Every single human being has a different relationship with art. Passion, criticality, distance, all common feelings in this modern age of constant consumption of media. It can be suffocating to try and experience something with all the justice it deserves, at least for me. I don’t like moving on so quickly from what I put my time into, I feel like that does the creativity a disservice. With everything that I’ve ever disliked, I try to return to it and give it the time that it deserves. I can’t be dismissive of anything that was made with love, and I’d like to extend that to anybody who reads this article. This is a (mostly) comprehensive summary of my experiences with a few different pieces of media I’ve returned to with an open mind. 

1.Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus”, released on August 16, 2024, is a phenomenal horror film. Following a desperate crew going on a last-ditch mission to escape their corporate owned, dystopian planet, a risky effort quickly turns into a race against the clock as things go dire. It’s my favorite entry in the whole franchise, I love everything about it. I wish I could emphasize this more, but AP Style hates exclamation marks, so I’ve got to settle for serious. I love it. But, it took a bit to really grow on me. My first experience with this movie was when it was released in theaters. It was my birthday, newly fifteen, and I went to see it with my dad.  Small peeve of mine: I cannot watch things with people and not get anxious. My brain lasers in on nervously speculating about their thoughts. 

The finale of the film has a level of intensity that rivals the rest of the whole thing. The Corbelan IV peels out of the crashing space-station that’s getting slowly eviscerated by an asteroid belt. All but three of the cast made it out, and this is when the viewer would expect the film to end. It does not. A plotline from prior in the movie comes to resolution and a new antagonist introduces themselves. It’s a creature, simply put. Very difficult to surmise. The ending of “Alien: Romulus” is a claustrophobic fight against the thematic personification of corporate inhumanity. The medium of writing fails to describe the feeling of seeing that with my dad. It’s something. Our screening was empty, so we got to audibly shriek. I left that theater feeling disgusted and disappointed by the way it was resolved. Now, I’ve since rewatched it five or so times, and that whole sequence is my favorite part of the whole film. Shockingly good commentary on where we are with capitalism, y’know.

I think I was biased by imagining my father’s thoughts. He is religious, and he does not love horror. I can’t relate. It’s horrific, but everything about it is magnificent. The themes, the practical costume design and execution of tension, the expectation subversion and the tribute it paid to prior entries in the series lands expertly. It’s Alvarez’s faithful experimentation on the ending of the first film, which had a similar twist of events. Because of morbid curiosity, “Romulus” pushed me into shifting my perspective, seeing what lay under the surface that I couldn’t see the first time around. I got to think of it on my own, without fear, and give it the time it deserved. 

2.“Horizon: Forbidden West” had a story I hated the first time I played it. The world of their video game series is bombastic and incredibly well-made, and this sequel raised things up to a degree that I thought was a bit stupid. What they did in this entry was take their sci-fi and make it feel like a fiction within their own universe, which sounds next-to impossible if you know this franchise. In the first game, they’d written an airtight, amazing backstory for their game about robot dinosaurs and tribalism. Essentially, “Horizon” takes place in the remains of Earth after a far-future apocalypse. A thousand years ago, all natural resources on our planet were eaten by a self-replicating swarm of war machines. During that, the upper class got their riches together, built a colonist ship and sent themselves to the stars. The player is led to believe they died in an atmospheric explosion at the brunt of the armageddon. But they didn’t, and they’re back to end the world again. Also, they’re immortal, invulnerable and they kill the protagonist’s best friend. Big whoop.

I adore “Horizon: Zero Dawn”, and the impact it had on me still echoes through the way I worldbuild now. I got the Deluxe Edition of it when it came out, physically. I was twelve, and I’d been shaking with anticipation since the first trailer came out. It didn’t feel right for me to hold this game in such bad faith. I felt I deserved a better experience with this, especially since my memory of it had gotten so foggy since. So, after four years, I booted it up. 

