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Is there a tendency to regard books which make us feel bad as "better" than ones which don't? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm dragging myself through an "award-winning" "best-selling" "recommended" book I got from the library and wishing I hadn't. (Yes I know those phrases mean little and I can stop, though I'm nearing the end after hoping it would stop being so hopeless. Yes I can be naively optimistic ;) .) The characters and story are all stereotypes and clichés. It's not realistic or slice of life.
The Korean drama I'm watching is top rated on MyDramaList and is well done but it also tells a sad story every episode. I'm halfway through and I don't think it's that much better than some lower rated ones with more moments of happiness.
Anyway, this has me thinking about whether there's a general trend to regard books - stories of any kind really, including real life ones - as "better" if they upset us.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i think this ties back to the idea that suffering is noble and enlightening, somehow. the flip side of that is the idea that nothing important or meaningful can be conveyed through happiness. i don’t think that’s true, but i guess a lot of people do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Christianity has that element (from Greek philosophy) and because of it, much of western culture. I think we'd do well to collectively re-focus on sharing happy things. Would change our societies for the better. We can still be serious when needed; we'd have more energy for it if we stopped wearing ourselves out on stressful "entertainment".

In that vein, here's my current feel better go-to, Paolo Nutini's Pencil Full of Lead :) https://piped.adminforge.de/watch?v=fR2j2eTfbKo