Tuesday, September 11, 2007

"They had fun making it"

This seems to be a recent trend, books and movies that relish the fun to be had in making them. Certainly some zest is pleasing and not to be begrudged, but when the pleasure taken by the creators is greater than the pleasure it gives, one might wish the creators had focused more on their job. AR on Ocean's 13: "I won't go see something that was more fun to make than it is to see." Although she didn't explicitly begrudge Chabon the pleasure, RS similarly thought the Yiddish Policeman's Union appeared fun to write, but she found the book tedious.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I think you may be right about this being a trend. Think, after all, about blogging as a whole. To what extent is an artist responsible for being for his or her audience's experience? It seems like "I had fun" is meant to excuse lazy art.