Originally published on Facebook.
The emptiest goddamned thing you can say about any work of art is, “It’s over-rated.”
This is a statement often dropped into a conversation like a turd, sometimes without any elaboration: just those two words, which are modified if at all only with the word “really.”
These thoughts are prompted by an internet list of the ten most over-rated movies since 2000, and I was weak and I clicked, and damned if it didn’t just irritate me because I hold that at least five of them are masterpieces.
But the differences between my taste and the taste of the guy who wrote the article are not the point.
The point is that the word “over-rated” doesn’t critique the art, it critiques the enthusiasm others have for the art.
What happens is that people are talking about their love for this book, or this band, or this TV show, or whatever, expanding at length for the reasons for their enthusiasm, and then, popping up out of the murk, comes “it’s over rated”, often without the intervening hyphen or any other punctuation, and that is just…graffiti, a dismissal without content. It says, “Whatever you saw in this sailed by me and I think you enjoyed it too much.”
Notably, it is often presented without criteria.
It is dropped in the middle of a long appreciative conversation, as a declaration that cannot be parsed or modified.
This is quite distinct from offering a general negative critique, with reasons; at least then you are contributing to the discussion. I could box your ears off with reasons why I hate Movie X, why it’s stupid, and so on, and they are related to the movie, not to the fact that some people love it; they are critically relevant.
And you know what?
“It’s over-rated” is ALSO distinct from its opposite, “I think it’s under-rated.” In the same way that the prior is an empty negation, “under-rated” offers the intelligence that you have reasons, that you can advance elements you’ve seen that you can defend.
Tell me that you think the Beatles are “over-rated” and I think you’re just a grump shitting on the love people have for them. I think you honestly have nothing to say. It’s possible that you heard one song, recoiled, and then didn’t investigate any further.
Tell me that you think the Beach Boys are “under-rated” and I will think you can discourse at length on the better attributes of their music. I may disagree with you but I sure as hell know you have something to say.
This is I think built into the statements.
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