Overanalyzing one opinion
I'm endlessly fascinated by the variety of opinions people can have. Listen to enough different audience members talk about a movie as they come out and you'd think they had seen different movies.
At this point, I like to think I can (on some level) understand any perspective. One in passing still threw me a curve, though.
A Facebook friend liked Skyfall and wrote about it favorably.
A friend of hers commented that she may have to see it, adding (roughly) "I know the last few Bond movies weren't that good..."
Just for an instant, that was quite a head-scratcher for me. Firstly, it's illogical (however common) for someone to follow up the words "I know" with a purely subjective statement.
More to the point, "few" tends to mean more than two so this stranger wasn't just referring to the previous couple Daniel Craig films. But across-the-board dislike of both Craig and Brosnan would seem to be unheard of.
It's like hearing one person say that both Bush and Obama were terrible presidents. Seems like most political critics hate either/or. Who thinks both are bad?
Is there another interpretation of "last few Bond movies"? That's got to mean "three [or more] most recent," right?
I thought of two possible ways to reconcile:
1) Pure ignorance. The comment-writer heard or saw bad things about any number of recent Bond movies and didn't bother to count or rank them.
2) If the comment-writer happens to think Casino Royale was overrated, it would explain everything. If she dislikes the other 2+ most recent Bond movies, she wouldn't have to look far for a critic that agrees with her.
Anyway, just a random snapshot of thoughts that should, perhaps, have been kept to myself. :-)
At this point, I like to think I can (on some level) understand any perspective. One in passing still threw me a curve, though.
A Facebook friend liked Skyfall and wrote about it favorably.
A friend of hers commented that she may have to see it, adding (roughly) "I know the last few Bond movies weren't that good..."
Just for an instant, that was quite a head-scratcher for me. Firstly, it's illogical (however common) for someone to follow up the words "I know" with a purely subjective statement.
More to the point, "few" tends to mean more than two so this stranger wasn't just referring to the previous couple Daniel Craig films. But across-the-board dislike of both Craig and Brosnan would seem to be unheard of.
It's like hearing one person say that both Bush and Obama were terrible presidents. Seems like most political critics hate either/or. Who thinks both are bad?
Is there another interpretation of "last few Bond movies"? That's got to mean "three [or more] most recent," right?
I thought of two possible ways to reconcile:
1) Pure ignorance. The comment-writer heard or saw bad things about any number of recent Bond movies and didn't bother to count or rank them.
2) If the comment-writer happens to think Casino Royale was overrated, it would explain everything. If she dislikes the other 2+ most recent Bond movies, she wouldn't have to look far for a critic that agrees with her.
Anyway, just a random snapshot of thoughts that should, perhaps, have been kept to myself. :-)