Middlebrow

[fandomnumbergenerator]

I’m thinking of the post where someone called Crush (which I love) middlebrow.

I actually find the use of “middlebrow” as (an incredibly dismissive) critique really frustrating. (Though I would make a kind of great book title.)

Implicit in it is the idea that the thing would be cooler if it were actually lowbrow, at which point it could be appreciated ironically, or could be turned into camp, or something.

It is also unfalsifiable. If someone said a book was derivative or formulaic or not taking risks (or whatever it is that middlebrow is supposed to be a shorthand for) you could at least argue the point. I think it may actually mean something like not challenging enough or too easy to like, and I’m still trying to formulate why those are the wrong criticisms.

I also feel like the critique of Crush in particular is a way of saying it appeals too much to young women (I think because Siken is so good at showing a kind of self-destructiveness that is usually coded as feminine).