thoughtful
deird1 wrote a really fascinating article about something she terms "the Vegemite Effect,", which is so accurate and earnest that it should just about be required reading. Because she's right. The short precis:"No matter how good something is, if you were expecting something else, you'll hate it."
People ask me periodically why I chose to be Mira Grant for my science fiction when I was already happily myself for my urban fantasy. My standard answer is all about marketing and branding and setting expectations, and all of this is completely true...but the real answer is all about Vegemite. People who like me for me were going to know that I was Mira Grant, because it was an open secret, and they were the ones who'd just be expecting my words. People who like my urban fantasy weren't going to pick up a book by someone else expecting magic and hijinks. And once Mira established a readership of her own, people who liked science and zombies weren't going to up my books expecting the dead to walk.
The Vegemite effect explains a great deal about how we approach media of all types, not just books, but comics, movies, and television. There's a lot to think about. And if you've ever wondered why sometimes I say "this is salty" repeatedly before I hand you something...
...well, there you go.
September 25 2012, 16:16:57 UTC 4 years ago
Some years back, I went to a concert by jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and came away hugely disappointed. Payton is good, and I own a couple of his albums, so what was the problem? In a word, Vegemite. The concert was advertised as a tribute to Louis Armstrong, my all-time favorite jazz performer, so I went in expecting Payton's group to be working in something approaching Armstrong's style. Instead, they performed tunes previously recorded by Armstrong, but did them in a post-bop style that was developed decades later. It was jarring. (As a side note, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon recorded an Armstrong tribute album last year called "Hello Pops", and it captures exactly the spirit I was looking for from Payton.)
Sondheim's "Into the Woods" (a show you know well) Vegemites itself. The first act works well as a self-contained unit, where by the end all the visible plotlines are resolved successfully and happily. Then, after intermission, all the rotten seeds planted in Act I sprout, and everything goes to hell. I've seen audience members react very badly to that.
September 26 2012, 04:40:18 UTC 4 years ago
(Into The Woods I basically spent the entire time going EEE IT'S A MUSICAL PLAYING WITH FAIRY TALES IT'S LIKE SOMEONE MADE SOMETHING JUST FOR ME THIS IS SO GREAT AND THEY LEFT IN THE BITS THAT ARE USUALLY SANITIZED OUT THIS IS BEAUTIFUL EEEEEEE. Heh.)