Re-posting my response to your previous thread:
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Does anyone else think Book of Mormon is overrated? Posted On:6/11/11 at 09:21
The word "overrated" is overrated.
It's always easy to to take the Hot New Thing that everyone likes and assume a contrary position: "Wow," you think, "I'm so much SMARTER than everybody else! They're just sheep, followers, unable to think for themselves, while I am different, a maverick."
But, in the end really, contrarianism is just knee-jerk contradiction: If the masses love Wicked, all you have do is say, "You know, it really isn't very good, actually." Or if Glee becomes a runaway hit, you simply turn the conversation to the Auto-tuning or the jumps in logic. Or you use the word in question: If someone tells you they love something, you simply say, "It's overrated" and voila! You're smarter than they are!
But are you really? No. You're just being facile. There are, of course, always flaws that can be discussed, but neither "I love it" or "It's overrated" gets anywhere near the heart of the flaws or the positive attributes. (Plus, if you care, saying "It's overrated" to someone who loves something invariably brands you as an asshole.)
Much more interesting, especially in a case like this--a blockbuster hit that has appeal far outside the regular theater-going audience--are points like the ones Tazber brought up: If this musical fits into the successful template that Parker and Stone have used for their TV show and movies, how does it work in a musical? If the songs and musical numbers are written to be satirical, do they also work as songs and musical numbers? And if the characters are written satirically, do they just remain cartoons or do we end up caring about them anyway?
But beware of asking a contentless question like this thread title: "Does anyone else think X is overrated?" That's just Easy Cynicism looking for validation. Easy Cynicism is the opposite of Smart. Easy Cynicism makes you bitter--and old before your time.
And it's vastly overrated.
Read more:
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?page=2&thread=1033000&boardname=&boardid=1#ixzz1P4mxk7fu
