Attraction

Factors that define attraction

• Intelligence, sophisticated humor (multi-layered sarcasm and irony, situational humor, less slapstick or vulgarity)
• Openness for new experiences and opinions; seeing change as opportunity, not as a threat
• Enjoying the good things and quality (food, coffee, drinks, music, movies, craftsmanship, clothing, art, …)
• Poise, the way she moves, radiating confidence and grace
• Self-reflection and -awareness and especially self-responsibility
• A fundamentally positive attitude towards life and herself

Objectivity and “Taste”

That’s the difficulty of rating art. I agree that it is partially subjective, but not entirely. Art needs to meet basic criteria to be good, but everything else is subjective. Sometimes it’s not easy for laymen to tell difference between good and bad art, but just like with everything, when you learn about something and go deeper and deeper your taste starts to become sublime. And that’s where you start to recognize what is original, inventive, praise worthy and what is just a mediocre mush. You are leaning towards more sublime music and books etc., because simpler things are now not enough for you. And don’t get me wrong. You still may find mushy art enjoyable and nothing is wrong with that. I, for example, quite like some kitschy paintings.

What is totally subjective is emotional reaction to an art. Even if you can tell if something is valuable from artistic point of view, you still may find it boring, or ugly. It is because it doesn’t resonate with you on an emotional level. And that’s fine too.

I share your position that there is a subjective as well as an objective dimension and I would rather call the subjective portion “preference” and the objective one “quality”.

I think the main point is not about the topic itself, but about the approach and it goes beyond having an opinion - It is the willingness of forming an opinion and enjoying things to a point where you crave for more from intrinsic motivation, because you care about the subject and you are actively engaging, not just passively enduring.

If you are putting time and effort into something, you will automatically specialize into the things that are more polarizing and emphasizing the fundamental core values or patterns you enjoy. I think this is the main critic with “mainstream” art/music/movies - they are trying harder to not offend anyone to reach a wider audience than to truly amaze and thus will always be inferior to any one with a particular preference in any given direction. The interesting trait is the desire and enthusiasm of learning more and actively finding these real gems you truly enjoy that exist in all genres, niches and areas, not the specific preference itself. I actually think preference comes from exposure to a huge degree and a bit from related memories and early imprint. I also think there is an objective level of bad taste and not everything is just preference. :-)

Reducing topics to “it is just personal taste” is an easy way out to avoid offending someone, but a lot of bad taste is quantifiable and mostly derives from lack of attention to detail, as well as lack of knowledge and unreflected influence of Zeitgeist of your milieu (we are all guilty of this in some way or form).