Poll: Hating a setting. Possible?

[Jfswift]

I think a setting can ruin a story, it's an important element. As for western settings it's just an odd coincidence you haven't seen any good screenplays or novels that use any. I think it's all relative really. M. Night Shyamalan's movie, Signs used a setting that I felt was okay until the end.

Spoiler

The ending didn't make sense since the aliens were weak to water which was heavily present in earth's atmosphere so either he should have changed the setting or created a different weakness for the alien. Just a minor gripe I have really.

 

[Inco]

Setting is a main key to a story, as peoples different opinions and personalities are reflected by what interests them the most.

Example, I dislike westerns and love futuristic sci fi. Which is why i have more tolerance towards certain stories with weaker plots, than others with stronger plots.

 

[Necator15]

I cannot stand a southern setting. It's most annoying when authors try to add the accent into the book. Christ, I hate listening to that, why would I want to try to read it!?

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you're right.

 

[captainaweshum]

Oh boy...let me see if I can present this without coming of as a dick...

In my opinion the setting of a story is not nearly enough grounds to hate it. What happens is that people tend to be biased against certain settings due to stereotypical pratfalls that can be associated with said settings. For example, in almost all fantasy work Dwarves are portrayed as Scottish even though there is no good reason for them being so.
So what happens is that people hate a work before reading it if it has a setting that lends to these stereotypical characters and plot devices. (The Western almost always having the dashing lead at whom women throw themselves)
The sad bit about all this is that people end up missing out some good works. Think about it the way it is going soon a stereotypical plot device that will be associated with vampire movies and books will be hunky teenagers and werewolves instead of Dracula and such.

 

[CK76]

You can dislike a place or time or idea.

I know people who dislike stories entirely and only read non-fiction.

 

[CK76]

(The Western almost always having the dashing lead at whom women throw themselves)

?

I guess when I think of Western protagonist, this comes to mind.

Cool, yes, but bit grizzled and ugly (no offense Mr. Eastwood).

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

Post-apocalypse worlds can get pretty annoying, but I haven't found a setting I hate yet.

Although I believe it is possible.

 

[Unia]

I voted yes. This aplies even better to games, since you're supposed to take action. Hard to find motivation to save a world I don't give a toss about.

It would be next to impossible to make ma interested in a movie based in Victorian England, for instance. What one can expect there is antique moral code and upper class people lounging around trying their darnest not to do anything radical.

 

[standokan]

I guess you´re both right

 

[Fetzenfisch]

Of course you can hate a setting or genre. Ther can be exceptions of the rule though. "it may have been a western/thriller/whatever, but THAT one was actually fun to watch".

I usually don't like thrillers like "the firm", i don't like most old war and action movies, but they can be trashy enough to be fun.
There are only a few but then especially badass western movies.
And if anything looks remotely asian i try to burn it before i give it a try. (battle royale was fun though)

 

[ZacktheWolf]

Yes. Anything set in... well, I'm gonna have to use your OP example - LotR-like setting, medieval fantasy type... total snoozefest for me. I just find it way overdone and uninteresting. *shrug* But that's my pref.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Yes. I even applied this twice to my creative writing class. They had told me several times that they didn't like what I wrote, thought it was badly written and had unbelievable characters. Two of the pieces they criticised the worst were a fantasy piece (a simple conversation between two female characters) and a sci-fi piece (a sci-fi war thing, quite WWII influenced)

I decided to resubmit these two, with nothing changed except for the names, so that it seemed like they were "real life" pieces instead of sci-fi and fantasy. In the case of the sci-fi piece this meant changing character names and the names of their space craft to air craft names, and in the case of the fantasy this literally meant replacing the two character names and not telling them that it was a fantasy piece.

They said it was worthy of publishing and some of the best I'd ever written. Even the tutor said that the fantasy character piece was probably the best piece of work for that week. I hadn't changed anything, except to take it from the fantasy and put it in the "real" world.

I called them on it, and spent the rest of the course deriding everything anyone wrote unless it was fantasy or sci fi, just to show them how it felt, and how ridiculous they were.

