Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bella613 's review for:
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
by Claire Dederer
reflective
slow-paced
This is a really important topic. I think because it's so important, I expected there to be a lot to learn from the book. But it was really just a lot of ranting and opinion-based stream of consciousness type philosophy.
I didn't like the first few chapters but it did get better as the book went on. It kind of annoyed me that everything was so overwhelmingly negative. I suppose I'd rather have looked at the art of both "good" and "bad" individuals and noted differences in how we can appreciate (or not) their contributions to the world. I also expected there to be something on keeping artists accountable because we love them. And maybe some words on what being a fan, whether stan-level or just supporter, means-- it would have been cool to delve into the world of fandoms and crowd mentality and pressure put on artists. Instead, the author assumes a very individualistic artist mentality and only briefly goes into positives of being in a fan community (specifically, Harry Potter fans), and pretty much concludes that everyone is a monster, and we all love monsters anyway. She didn't give any examples of geniuses, musicians, and artists who don't have horrible crime allegations against them, and honestly I think that's because she wanted to claim that art must be made by a monster. She also made several comments that felt like she was comparing poor mental health to being a bad person.
I don't feel like I got much out of this book. I came for a conversation about being a fan, and when being a fan is problematic. I got a look at a few historically bad artists who make good art, and very strong opinions on whole bunch of political topics.
I didn't like the first few chapters but it did get better as the book went on. It kind of annoyed me that everything was so overwhelmingly negative. I suppose I'd rather have looked at the art of both "good" and "bad" individuals and noted differences in how we can appreciate (or not) their contributions to the world. I also expected there to be something on keeping artists accountable because we love them. And maybe some words on what being a fan, whether stan-level or just supporter, means-- it would have been cool to delve into the world of fandoms and crowd mentality and pressure put on artists. Instead, the author assumes a very individualistic artist mentality and only briefly goes into positives of being in a fan community (specifically, Harry Potter fans), and pretty much concludes that everyone is a monster, and we all love monsters anyway. She didn't give any examples of geniuses, musicians, and artists who don't have horrible crime allegations against them, and honestly I think that's because she wanted to claim that art must be made by a monster. She also made several comments that felt like she was comparing poor mental health to being a bad person.
I don't feel like I got much out of this book. I came for a conversation about being a fan, and when being a fan is problematic. I got a look at a few historically bad artists who make good art, and very strong opinions on whole bunch of political topics.