is a really good show, but unfortunately this was not a particularly good production of it. It didn’t help at all that I’ve had very little sleep this week, and was really, really tired by yesterday evening.
So, it seems clear that an enjoyable experience of entertainment can very much be affected by its presentation (regardless of the quality of its content) and also by the attitude with which the consumer approaches it.
