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Criticisms, opinions
Posted by Dan. Ee.
on
11:59 AM
Criticism and opinions are like the buttocks, the gluteus maximus, our profound rear in which we sit on. We all have it.
All of us have an opinion about something, be it the car you're sitting in, the man you're talking to, or even the very air that you breathe. And more often than not, being average humans, we criticize almost everything that we see and hear or taste today in our lives.
Come now, don't lie to yourself. I am sure you have commented something about the food you had for lunch today, or even the waiter that served you being too rigid or leering, or even maybe the surroundings of where you place your sweet rear on; hot, smelly, humid - common traits of the Malaysian monotonous weather.
But opinions, you may have realized, are something that is offered quite freely and without restrain, to the nearest person next to you. Opinions are often the starter of most conversations, and for some, a joke - something to be taken lightly, a pinch of salt. And opinions are quite ever changing - no one means exactly what they say, and it means almost nothing to anyone at all.
But criticism, however, is an evolved form of opinions. Criticism, unlike opinions, it is meant to spur the change of someone and something, in regards of what is being criticized. And things of art, like literature, paintings, songs, are the ones that is often brought to the critics' kangaroo court for their appraisal and judgement. No holds barred, without bias, that's how should criticism be.
I have read lately, a newspaper article written by a critic reviewing a book. The entire gist of his article was mainly about caring about others' feelings while doing the review, and what about the sympathetic quality so common in Malaysians' affecting the quality of literature and art and movie produced. An example was where he said that he was given a bad book to review by a friend - he offered no help and asked him to take it somewhere else. The critic was afraid, that he would hurt the budding writer's feelings if he said if it was really bad, and all that.
What I think that is - and in agreement with aforementioned critic - the critics of this country should lock up their emotions when it comes to reviewing anything at all. Have they not considered about the quality that has been coming out lately in the film cinemas, the overstocked abundance of Malay love novels, and the obvious lack of Malaysian English novelists? Why do the critics would want to feed hopes to a shitty novel, and in result, a less than average quality literature being stacked in the shelves of national bookstores.
I would argue with them about this and I would get a response that is all too similar: "Don't be so harsh la.. They are good, after a few reads, their work would grow on you! They have potential! We need this kind of up and coming writers", etc.
WRONG.
You tell a builder building a house made of sand that his work is good, and he will keep building houses with sand and one day kill himself with it.
Same goes for anyone. Why pull the Asian parenting treatment in this sector? Why aren't you harsh and intimidating to them? Why don't you go all Donald Trump on their proverbial asses, and tell them that their work is not worthy for even the dustbin, toilet material even?
Why the lot of you, encourage the growth of such material, and not stick it to them that they should write/produce/compose better movies, art, literature, etc?
We are a sentimental, emotional, sympathetic lot, that's why.
For me, I want my work to be subjected to criticism worthy of Spartan discipline and cruelty. I want to know how bad did I do. I want to know how horrible my grammar, my sentence structures, my story premises; the aspects of a novel or any writing work of mine.
I get a lot of honorable mentions of my articles; like, publisher quality material, made with the essence of a trained, experienced writer, weaving emotions like a skilled romantic novelist.. the list do go on. Yes, I am not exaggerating.
I just want the raw form of criticism, the unadulterated, watered down, sweetened excuse of an opinion that only serves me no good to improve my writing quality.
Now I know why most local movies are of even lesser quality than our Thai or Singaporean counterparts.
All of us have an opinion about something, be it the car you're sitting in, the man you're talking to, or even the very air that you breathe. And more often than not, being average humans, we criticize almost everything that we see and hear or taste today in our lives.
Come now, don't lie to yourself. I am sure you have commented something about the food you had for lunch today, or even the waiter that served you being too rigid or leering, or even maybe the surroundings of where you place your sweet rear on; hot, smelly, humid - common traits of the Malaysian monotonous weather.
But opinions, you may have realized, are something that is offered quite freely and without restrain, to the nearest person next to you. Opinions are often the starter of most conversations, and for some, a joke - something to be taken lightly, a pinch of salt. And opinions are quite ever changing - no one means exactly what they say, and it means almost nothing to anyone at all.
But criticism, however, is an evolved form of opinions. Criticism, unlike opinions, it is meant to spur the change of someone and something, in regards of what is being criticized. And things of art, like literature, paintings, songs, are the ones that is often brought to the critics' kangaroo court for their appraisal and judgement. No holds barred, without bias, that's how should criticism be.
I have read lately, a newspaper article written by a critic reviewing a book. The entire gist of his article was mainly about caring about others' feelings while doing the review, and what about the sympathetic quality so common in Malaysians' affecting the quality of literature and art and movie produced. An example was where he said that he was given a bad book to review by a friend - he offered no help and asked him to take it somewhere else. The critic was afraid, that he would hurt the budding writer's feelings if he said if it was really bad, and all that.
What I think that is - and in agreement with aforementioned critic - the critics of this country should lock up their emotions when it comes to reviewing anything at all. Have they not considered about the quality that has been coming out lately in the film cinemas, the overstocked abundance of Malay love novels, and the obvious lack of Malaysian English novelists? Why do the critics would want to feed hopes to a shitty novel, and in result, a less than average quality literature being stacked in the shelves of national bookstores.
I would argue with them about this and I would get a response that is all too similar: "Don't be so harsh la.. They are good, after a few reads, their work would grow on you! They have potential! We need this kind of up and coming writers", etc.
WRONG.
You tell a builder building a house made of sand that his work is good, and he will keep building houses with sand and one day kill himself with it.
Same goes for anyone. Why pull the Asian parenting treatment in this sector? Why aren't you harsh and intimidating to them? Why don't you go all Donald Trump on their proverbial asses, and tell them that their work is not worthy for even the dustbin, toilet material even?
Why the lot of you, encourage the growth of such material, and not stick it to them that they should write/produce/compose better movies, art, literature, etc?
We are a sentimental, emotional, sympathetic lot, that's why.
For me, I want my work to be subjected to criticism worthy of Spartan discipline and cruelty. I want to know how bad did I do. I want to know how horrible my grammar, my sentence structures, my story premises; the aspects of a novel or any writing work of mine.
I get a lot of honorable mentions of my articles; like, publisher quality material, made with the essence of a trained, experienced writer, weaving emotions like a skilled romantic novelist.. the list do go on. Yes, I am not exaggerating.
I just want the raw form of criticism, the unadulterated, watered down, sweetened excuse of an opinion that only serves me no good to improve my writing quality.
Now I know why most local movies are of even lesser quality than our Thai or Singaporean counterparts.
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