In summation, apparently if you change the names, then people can love or hate a series based on the setting.

 

[tharglet]

Yeah, I think it's possible to dislike a setting, and have it affect your perception of the writing at hand. So, yes, I think it is possible, even if it is seemingly irrational to hate a particular setting. Humans are good at this irrational thing.

Mostly it's the common things that happen in a particular setting that puts people off, rather than the stories, and some environments are more stereotyped than others. Once the association is done, it's hard to break the idea that's it's the setting that is putting you off.

 

[Engarde]

I believe it is possible to hate a setting. As mentioned, it can be illogical and irrational, but entirely possible. I try not to do so, however, I am biased and elitist enough as is.

 

[Kollega]

Yes, most definitely. You can hate the setting or find it bland without any problems. I find anything in the "contemporary warfare" setting extremely boring, for example.

 

[gh0ti]

You can only hate a setting/genre if you are prejudiced against it - prejudiced in the pure sense of pre-judgement. You have ideas about a setting, probably based on previous experience, and either consciously or subconsciously, apply them across the board.

There's also a difference between 'setting' and 'genre' and I'm not sure which you are referring to. A 'setting' differs from book-to-book, even if they belong to the same genre. In my view a 'Western' is a genre rather than a setting, as it comes loaded with archetypes - sheriffs, bandits, Indians, Mexicans, hookers. If you look at 'Western' as a setting, then it can break some of those limitations by not conforming to stereotype and thus the label is misleading and you can't be sure you really hate it.

If you are talking about genre then I would give the example of horror movies. I dislike horror as a genre because they generally rely on characters making stupid, illogical choices rather than a genuine plot - the classics like not turning on the lights, or deciding not to get the police involved. But I recognise that there are some very good films in the genre.

 

[BringBackBuck]

I voted no.

If you judge a work of art before you have seen it based on a pre-conceived stereotype you have than I pity you for the experiences you will miss out on.

Don't like anything you have seen yet in a western setting? That just means that you don't like anything you have seen yet in a western setting.

 

[Valkyrie101]

My favourite setting is a futuristic dystopia.
Never got the chance to read or watch something with that setting though.

Warhammer 40K novels?

OT: Yes, of course a setting can be hated, and your friend is a bad person for being so completely wrong. I can't stand Star Trek for the nice clean happy-clappy future world that it presents, and I'm not overly-fond of westerns. At the same time, I like WH40K media (not the games) because of the awesome grimdark atmosphere.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

You can always hate a setting because if it doesn't work then it ruins the story.

 

[Kurokami]

Yes. Another thread about stories and books. Cry some more.


Me and a mate were arguing a while back on settings. I mentioned that I didn't like the western setting, and he presented the argument that a setting could not be hated.

Many, many words followed. Not all kindly.

http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/argument-380x258-tm.jpg
Like this, only with more AWESOMENESS.

Essentially, my statement is that the setting in which a story, we're talking Novel-and-movie wise here, is placed can ruin an entire story for you. I have never seen or read a story that was placed in the western setting and kept me entertained for longer than a couple of seconds. And there are the people that say "I hate fantasy" or "I hate Sci-fi. It's so unrealistic!" which indicates that, no matter the plot, a setting can ruin the story for someone.

His statement is that, no matter the setting, the plot, it's characters and all the good stuff are what make a story good, and any setting can be presented in such a way that even the most hated setting can be liked. Such as the haters of Sci-fi can love Star Wars, because of the funkey characters, or Lord of the Rings has such an epic world that it trancends the haters of Fantasy.

So I ask thee, Escapist. Who was right all along?

Starwars is apparently considered a Western by its conventions and not Sci-fi in genre.

I believe you can dislike a genre, but only so long as you accept that exceptions can be made, as for settings it sounds to me like he's right, sure you can say that if westerns were shot in a more modern war-scene it would be better for you aesthetically, but you can't say that any movie that's based in a western setting cannot possibly be good. (actually you can, but that makes you ignorant)