Creation, Critique, Contempt, and Compassion

Many of my posts are silly and absurd, because I am silly and absurd. Shocking, right? If you would allow, I'd like to take a moment of your time to talk with you about several issues that have been bothering me for almost a year. 

*pulls out collapsable, portable soapbox and steps up*

I'd like to discuss creation, critique, contempt, and compassion. (Yay, alliteration! My english major roots are showing...)

Many disparate events have contributed to my thoughts today, but they all coalesced because of The Hunger Games. (Full disclosure, I think there are flaws in this trilogy, but I won't be discussing them here.) Anything that is wildly successful attracts criticism as sure as the sun will rise. Human beings love to criticize, to tear things apart, and it is a fine line between tearing a thing apart and tearing it down.

In a handful of words, we can shine a light on all of the flaws in the work of an artist or a craftsman. It costs us nothing to criticize something. Criticism is easy. But I'll tell you a secret. Perfection is a deadly, enslaving myth. Every creative work has flaws.

Now, I'm not suggesting that artists shouldn't strive for a polished final product, nor that criticism is inherently bad. It is not. Criticism is GOOD. I believe that critique should and does have a proper and important place in the world. Without constructive criticism, we cannot grow creatively.

What I'm saying is that our culture is obsessed with criticizing, not for the sake of making something better, but for the sake of ridiculing it. We encourage cultural bullying.

Much of the criticism that populates newspapers, blogs, sundry social media, and conversation is not for the sake of improving or building up anything or anyone. It's for the sake of passing judgment, and in doing so, demeaning those who enjoy that Thing. Because that Thing, be it The Hunger Games or Justin Beiber One Direction (EDIT 06/14: His behavior over the last two years has been reprehensible), or YA literature, cannot be a thing of value. 

And if a person happens to fall into the category of enjoying that Thing, they are ridiculed and demeaned for liking it. There is an arrogant contempt for that person's lack of taste or understanding things of quality. This is especially true of media that is marketed for adolescents. If it's for adolescents, it must be lesser than adult things.

Joel Stein's NYT article illustrates my point by saying that "[t]he only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading The Hunger Games. Or a Twilight book. Or Harry Potter." He escalates his condescending tone by suggesting that we should have "the decency to let tween girls have their own little world of vampires and child wizards and games you play when hungry. Let’s not pump Justin Bieber in our Saabs and get engaged at Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland." And he PROUDLY admits that he doesn't know if The Hunger Games is any good "because it’s a book for kids. I’ll read The Hunger Games when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults."

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Our society does have a problem with bullying, but it is by no means restricted to the childhood schoolyard or hallways of high schools. We shred any new thing with a vicious delight. But there are real people who have created these things and they have created something. They deserve more than our contempt.

Creation is difficult. To create is to give of yourself, to put a part of yourself into the work in order to give it life. I'm not implying that all creative works are of equal quality and craftsmanship, or that we should place Shakespeare on the same level with Anchorman, or that you must or should enjoy everything out there. Be discerning. Please, seriously, be discerning. But imagine if the kind of criticism we heap on culture creators were applied to other professions. What if we personally attacked engineers the way we attack Justin Beiber One Direction?

But beyond the creators of these Things are the people who love them--the fans of these books, movies, TV shows, comics, games, and singers. I have heard numerous people, those who I know personally and those who I have read, who relegate YA literature as the territory of "tween girls." Beyond the distasteful misogyny of that categorization--as if being an early adolescent girl is something derogatory--this contempt makes those who enjoy these things feel as though they should be ashamed for enjoying them. Joel Stein's opening sentence makes it abundantly clear that adults should feel shame for enjoying YA Literature. Cultural bullying. And if it's shameful for adults, what are we saying about teens themselves? 

I spend a lot of time with teenagers. Teens are not weak minded, undiscerning sponges, and they know when they're being trivialized. And maybe adults should start treating them like thinking human beings instead of zombies shambling after the latest fad. If we're going to do something about the issue of bullying by kids and teens, how about adults lead by example?

By no means should we disregard criticism, but I think we should question WHY we are critiquing. Are we critiquing to build up or to tear down? Are we critiquing to engage or to shame? Are we critiquing to make someone better or to make ourselves feel superior?

I think these are really important questions to consider, and I think that, in all things, we should show each other compassion rather than contempt.

*steps off soap box*