You Suck! No, You Suck! No, You Suck!

I love the music scores to grand-sweeping, epic cinema. I don’t think moviegoers realize how much of the key emotion in a given scene is provided by the soundtrack. I do believe that some of our modern composers rival anything the greats wrote and deserve their credit.

That said, I have the soundtrack to “The Hobbit” bookmarked on youtube. I let it play while I work. I feel Howard Shore is a very talented composer; his scores are artfully etched in my mind. But, and I never do this, it was pure reflex when I scrolled down, I read a few of the comments. I have never been more embarrassed and simultaneously enthralled by the lack of respect and criticism of our times. One comment was, “I’d like to see the great Hans Zimmer do better!” And this started a tangent argument on who is the better composer – Hans Zimmer or Howard Shore?

I didn’t, and don’t know how to react to that. Why can’t people appreciate the different skills of both men and be grateful for the art they have given us? Must the internet always resort into childish snide comments that boil down to, “My imaginary friend is better than your imaginary friend”?

Enjoy art people and be grateful that you have  the capacity to marvel at  it on demand. Constructive criticism is good for any artist, but it shocks me to see composers like Shore and Zimmer reduced to something so immature. It was like they were arguing over comic book heroes or professional athletes, not talented artists.