What's your cultural "blind spot"?

[Jessicatmagnificat]

Read somewhere this week about a game called "humiliation" in which you confess to famous classics you haven't read or finished. That got me thinking about my cultural blindspots in general.

Mine's opera. I just don't get it or like what I've heard. That makes me sound like a real philistine, especially as DH's father sang for the ROH.

And my cultural shame would be - chick lit. At the moment, one of my greatest pleasures is to have an hour to myself with a glass of wine and a trashy novel in which the heroine struggles, but always gets her man.

Most jazz, opera, ballet.

Have a real problem with period drama on the whole as well.

hmmm I'm sure I can think of some more blind spots...

French Lit - just never did it. Am pretty well versed in other literary areas though.

Secret shame? it's a toss up between occasional episodes of Eastenders or my rather impressive collection of 'Now that's what I call Music!' cds.

Ballet. Because I was a chubby, clumsy little kid who secretly would've loved to pirouette in shiny pink pointed shoes, so subconscious jealousy element I think.
Love 'proper' literature, but nothing wrong with dipping into the written equivalent of a big bag of Haribo from time to time imho!

cultural blindspot: jazz, any historical/romantic novel, a brief history of time (1/3 of the way through and then lost it altogether!).

cultural weakness for: grand designs, garderner's world, radio 4 and classical music - currently 30 going on 60!!!!!

used to listen to classical and then some thumping rock in my teenage years.

and there's no cultural shame in reading LOTR 17 times - that's a lifetime achievement award!

ah another blindspot for me - any fantasy literature, Lord of the Rings included (sorry casbie!).

And I dont see the appeal of those films either.

(V-effect: one of Brecht's defining theories and styles. It means, in the english translation choe=sen to discuss it here, 'alienation effect'. Brecht plays do not work by setting up an emotional identification and relationship with a character - very Un-MN, oh yes indeed! - but by encouraging the spectator to be a bit more distanced, and therefore more objective. the alienation effeect works when the audience suddenly is able to, by having stood back, see another perspective or 'side' to the character and therefore issue. It dictates acting style - no 'method' acting in a brecht play!)

My Cultural Shame: MN on days when people use 'hun' or 'clique' rather than Verfremdungseffekt

Jazz (modern oh-so-clever jazz is just so unpleasant and boring at the same time). All that extemporising! Makes me turn terribly philistine and think 'just play something people might actually want to hear'.

Opera - can't do melodramatic shit, always want to yell 'just kill yourself now and get it over with'. The handful of times I've actually been to see opera live, I've enjoyed it but it should be kept to the stage and not recorded, IMO. Or at least not played anywhere where I'm likely to hear it.

Samuel Beckett/whathisface from roughly the same school - Arnold Wesker? - who did plays and novels in Norfolk dialect. Sorry, I can see that it was earth-shattering at the time but can't actually appreciate it.

The sort of art where the artist thinks they are being clever and mere plebs are too stupid to get it. And have no sense of humour about it. You can't call it 'playful' and then get pissed off when people don't take it terribly seriously!

Actually, I suppose I am a philistine, really.

"The sort of art where the artist thinks they are being clever and mere plebs are too stupid to get it. And have no sense of humour about it. You can't call it 'playful' and then get pissed off when people don't take it terribly seriously!"

i understand art, but some artists take the p*ss. sometimes i just want to say 'Untitled - AGAIN, how predictable'. if the artist can't be bothered to give his/her art meaning why should you bother trying to interpret it?

'art' critics have a lot to answer for.

My cultural blind spot's classical music. Is it too late to bother now I'm 41? I keep buying CDs, compilations, books but just find it so boring or macho and it reminds me of cheesy advertising. All confused about different eras etc particularly hate Vivaldi. But I have a languages degree from Cambridge University so I can't just be dumb - can I?

it's like sex isn't it?
opera is like one of those overblown, passionate affairs with lots of wild sex and shouting, possibly things being broken.(apart from Wagner, which is like having sex for a very very long time but never reaching any kind of recognisable climax)
ballet is like having sex with a someone who is painfully body-conscious and keeps holding their stomach in/turning to the right so you get their good side.
istallation art is like having sex with someone who is SOOOOO vain they just want you to admire them constantly and perhaps give them a standing ovation just for taking their clothes off.
modern jazz is just a load of men having fun all by themselves without paying much attention to what anyone else is playing. (I thought it was probably a bit early to say "masturbating")

Another vote for jazz - I get twitchy and fidgety if I have to listen to it.

Cultural shame - at the moment the novels of Jodi Picoult. I know they are formulaic and poorly written but I am addicted!

Definitely opera. And although I like paintings I am embarrassed when I compare my actual knowledge about artists with that about, say, writers.

agree about jazz, Harpsi, was going to say 'wanking' myself but thought better of it!

jazz, yeah - bolleaux (imo, natch)

Restoration comedy

The Proms

Installation art

Yes and children's television

I do like some installations, though, Rachel Whiteread's stuff is charming. Loved 'House' because of the small children running up the steps and trying to peep in the windows. She strikes me as someone with an affection for human beings. What I can't stand are people who are terribly self-important with no sense of humour and think patronising their audience is big and clever.

Another one against Dickens too

and main blind spot is contemporary interpretive dance and

cultural shame is celebrity gawking blogs

blind spot... i don't know if that is an apt description.

i understand opera - i just don't like it.
i understand shakespeare - i don't like reading it - it was meant to be watched god dammit!
i like some classical and i listen to classic FM - but i couldnt name you any of it - i think that might be my blind spot.

modern art - huge pile of elephant poo - i dont get the art - i get the " you didn't think of it - therefore it is original" aspect, but aesthetically pleasing? not generally.

Blindspots- any type of dance, especially ballet. What is wrong with a good song?
Sci-Fi - have never got it, didn't even understand Star Trek.
Fantasty Novels- Lord of the Rings. WTF is it all about?

love the analogy about sex - so is my fasination for trashy sci-fi and LOTR, to do with lots of dressing up and getting mucky?!

sounds like loads of fun!

oh you are soooooo wrong about opera

casbie there are some websites out there just for people like you

i like opera - onstage.

saw carmen - amazing!

• still got that dressing-up quality

Opera

snort at "'just kill yourself now and get it over with'.".
I like the singing in opera - the good bits, but can't be doing with the plots, the naff design (usually), or the recitatatatatatito (what is that half-sing-half-speak exposition bit called?). But I haven't been to many live on stage.

Contemporary music - no tune, no rythm, just bongs and blinks and scratchy noises. Stockhausen etc. DP tried to make me listen to some when I was in labour.

I love jazz, installation art, live/performacen art, contemporary art.