I wouldn’t say it’s the goodness or the badness of the work, but the purpose of the work. Any work that changes the criteria for what “winning at life” is, or in any other way indicts the status quo, is going to turn off anyone who likes the current game, and it’s going to attract anyone who would benefit under the new game. Being a fan is signaling one’s unfitness at the current game. (The average fan of Star Wars has a good reason to dream of a place far away—his life sucks.)
Anything that is either descriptive or reaffirming the current game is probably fine—Animal Farm, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Anything prescriptive is a threat to the people with the highest status currently—the people whose winnings are maximal under the current game.
As the work becomes more wildly prescriptive, it will attract fewer people, and the people who are attracted are the most unfit at the current game. As the prescription loses credibility as the concensus builds against it, the devotion of the fanbase must increase to a) combat the pervasive bad reputation that new potential converts encounter and b) keep the fanbase itself motivated in the face of derision and mockery on all sides.
I wouldn’t say it’s the goodness or the badness of the work, but the purpose of the work. Any work that changes the criteria for what “winning at life” is, or in any other way indicts the status quo, is going to turn off anyone who likes the current game, and it’s going to attract anyone who would benefit under the new game. Being a fan is signaling one’s unfitness at the current game. (The average fan of Star Wars has a good reason to dream of a place far away—his life sucks.)
Anything that is either descriptive or reaffirming the current game is probably fine—Animal Farm, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Anything prescriptive is a threat to the people with the highest status currently—the people whose winnings are maximal under the current game.
As the work becomes more wildly prescriptive, it will attract fewer people, and the people who are attracted are the most unfit at the current game. As the prescription loses credibility as the concensus builds against it, the devotion of the fanbase must increase to a) combat the pervasive bad reputation that new potential converts encounter and b) keep the fanbase itself motivated in the face of derision and mockery on all sides.