Subjective Experiences With Entertainment

Anytime a reviewer focuses on how a work of entertainment "filled them with awe" or "crawled into their head," they have sided with logical fallacies unless they strictly intend to just describe their subjective experience rather than the entertainment itself, be it a movie, video game, book, or television or streaming show.  Their experience with consuming the art may have little to nothing to do with the work itself.  Perhaps they enjoy art that is deep, sincere, and well-crafted, but even then their subjective enjoyment is still subjective and secondary to the actual work they enjoyed.  This actually contradicts the core nature of entertainment and denies its true significance.

The thematic and artistic depth that can be present in analyzing entertainment/art is undercut by pretending like all that matters is a random consumer's personal experience even if that experience is rooted in misunderstanding art.  If this was the case, what would the ultimate point of reviewing, critiquing, or praising any work of entertainment at all?  Catharsis?  Connecting with others whose subjective preferences are just as irrelevant left to themselves?  It is logically true that art objectively succeeds or fails in handling certain themes and artistic goals of its creators, but any idea insisting the opposite also trivializes the nature of art as a whole.

I do not mean that subjective experiences with art cannot have any personal significance, as entertainment can stimulate and inspire even in unintentional ways.  What I mean is that the artistic quality and philosophical depth of entertainment is tied to the nature of individual works of art instead of having anything to do with the experience of broad audiences or any individual person.  The objective identity of a work of entertainment, no matter its medium, and the subjective impact it has on a given person are very different things that have a very precise relationship with each other.  Both have importance, just of different kinds.

Entertainment has the capacity to reflect genuine truths, possibilities, and struggles, and consumers have the capacity to relate to what they see or let it lead them to consider certain thoughts that might not otherwise have occurred to them.  This is how the objective nature of art and the personal experience of consuming art can together enrich communities.  Subjective feelings about a work do not determine anything about its quality, the intentions behind it, or its depth, but they can add immense power to the process of using entertainment.  Without the true nature of entertainment, subjective perceptions would be pointless; without subjective experiences, art would not be able to reach people where they are.