Analysing negative feelings at their root must have some value

[yvannairie]

So I know hating characters because they come "in the way" of your ship is bad, but I wish that was something we could at least talk about, you know? :/

I have certain characters that I'd probably like if they had zero contact with certain other characters and I've never seen conversations about why this happens, even though I've read a lot of smart people write a lot of smart words about why the opposite (i.e. starting to like a character based on their interactions with other characters) is such a common occurence.

The dynamics of liking things are discussed a lot more, which is pretty fascinating on its own. And I guess it might be asking a bit much because a) nobody really likes talking about things that make them feel bad and b) culture is so overwhelmingly negative at the moment anyway that reinforcing their happiness is preferrable to most people.

It just feels unbalanced because lately the "you can like ANYTHING for ANY REASON" message has been growing in volume, but it still feels like if you dislike something you're supposed to accept that you're Doing The Thing Wrong And Shut Up.

And that's unsatisfying.

(But then again at the moment we probably can't have sensible conversations about why things are Bad without it turning into a fight or posturing of some kind.)

Comments

[extrapenguin]

a) find a group of people who it doesn't work for who are capable of expressing it without "hating" on it and b) somehow have the conversation somewhere where people who like it can't.... I don't want to say "pollute", but.... interfere?
This is the hard bit! I've found that private ragging sessions with my friend can help me figure out my thoughts/the "what" of what doesn't work, and then later digestion will bring out the whys. In semi-public (multiple people, not on the open net) with other people who didn't like the thing, it was mostly a venting/ragging session, where we all agreed with each other's points and offered slightly different takes on it. In semi-public with people who did like the thing, I very reasonably elaborated what didn't work for me and why, but the responses all felt like they were missing the point – trying to explain away my issue with authorial intent with character motivation, or just saying that they liked it, because of $thing in their personal life. So, yeah. I think the best place to figure out why something doesn't work might be a DW post on one's journal (lowish traffic) with lots of noodling, and hoping the typing process or the comments will elucidate.

(And watch me use "doesn't work for me" vs even "dislike"! It really does go deep.)

[yvannairie]

Man the "doesn't work/doesn't do it for me" vs "dislike" thing is fascinating on its own. Off the top of my head I can mention a bunch of things that really just don't work but only one "yeah it's fine I just hate it lol" comes to mind. That's... that's something?

[yvannairie]

" the responses all felt like they were missing the point" is also a huge-ass mood, although I know for a fact that I'm guilty of the "but you can understand it like this and then it's not a problem myself =v=);