assorted thoughts

[agletbaby]

the other day, i went to a talk by the writer of a novel i didn’t love. but she made some interesting observations, and i was like ‘ok maybe her ideas are more complex than i gave them credit for, maybe i was unfair on the book'. and then right at the very end, she dropped a very bad film opinion unprompted, and i was like 'oh yeah i remember, the book sucked'. (it was the kind of opinion that just opened such a gulf between our tastes and values, that i don't feel like anything she writes has the capacity to be appealing to my interests.) but i'm now trying to work out if this is a bad thing to get from this kind of event (failed to convince me that the book is worth any further consideration) or a good one (i was right).
i don't particularly enjoy author events as a format - i guess i'm happy with my own interpretations - but if i am going to occasionally go, it would be nice to know why, i suppose. my immediate thought is that i would like to get some insight into the actual practicalities of the writing process. but 1) that's rarely what these events are focused on, and 2) does it matter if i like or dislike the author for something as practical as that?
(in defence of this event, it was a joint talk and the other author wrote a book i thought was pretty good and then was very charming and articulate so i guess that confirmed my interest in her work)

 

i’m feeling very sceptical of the phrase ‘i’m the target audience for [blank]’ rn because it’s inevitably followed by a ‘but’ which demonstrates a person was not, in fact, the target audience. i saw it recently in a review which was dismissing a piece of performance art, because its feminist approach 'should have' resonated with the reviewer, but its (classic slam poetry) outspokenness did not. there's an assumption in 'target audience' that message is the entirety of piece of work, in a way which utterly discounts form. but form is deeply important to audience: certain audiences will only see certain forms of thing, regardless of messaging.
been thinking particularly about this with regards to barbie, which i saw so that i could have a conversation with my friends again, and which i thought was not good, despite (some) agreement with (some of) its points. (not all of them.) but which i was never going to love, because children's films (which i would argue it is structured as, regardless of content/rating) are hardly ever for me: i am not the target audience. (there are exceptions, but they're mostly either nostalgic, or doing something more.)

anyway. been working and been going to events (august is events month in my city). back into the swing of writing long, semi-thoughtful letterboxd reviews. my birthday's on sunday; i feel weird about the day, but fine about the passage of time. i'm tired. i'm really into sweater vests rn. i can see a circus tent out this library window. and hills. i should probably get back to work.