ARCHIVE Day 38: Hype

(Original Release 4/5/18)

Expectations are a dangerous thing. Putting them super low can leave you pleasantly surprised. Raising them too high can ruin something forever. And worst of all: it’s super hard to control them. You can push them down, but they’ll just keep rising.

Why do you think people got so mad at Avengers: Age of Ultron? After the first Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so on, people were getting really excited. They set their expectations absurdly high, and they got disappointed. Simple as that.

Then there’s Star Wars. Which I swore I’d leave alone, so I’ll leave that to your imagination.

But there are positive examples too. Like the new Tomb Raider movie. People set their expectations lower than dinosaur bones because it was a video game movie, but much to everyone’s surprise, it was… okay. Not great, nor terrible, but it was okay.

Though I did get in for free, so that might have changed my opinion a bit.

My point is, often times it isn’t the art that destroys itself. Sometimes it’s us, by setting our vision of what it’ll be way too high. We are the ultimate death, not just for our planet, but for art.

Well done everyone.