| |
|
OK, first thought :
Often used, but hard to latch a meaning to, 'cheezy' is usually used to describe music and 'corny' to describe films, books or comics, but the intended meaning seems to be the same.
So what do people mean when they describe something as cheesy or corny?(I'm going to stick to cheesy from now on, and discuss it's application to music, as I can't be arsed to type both and all everytime, and it's more commmonly used here in London).Does it mean anything other than 'I don't like that'? It clearly is supposed to, as it implies some sort of hierarchy between 'art', 'quality', 'workmanlike' and then, there at the bottom, 'cheese' and 'corn'.
It is most often applied to 'manufactured' acts a la Steps, Venga Boys, Aqua, etc, who nonetheless go on to enjoy phenomenal record sales, huge radio success and sell-out tours to devoted fans, 'generally' youngsters but 'specifically' right across the board.
The term is pejorative almost exlusively, and employed often by would be tastemakers, it seems, who hold such fodder in total contempt.
Why is this? Why should 'cheese' and 'corn' be the subject of such vitriol and venom in critical circles, and yet so popular with the punters? (Lactose Intolerance is a great name for a band, actually, (C) me, now).
OK, theory : cheese and corn are labels attached to creative endeavours designed to, and succesful in their design to, stimulate emotions in the audience. However, the label comes not from the success, but from the transparency of the means utilised to achieve the emotional effect.
i.e, if we are sidelined and misdirected into feeling the impact of a song/movie/book/comic without any awareness of the artistic manoevres and 'tricks' employed to create the effect, we appreciate the work from an emotive and intellectually satisfying way. 'Suspension of disbelief', so to speak.
If, on the other hand, the emotional manipulation is 'worn on the sleeve', the technique obvious and 'out in the open', there is a reaction which seems designed to reject the emotional effect of the song/movie/whatever, because it is not 'clever' enough to appease the intellectual filters of the audience.
This I find interesting, since it (possibly) demonstrates that the reason for the pejorative in the 'taste-police' condemnation of all that is deemed to be 'cheesy', is that the emotional effect is still active in spite of a critical rejection of the methods used to achieve it, implying a sort of affrontery at having the mammalian brain so effortlessly bypassed while the lizard brain is kicked into action with apparent ease and in spite of all attempts to 'not like' the stimulus.
Of course, this rests on the assumption that those who discard or condemn any given work as 'cheesy' and all that implies, are still actually affected by it in the same way as those who like and appreciate it (i.e, they 'secretly' like it as well, but the mamml brain won't let the lizard reaction get a word in edge ways).
All completley spurious and pointless, of course, but interested to hear any thoughts. |
|
|
