Now it occurs to me that some adjectives will always be subjective. For example, "interesting" probably always means "is of interest to me." So that is a description of my own state, and it's different from a judgment like "unoriginal." The word "interesting" sounds like it's about the object, but it's really not.
However, I'm sticking with the idea that some evaluations will be objective descriptions of the work of art. If we decide that a work is imitative of other works, tells us nothing new or doesn't present familiar things in a way that is original, those evaluations can be argued for. Opinions will still differ -- this isn't measuring the speed of light or something -- but reasonable consensus is possible.
Then, suppose someone says that he enjoys movies which are cliche-ridden repetitions of older movies, aimed at 12-year-olds and only popular because they flatter us and massage our prejudices. (I'm thinking of Marvel comic-book movies.) Maybe we couldn't say to him: "You like bad movies."
We could, however, say to him that he likes movies which are cliche-ridden repetitions of older movies, aimed at 12-year-olds and only popular because they flatter us and massage our prejudices. Because those are objective descriptions.
As far as I'm concerned, that's bad enough.
However, I'm sticking with the idea that some evaluations will be objective descriptions of the work of art. If we decide that a work is imitative of other works, tells us nothing new or doesn't present familiar things in a way that is original, those evaluations can be argued for. Opinions will still differ -- this isn't measuring the speed of light or something -- but reasonable consensus is possible.
Then, suppose someone says that he enjoys movies which are cliche-ridden repetitions of older movies, aimed at 12-year-olds and only popular because they flatter us and massage our prejudices. (I'm thinking of Marvel comic-book movies.) Maybe we couldn't say to him: "You like bad movies."
We could, however, say to him that he likes movies which are cliche-ridden repetitions of older movies, aimed at 12-year-olds and only popular because they flatter us and massage our prejudices. Because those are objective descriptions.
As far as I'm concerned, that's bad enough.
