What have I learned this semester?

Through writing and reading my work this semester I have learned several things about myself and my writing.  The main things I learned are 1)  I wanna go back to being entertained by pop culture rather than trying to analyse it 2)  I realise that when I do try to analyse music or film I try to put meaning to the work over simply qualifying what I find interesting and 3) my tastes are very limited.

First, I want to go back to the time before I tried to analise pop culture.  What can I say, ignorance truly is bliss in this situation.  I would much rather(and I know this sounds like I didn’t love the class, but I did) run a spreadsheet in exel than try to figure out how a particular episode of House fits in with the rest of the series or whether I think the new album by Keith Urban is a step in the right direction for him.  Basically I took this class with certain expectations like “it doesn’t sound challenging”, but participating in this class made me realize just how much information exists that is concerned with pop culture in some way.  For me, that much information is sensory overload (which may explain my blog).  I also have an understanding about the pace at which pop culture changes.  This really makes me pity the critic that tries to comment on every new album, movie, television program, or book that is realeased in a particular genre.  Seriously I don’t have enough televisions to watch all of the new programing this season, much less review all of the previous episodes.  Yes, this does sound like I hated this class, but I didn’t.  This class gave me a whole new respect for the people that actually attempt to do what I have described.  They must truly be dedicated and love their work to produce criticism for a living.  I imagine it to be somewhere between garbage man (seriously, you gotta love your work to make a career out of it), psychotherapist, social worker, and, well, author (dedication, dedication, dedication).  Which brings me back to my main point…criticising pop culture (more specifically, selecting a topic and analysing the topic) is not something at which I feel that I could be successful.  There, maybe that’s better?

Next, I have realized that when I do decide on a topic, I really try to find something meaningful in the piece.  Maybe some things are meant to be pure entertainment, but I find entertainment value in things that are meant to be enlightening in some way.  There are things that exist not to enlighten, however, so perhaps my criticism weakness is not anaysing but filtering. I might be trying to find meaning in music that is meant to be meaningless melodies, rhythms, and harmonies; designed just to be pleasing to the ear.  Maybe the movies I have tried to apply historical context or reason to have been meant to simply make me laugh, cry, cheer for, or be afraid of.  If so, that’s fine, just put filtering under my list of weaknesses.  I mean, beautiful films are still pleasing to the eyes even if the plot is as stimulating as snail sex.  So then why can’t I just say “that was really beautiful” when I see the beautiful snail sex movie?  Probably because I just spent twenty bucks to see it when if I wanted to see something beautiful I could just watch the sunset.  To me, if I’m spending more than two hours working to get the money to see a movie or buy a CD it had better blow me away aesthetically as well as intellectually. 

Finally, I have realized that over the years my tastes have not widened but narrowed.  I admit I am disappointd in myself on this point.  I have made a concious effort to expand my horizons into exotic food and different preperations of food (oh hey! maybe I COULD be a food critic….topic for a class? sounds delicious), but maybe my subconcious has tried to compensate by limiting my tastes in popular culture.  For example, when I was younger I listened to and enjoyed country music, but in recent years I have completely excised country from my playlists.  As far as television is concerned, at one time I watched This Old House on PBS, but when the new home makeover shows started poping up I couldn’t be forced to watch them.  Some of the recent television programing hasn’t helped me expand my viewership either.  Specifically The Real Housewives of wherever.  I never thought they would make a television show that would make me want to go away from the television, but appearently they did. 

In conclusion, I now have found a whole new respect for the poor people who have to slave over pop albums, television programing, and films.  I have also discovered that I have limitations (intentional or not) that are too broad and are in need of reexamination.