A great reminder to challenge ourselves out of our comfort zone and to explore - I thought the Bourdain quote summed it up very nicely.
For myself it’s very easy to impose ‘taste rules’ which (sometimes years) down the line I discover stood in the way of something I would truly enjoy. What on earth am I afraid of?
Exactly! We all do it, I think subconsciously we’re quite concerned with how our sense of taste will affect how people see us. Learning to break out of that is essential.
madison i could expand on this so much but you’re such a good writer! i’m catching up on some essays that i missed during my time not on here and wow!!!!! loved it ❤️
There’s also food for thought in the passive vs intentional behaviour and change — particularly with regards to algorithmic media and how these influence and distort taste.
That’s a good point - I think that having more open intentions/a more open mind (to the best of our ability) prevents us from getting stuck in this biased way of thinking about taste. And algorithms will definitely impact our perceptions as well, something that is often out of our hands.
this topic reminds me of that infamous buzzfeed article about which books are “red flags”. Absolutely no nuance, just “if you like this book, bad!!” Lol. I think there should be less emphasis on what someone likes and more emphasis on why they like it. I think that’s a nice middle ground between the “let people enjoy things” crowd and the pretentious contrarian crowd.
Omg I’ve never seen that article - that is wild. Agreed! Getting to the root cause of why someone likes something would definitely help smooth some of this out. Always enjoy reading your thoughtful comments :)
lovely work as always! i definitely find myself panicking about not having watched enough films, listened to enough music, etc to cultivate a truly unique personal taste. just saw one of my fav feminist writers referenced in a short story and had a dramatic panic bc i was like “oh god she’s not as niche as i thought! do i need a new niche feminist writer to affix my personality onto???!” and then i was like “that’s silly.” ur observations are so nuanced and well put!
I like this piece very much. I’ve gradually, glacially arrived at the attitude that we should recognize our own consumer taste as having limited usefulness when we’re evaluating things.
A great reminder to challenge ourselves out of our comfort zone and to explore - I thought the Bourdain quote summed it up very nicely.
For myself it’s very easy to impose ‘taste rules’ which (sometimes years) down the line I discover stood in the way of something I would truly enjoy. What on earth am I afraid of?
Exactly! We all do it, I think subconsciously we’re quite concerned with how our sense of taste will affect how people see us. Learning to break out of that is essential.
madison i could expand on this so much but you’re such a good writer! i’m catching up on some essays that i missed during my time not on here and wow!!!!! loved it ❤️
Ahhh thank you Noella, means so much coming from you!! Always love to hear your thoughts 🤍
just aaaa the way you word things >>>
There’s also food for thought in the passive vs intentional behaviour and change — particularly with regards to algorithmic media and how these influence and distort taste.
That’s a good point - I think that having more open intentions/a more open mind (to the best of our ability) prevents us from getting stuck in this biased way of thinking about taste. And algorithms will definitely impact our perceptions as well, something that is often out of our hands.
Yes! Thinking of those things that make you wonder “do I actually like this or have I just seen it so much on the feed that’s it’s imprinted” 🙃
this topic reminds me of that infamous buzzfeed article about which books are “red flags”. Absolutely no nuance, just “if you like this book, bad!!” Lol. I think there should be less emphasis on what someone likes and more emphasis on why they like it. I think that’s a nice middle ground between the “let people enjoy things” crowd and the pretentious contrarian crowd.
Omg I’ve never seen that article - that is wild. Agreed! Getting to the root cause of why someone likes something would definitely help smooth some of this out. Always enjoy reading your thoughtful comments :)
lovely work as always! i definitely find myself panicking about not having watched enough films, listened to enough music, etc to cultivate a truly unique personal taste. just saw one of my fav feminist writers referenced in a short story and had a dramatic panic bc i was like “oh god she’s not as niche as i thought! do i need a new niche feminist writer to affix my personality onto???!” and then i was like “that’s silly.” ur observations are so nuanced and well put!
Ahh thank you so much, you summed up so much of my own experiences in your comment!! Definitely not alone <3
I like this piece very much. I’ve gradually, glacially arrived at the attitude that we should recognize our own consumer taste as having limited usefulness when we’re evaluating things.
Thanks Karl, that’s a great point, our consumer tastes do introduce a great deal of bias. Appreciate you reading!
I love that Life magazine chart-- interesting that they put their own magazine in the lower middlebrow category.
I love it too! So interesting
Amen!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 There’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so – William Shakespeare 🤗 a difficult concept for most to understand
Love that quote :) thanks for reading Carl, appreciate reading your thoughts as always