Quote from: [cancerblack] on Mar 19, 2022, 10:20:15 PM
Quote from: St_Eddie on Mar 19, 2022, 09:58:56 PM
What you're referring to is people who actively hate something on principle and will purposefully go into it, wanting it to fail
No, I'm not.
You said that the problem with rock bottom expectations is that it results in the viewer having to be "won over". Is that not true of any film or TV show? We can't come to a final critical opinion of whether or not we like something until we've watched it. Any preconceived notions or expectations, prior to seeing the final piece, do not dictate the objective quality of the piece itself.
As an example, let's say that someone watches a film and finds it to be terrible. It's not terrible because they decided so before seeing it. It's terrible based upon their perception of the finished film's execution. Equally, if a film is great, it's not great because someone went into it expecting it to be great. It's great because they were impressed with the artistic execution of the final film. Expectations are not a soothsayer's prophecy awaiting to be fulfilled, rather they are mere suspicions, based upon educated guesswork and a deduction of the material seen up until that point in time. Having a low expectation does not alter the creative execution of the final piece. Rather, the work onscreen speaks for itself.
Expectations are merely a form of educated prediction, based upon the information at hand. The potential outcome of those expectations, based upon seeing the final film itself, depends on what one's expectations were as they walked into the cinema...
* One state (low expectations) holds the potential to lead to a path of either the continuation of the status quo ("the film was bad, as I suspected it might be") or unexpected elation ("my fears were unfounded - it's great! What a pleasant surprise!").
* Whereas the other state (high expectations) leads to, in an absolute best case scenario, the continuation of the status quo ("it was great, as I knew it would be!") or at worst, bitter disappointment ("I was so hyped for it but it was awful!").
Note that whilst both states of expectation hold the potential for the viewer to exit the cinema contented, only one of those states can result in an emotional net negative, leaving you worse off than when you walked into the cinema.
I've watched so many films which I expected to be awful but ended up loving and so many films which I expected to be great, but ended up hating. The former cases represent some of my most joyful filmic experiences and the latter, some of my most painful. Therefore, prior experience has taught me is to keep my expectations in check when it comes to a newly announced installment within a beloved series. I've never found there to be such a thing as possessing too little hyperbole or anticipation for a new movie or TV series. In fact, I've always found a healthy dose of tempered expectations to be ultimately beneficial to the viewing experience.