And that's almost my point exactly. For fans of Follies if you don't get it then you're too dumb or not evolved enough to 'get' the work By 'get' do we mean understand or appreciate? I think that if you do not like FOLLIES it does not mean you're dumb. BUT, I do think there are some people (not all) who are not capable of understanding the show, which in turn makes it hard to take their opinion of the show seriously because their opinion is uninformed. In other words, there is nothing wrong in my opinion with disliking FOLLIES if you understand it, but there is something wrong with disliking it if you don't understand it.
For example, there was a post about the recent revival on ATC when it was running who said that "In Buddy's Eyes came out of no where" and that Sally was " so cold to Buddy" until this apparent love song. Clearly they missed the point of the song and the subtext that Sally is actually very unhappy with Buddy.
Why did they overlook this? Well, it could be that
1. The concept was not able to be conveyed successfully by deficiencies in writing, directing, acting etc.
2. The person lacked the ability to understand the concept of subtext either because of a lapse in attention, or lacking prerequisite knowledge of 'something' (e.g. a certain understanding of how songs can tell a story) that would allow them to understand.
I am sure that while 1. is often an issue, there are people who also fall to 2.
Before I go on, I think that we can surely accept based on the countless "Wicked fan" or "Glee fan" posts in this thread that some musical fans lack knowledge. The cliché Wicked fan who says Wicked is the "best musical of all time" clearly has an uninformed opinion because it seems unlikely they are familiar with all (or enough) musicals to make this judgement..
Similarly, I think that there could be some kind of knowledge required to understand certain concepts, more complicated concepts that are explored in some shows but not others. If someone has little understanding of what 'subtext' is and is only familiar with shows that do not explore the concept at all, it might seem obvious why they might find it difficult to understand aspects of FOLLIES. In this case, it is hard to take an opinion (e.g. FOLLIES is a poorly written show) seriously the same way a WICKED fan might say WICKED is the best musical of all time because it is uninformed.
I will point out as mentioned that it is so hypocritical for people to complain that Sondheim fans are pretentious and then look down upon Wicked or Glee fans. If people who look down on the knowledge of WICKED or GLEE fans are not pretentious, why are Sondheim fans who sometimes look down on the knowledge of other people pretentious?
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
Updated On: 7/19/12 at 06:23 PM
