Do people criticize new things too much?

[ajmrowland]

Yeah, it's one of those topics which is obvious but somehow never discussed.

Fans of the Simpsons or Final Fantasy and other franchises tend to hold up thier first experiences as the standard to which everything else should measure up.

We've all seen it first hand with people like that even on this site, with regards to Disney movies and even movies in general. There are also a ton of gamers who think games have gone downhill-with only a couple of 80s/90s gamers who still love the new things. It happens to franchises as new as Assassin's Creed, but more commonly to old franchises. Not to mention everybody thinks their childhood was the be-all, end-all of kids' entertainment.

Best example is the simpsons where, in addition to new episodes(I havent seen most of those, but did like the 500th and social network parody). A lot of people think there's *that much of a drop in quality from around Season 10 onward, but I enjoyed Seasons 13 and 14 a lot on DVD. Maybe because I didnt grow up with the series, but one episode that is frequently used as an example is "Homer's Enemy" in season 8. That episode took the risk of bringing in a very real world character to comment on-and go nuts over-all the things that made Homer's life so easy and positively eventful. Older viewers at the time didnt seem to like it, but the kids who grew up with that as one of their first episodes seem to keep it on all their top 10 lists.

Point being, it seems that criticism is often more affected by one's generation(and previous experiences with what one's criticizing, among other things) than by actual critical thinking.

What gives people such narrow-mindedness for this?

[The_Iceflash]

What appears to be the usual old person hating what the young whippersnapper likes and vice versa, now we have something unique going on. We actually have many many of the young generation denouncing a lot of music, movies, games, TV Shows, etc of their own generation in favor of that of past generations. Nostalgia plays a role but a lot of the preferences are for things not a part of their generation. I think there is something to be said about that and being narrow-minded isn't it.

I think more access to a wider range of music, movies, games, etc has allowed for more choices and for more eclectic tastes than years prior to that access would have allowed. It's the being able to go back that has allowed for one to compare and criticize where they made not have criticized so harshly otherwise.

I know this is all over the place but I'm sick so please be patient with my post. Lol

[ajmrowland]

^yeah, but to be honest, my point was regardless of generation, first exposure seems to set the standard if you're under-or over-a certain age. I think a lot of these people are young, but it's not just generational.

And naturally we have the ability to go back and on a lot of things, we do, but one simpsons producer several years ago tried to go on the internet to get suggestions and constructive criticisms on new episodes and he stopped after a very short while because there was so much general negativity and criticism that it was hurtful. I've felt that way about even some responses to things I've said, so you cant really say that the critical environment we live in is overall the healthiest thing as it's often quite destructive.

[PixarFan2006]

When people raise their expectations of something too much (a movie or a game for example) they may become disappointed in it when it actually comes out since it was not what they were hoping it would be. This is especially true if the movie or game is a sequel.

[jpanimation]

I've been going back and revisiting much of my nostalgia, including TV shows and video games. Most of the time I'm not disappointed, surprised at the quality even (a couple of Hey Arnold episodes are really well done) but some times they're just so bad that I have a hard time believing my parents weren't secretly punishing me (CatDog). I generally believe that the 90s were just the best time to be a kid, with the sheer amount of high quality animated shows and video games. Does that mean that everything today is crap, FUCK NO. Games and TV shows are reaching levels I never even dreamed of as a kid. Naughty Dog's Uncharted and HBO's Game of Thrones are pushing the envelope and no amount of nostalgia is going to stop me from enjoying them.

That said, in the case of the Simpsons, it really has gone down hill. I revisited some of the old episodes and they're just better. I personally prefer Futurama now. I feel like it captures the same spirit the old Simpsons did. I also revisited some of the old Family Guys and if we're being honest here, it was never really a good show.

[ajmrowland]

i just so happened to be listening to the commentary i mentioned just now and he didn't even say criticism. he said hatred.

yeah the older episodes have more classics but i generally dont watch simply for the episodes. i watch because i like the characters. im critical of a lot of things but for some reason, the simpsons has generally evaded that. my pov may change sometime, but it's taken a lot longer than most.