i wanna preface this by saying this isn't me tut-tutting anyone who feels they deserve an acceptable level of quality from a product free of any sort of meddling from some CEO looking to cut corners to save on costs or maximize profits, nor am i trying to downplay any sort of controversies attributed to the media discussed (vis a vis corporate meddling).
now, that being said
i was reflecting recently on the virtue of imperfect media that, regardless of actual quality, i still find myself enjoying purely for the fact that it still manages to be what i'm looking for, in terms of, like, Content or Vibes (content in this case being What It Contains, not, like, Content™). lemme try and explain.
so i was always a huge fan of the peter jackson lord of the rings movies. they're incredibly high-quality, earnest films, presenting the world within the story in a way that feels incredibly real. that being said, they're only three movies. and even with extended editions giving me More Movie Per Movie, there's always a part of me that wants More.
(i'm the kind of bitch studios make sequels for, if that's not immediately apparent)
there'd been hwispers of an adaptation of the hobbit for years before we finally got the announcement of a new trilogy in the early '10s and immediately i was excited. i was so incredibly ready to experience more adventures in middle-earth with characters both new and familiar. the movies came out and... yeah, alright, they leave a fair bit to be desired. there's some odd decisions made with story structure and events portrayed that weren't specifically shown in the hobbit (but mostly are events that happened nonetheless) and then there's everything with the forced love-triangle and extending two films into three and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that threw the entire new zealand film industry out of whack etc etc, it's kind of a mess.
but despite all that i find myself coming back and rewatching all three extended editions because even with all the rough edges, they're still stories set in a world i love to watch. and i love to keep finding new things to notice and analyze. the way bilbo says "dwarves?" in response to smaug as if he's never heard of a dwarf before. the way he's shown checking his pockets after hearing a coin fall because he thinks he may have dropped the ring. the way thorin loses his Oaken Shield after being saved by bilbo at the end of Unexpected Journey, signaling how he becomes less of a living legend in the latter's eyes and more of a friend and equal.
the rough edges are still there, of course. i don't think you can make "da" sound good dramatically, it just sounds silly to me. there's still a fair number of mean-spirited jokes (including the extended "man in a dress" bit from five armies). but mostly it's stuff i can stomach and push through for the sake of enjoying the things i do like. like luke evans.
for another example, let's take silent hill 2. i'm not generally one for PC gaming. i grew up with consoles and they're what i feel most comfortable investing in and using. what this means is that i'm less inclined to experience the game silent hill 2 in what is currently considered its ideal form: the fanmade "enhanced edition" of the pc port. what this also means is that the most accessible way for me to play it is the oft- and rightfully-maligned...
HD Collection
now, credit where it's due: with the advent of the xbox one and series x, the version of the hd collection that gets downloaded when you install the game is actually in a considerably better state than the game was at launch. this doesn't mean it doesn't have issues, but it's slightly less janky.
but even before that, i'd played through sh2 and sh3 all the way on multiple occasions. why, you may ask? well, because i was able to. regardless of the quality and jank of the games, they were still silent hill 2 and 3 and i was more than capable of playing through them from beginning to end. is it the ideal way of doing so? not in the slightest. but it's a way that's available to me and one that is at least functional enough to be playable all the way through.
again, this isn't my attempt to excuse a bad product. i don't think anyone is weak of will or anything for not being able to find enjoyment in these. but i think there's something to be said for finding joy in something that scratches an itch for you, even if it's rougher around the edges than you'd like.