Art is a consumable. You get symbols, images, logos, all around us. It has been argued that symbols are core to being human, tied directly to our cultures and lives. Through the mass media and on towards the internet and immersive technologies we have a myriad of styles and ways to consume art. But do you have to like all of it?
Of course you don’t have to like all art. Mass media is just that, one big mass of different media. It all comes with different styles and formats. There will be something that just does not fit for you. Perhaps the big anime eyes just creep you out. Or, stop motion clay animation is freaky and scared you when you were a kid.
CGI Star Wars
For me it was early CGI for the Star Wars Clone Wars series. I grew up with drawn animations. Buggs bunny was crisp and clean compared to early CGI. Even He-Man with its repeating rotoscoped action scenes flowed better.
What hurt was that the first Clone Wars series was drawn. I am a big fan of first series Director Genndy Tartakovsky. Tartakovsky also was creator and director for Samurai Jack, which I adore. Form my point of view, that Lucas Arts took Clone wars off Tartakovsky and chose CGI animation, it felt like a backward step in quality.
Fast forward to 2022 and I am now watching the same CGI Clone Wars series. Why? Because the Supervising Director for Clone Wars Dave Filoni is the Executive Director for The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett. CGI Clone Wars is canonical for these shows.
I did not know who Cad Bane was and about the Dark Sabre, so I had to educate myself. After being informed there is a special way to watch the episodes, I have almost finished the second series.
Opinions Changed?
What I got from the show visually still does not excite me. The story though is multilayered and creates a solid foundation for all the lead characters and many others. Clone Wars also gives you the buddy cop banter between Anakin and Obi-wan Kenobi that you ALWAYS wanted in the movies. It made me wish I did not know Anakin would become Darth Vader because the shock would have been devastating.
Is every piece of art perfect, there may be a few that come very close. Are you going to like everything made? No. Can what used to be ‘bad’ in you opinion become good or even great over time? Yes. It has happened many times for me. From Disney movies, to Toto’s ‘Africa’ my opinion has changed for reasons that are too big to go into here.
My advice is to try that different media again. You may find something that redeems it. C’mon what’s the worst that could happen? That you change you mind? What is wrong with that? Its just art.