Don’t get me wrong, this game is not perfect at all. That doesn’t mean this new experience wasn’t healing, in a way. It was refreshing, the open-world was fascinating, alive and wild. The combat was kinetic and fun, exploration always had beautiful views and intricate stories to tell. The world never stops feeling like it breathes. The creature design is absolutely breathtaking, and so are the animations. It’s going to sound hypocritical, but their robot dinosaurs are truly alive-looking. The story is passable. I still think it’s decently stupid. But, it’s fun. The whole thing has a lot of heart, and the themes aren’t undermined by the bluntness of their antagonists. It still manages to tell a complex, emotional and empathetic story with great performances. Ashly Burch as Aloy continues to be a complete highlight. It’s a lot better than I gave it credit for, and it gave me a boost of inspiration that I needed.

I’m very happy I went back. I think that asking these questions, going into it to see if my perspective would shift gave me a necessary, new perspective on this. I wasn’t focused on what was next, I wanted to see all of what was there. I took many lessons from it, constantly found fun ways to challenge myself and dig into the nature of the world they’d made. If I had stayed complacent with contempt, I would’ve missed out on seeing all that beauty.

3.“Alan Wake” by Remedy Entertainment is a little bit silly. It’s a shaken espresso of a video game. It’s got energy, octane and decent scares, but it’s also not for everybody. It’s a crumbly bag of tropes, leaning very heavily on its inspirations to hold up its own narrative. The identity it has is like what someone can glean of another person by looking at the stickers on their car. It’s very Stephen King, it’s incredibly David Lynch and “Twin Peaks.” Wake’s first entry in their series is just akin to media made by fans, trying their hand at what made the originals special. 

The funny thing is: I adore “Alan Wake”. It’s absolutely the best 6/10 game ever made, creme of the crop for things that are kinda mediocre. If someone who knows me decently read this article, they’d be pretty surprised by this. “Alan Wake” is the precursor to “Alan Wake II”, one of my favorite games of all time. These facts can coexist.

I think when camp is understood as camp, it’s more fun to enjoy. I don’t have to wrestle the substance of the text away from itself for it to feel meaningful, it stands by itself. It’s allowed to be kinda goofy. 

Especially with “Alan Wake”, you’ve got to keep in mind that a big aspect of art is creation, not the product itself. A voyeur sees the finish, not the process behind it. This game has a lot of value in how it was made, and what it led to further down the line with its sequels and spiritual continuations. It’s the launchpad of a whole universe, and I love it for that. 

There’s a lot of fun to be had in what we choose to experience. I think a lot of people feel pressure to get something out of an experience, in a kind of abstract way. It’s so easy to hate, poke holes in somebody else’s work, tear it to bits just because we can. It feels good to destroy, and it tends to come from a very truthful place. Even if your opinion doesn’t change, understanding dissidence is still an affirmation of your beliefs. There’s no bad questions to be had, a voyeur’s place in artwork is to experience it as an audience. There are so many things that need to be questioned, translated through your eyes. I just really enjoy understanding. I enjoy trying to love through the harshness of first impressions. I know the development process behind “Alan Wake”, and the thirteen years of development hell that eventually resulted in “Alan Wake II.” I know how hard Lake worked, how small and yet endlessly passionate the team was. It’s flawed, and isn’t that great? I still think it’s decently stupid. But, it’s human. 

I can’t help but feel so happy for him, and all the people who got their studios to that point. Because I was patient with it, because I chose to dig in deep, I found untold beauty. 

In the end, I think that we should be patient and kind. Everything breathes life when it has time to catch itself, and I don’t enjoy disliking things. We shouldn’t be dismissive of anything that was made with love. Think of something you really hated, and dig into why. Go back and look around, maybe you’ll see something amazing, something you forgot about. Maybe you’ll end up having the same issues, but it’s good you gave it another shot. Not only do you properly engage with it, but you challenge yourself into shifting perspectives. We should put the effort in to experience art with all the justice it deserves. Thank you for reading.