Poll: Popularity Vs Criticality

[Aerosteam]

Yeah, I didn't know "criticality" was even a word.

So let's say you make a game/movie/novel/comic/song/whatever and it's bound to either be super popular and tons of people will buy/go to see it or be praised amongst many critics/reviewers/journalists/whatever.

If you choose Popularity, that doesn't mean what you made was bad or wasn't received well by critics. If you choose Criticality, that doesn't mean what you made sold like the Wii U.

I'm asking which one would make you more happy as the result for your hard work. Do you want what you made to appeal to many or for it to be critically praised?

 

[tippy2k2]

Popular

As you stated, what I made isn't bad, just not popular with the critics (a cult classic if you will).

Being popular gives me clout and money needed to keep going with my career. Being a critically acclaimed flop will make me popular with the D-Bag hipster crowd who just CAN'T believe that the lamestream hasn't played "Tippy2k2's sexy and awesome adventure" while leaving me without a job.

I am a man of the people!

 

[Dimitriov]

Critically well received. I am a firm believer that most people are morons, and the more popular something is the more likely it is to be bad

 

[lacktheknack]

Critical acclaim. If I make a wildly popular bad product, I've still made a bad product and that makes me sad.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I'd go for critical acclaim because it means I will have created good content and be remembered for that. But popular could either mean sold well to masses of people who don't care either way, or sold well and garnered masses of dedicated fans but wasn't received well for whatever reason by critics, in which case I might go for the latter over critical acclaim - Dark Souls was originally lambasted by Sony as a terrible game. Of course, the best content has both, but not always at the same time.

 

[FPLOON]

I choose popularity... because having "criticality", to me, sounds like another way for my work to be seen as "pretentious" in the negative light...

What sucks is that, either way, have one could, in turn, lead to the other, which could lead to the whole "pretentious" backlash and/or "not as good as people/critics claim it to be", which just shows that I'm wasn't trying to please everyone in the long run...

In other words... I rather stay in the "middle" and, hopefully, my work doesn't bring out the "negativity" in people...

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think I just kind of wanna like it myself more than anything.

It could be popular and critically praised, but if I hate it then none of that matters.

 

[AnarchistFish]

critically praised. If I were to write music, the kind of music I'd make would probably not be popular anyway. If it's critically praised it means I've achieved the quality I wanted

 

[shootthebandit]

I dont rely on either. Critical acclaim isnt always a good thing. Anything with an abandoned blind, black, gay, jewish orphaned kitten in war time poland is bound to win an oscar.

Popularity isnt always a good sign either because the majority of people are idiots and still continue to buy call of duty every year despite the series peaking (arguably) around the 3rd and 4th instalments

I like to make my own mind up based on the synopsis of the movie and I usually go in not knowing what to expect. Yes sometimes im disappointed and sometimes im pleasantly surprised but usually based on the context of the film I usually make good choices

Edit: if i was making something id be happy with a reasonably sized loyal fanbase. I think its important to cater for those who genuinely appreciate your work for what it is and not screwing them (and yourself) over because you want it to be more popular

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Critical acclaim. It's a slower process for potentially not as much payoff, but as a creator I'd be much more content with my work knowing that it resonated with the folks who's job it is to analyze and critique my output and that of my peers.

And for the most part critical acclaim will usually attract an audience in its own right. Perhaps not a huge audience or even one to make my initial project a commercial success, but that acclaim and dedicated audience can usually be counted on for additional support for future projects.

I could just whip out "Titties and beer: The quest for titties and beer" and make a decent enough short term profit by pandering to the lowest common denominator but I wouldn't be particularly pleased with myself or proud of my work.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Popularity. Art is generally recontextualised when it's 'out there', by those who consume it - popularism is connective, and communicative. It'd be interesting to see how it is reshape and interpreted.

Whereas being critically acclaimed isn't an objective validation of anything whatsoever - it's just the opinions of less people.

 

[HardkorSB]

If I made 1 hit movie like Transformers, the money from that movie would allow me to create 10 critically acclaimed high art movies.
Also, there are many unemployed movie makers because they've made ambitious films praised by critics but ignored by movie goers.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

Though both are flawed I prefer criticality.
For the fact that things that are popular the mistake for "good", anyone can like something that's bad but there should be a critical standard based on the sum of it's parts through analysis of it's structure, popularity is usually based on holding your attention.

Popularity get Michael Bay work on childhood franchises to ruin. After all.

 

[Avaholic03]

Popularity. Art is generally recontextualised when it's 'out there', by those who consume it - popularism is connective, and communicative. It'd be interesting to see how it is reshape and interpreted.

Whereas being critically acclaimed isn't an objective validation of anything whatsoever - it's just the opinions of less people.

I was going to say "critically acclaimed" but you kind of changed my mind. That's a very good point. The only issue I keep running into is that I hold the opinions of the general population in such low regard, it still may be worth less to be accepted by millions of normal people as opposed to a handful of more respected industry experts.

However, if you could somehow make something very good that becomes popular and changes the standard, that's a appealing prospect. Maybe popular entertainment could become more than just the typical "lowest common denominator" it seems to be today.