last updated: 2026-08-14
you should watch bad movies and play bad games and read bad books and look at bad art. let's tiptoe around the question of "what does bad mean" because: you've watched bad movies before, you've seen bad art before. it might be an instinctual feeling, even if you can't describe it. you know something is bad. sometimes something "bad" puts you off from experiencing it. i'm telling you that you should experience it regardless (within reason of course).
why should you experience bad media? even in bad media: there are valuable things that you can take from. a pinch of gold sprinkled in between a mountain of garbage. it's mostly why i've tried to force myself to be neutral when it comes to experiencing new things, and why i've tried not to be negative about them. i want you to try to frame your next negative media experience like this: instead of thinking "is this good or bad" think "what about this is INTERESTING". because figuring out what things are interesting, is far more beneficial.
is a fight scene choreographed poorly? why? how would you better choreograph that fight scene? is the worldbuilding interesting to you? what about the worldbuilding works? this art piece uses strange colors, why? this is a way of forcing you to interact with media that you might not agree with, or like, in a way that is benificial to you. it builds your pallette, maybe changes your perspective, but most of all: recontextualizes your relationship with art, expands your worldview, and keeps you curious.