SJ Longthorne

I'm diabetic and when my sugars are out of control, I lose weight. I find the compliment uncomfortable. I didn't try and I'm sick. I don't like when people comment on my body weight and I never will.

Understanding why people like things is an important part of being a creator, so I always try to analyse why a particular piece of medium I dislike resonates with others. But I think it's also important to acknowledge that people can like bad things, and popular != good.

Sometimes I don't get a piece of medium because it's a "different flavour of good I still need to acquire". Sometimes people enjoy different kinds of trash.

The way this is framed is a bit disingenuous, because "convincing yourself" sounds like you're lying to yourself when you come to terms with people liking different things. For me, it's really straightforward: People praise things for a reason - they see something good in it.

I have no need to convince myself of much, since quality is entirely subjective and infinite perspectives on art and media means infinite ways something can be good or bad (given it ain't immoral / unethical). If people like something I don't, it's just something I don't see yet.

I definitely always attempt to at least discuss with friends/people I trust about our differing views, but I also am acutely aware that I can be annoyingly hard to please and that chances are I just didn't like something.

I feel a responsibility (as a creative designer person) to understand why people like something if it is super popular. eg, Fortnite, which was extremely unappealing to me but I played it at length in order to understand it, as it felt like a professional duty to "get it"

However, just because you identify why those people like it, doesn't mean you start to like it yourself. "Appreciate" it, might be a better term. I don't need to actually acquire the taste myself, I just need to see enough to put words to why I don't like it and why they do