People get confused because quality is multi-dimensional and most people only see the dimension they care about.
X always buys BMWs because he thinks their design and driving dynamics are unmatched. They can’t understand why people settle for less.
Y buys Toyotas because they’re reliable. They think X is crazy for buying something that’s going to cost so much to maintain and repair.
They’re both high quality products, but in different ways. X prioritizing design and driving feel over reliability doesn’t mean they don’t care about quality, same for Y. They just care about different things.
The Netflix thing is a perfect example. We see those guidelines and think, this is a recipe for low-quality trash. And if you’re looking for something to devote your full attention to for an hour, you’re probably right. But it’s plainly not meant for that. In the context of its purpose, it can be high quality. If it’s meant to be on in the background while you do stuff, it should be judged on that basis. And if you’re looking for something else, go find it.
It gets mixed up in social signaling too. Judging a movie’s quality by acting skill and subtle, meaningful scripts is seen as high class. Judging it by special effects or having famous actors is low class. That gets interpreted as the latter not caring about quality, but nothing makes those qualities inherently less worthy.
It’s funny, judging food by its ingredients is seen as high class. “The cream was sourced from grass-fed cows on our partner farm in Wherever.” High quality! But don’t try it with a movie. “This movie has Elvis in it.” Low class, you don’t care about quality!
Most people care about quality. They may not agree with your specific, personal idea of exactly which dimensions of quality are important.
Your actor/media production example is not reflective of my reality. There are actors that convey a higher “class” movie, and there are actors that convey a lower “class” movie, and they are constantly in flux.
If Elvis isn’t a good actor, or someone like Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel keeps making movies with the type of acting that is considered lower “class”, then they set that expectation.
But you put Meryl Streep or Robert DeNiro or Denzel Washington etc in a movie, and people will judge it is a higher “class” movie.
I was thinking of actors who are only there because of their fame, not talent, like Elvis.
But there’s a whole spectrum, for sure, depending on why you want to see that actor. If it’s because they give realistic, subtle performances, that’s high class, you care about quality. If it’s because of their physical prowess, that seems to be so-so. If it’s because of their physical beauty, low class, bad movie viewer, you don’t care about quality. Which amuses me, because being aesthetically pleasing is a huge part of high class quality in other things.
X always buys BMWs because he thinks their design and driving dynamics are unmatched. They can’t understand why people settle for less.
Y buys Toyotas because they’re reliable. They think X is crazy for buying something that’s going to cost so much to maintain and repair.
They’re both high quality products, but in different ways. X prioritizing design and driving feel over reliability doesn’t mean they don’t care about quality, same for Y. They just care about different things.
The Netflix thing is a perfect example. We see those guidelines and think, this is a recipe for low-quality trash. And if you’re looking for something to devote your full attention to for an hour, you’re probably right. But it’s plainly not meant for that. In the context of its purpose, it can be high quality. If it’s meant to be on in the background while you do stuff, it should be judged on that basis. And if you’re looking for something else, go find it.
It gets mixed up in social signaling too. Judging a movie’s quality by acting skill and subtle, meaningful scripts is seen as high class. Judging it by special effects or having famous actors is low class. That gets interpreted as the latter not caring about quality, but nothing makes those qualities inherently less worthy.
It’s funny, judging food by its ingredients is seen as high class. “The cream was sourced from grass-fed cows on our partner farm in Wherever.” High quality! But don’t try it with a movie. “This movie has Elvis in it.” Low class, you don’t care about quality!
Most people care about quality. They may not agree with your specific, personal idea of exactly which dimensions of quality are important.