How do you view something as pretentious?

[cybershocker455 324]

Just something worth discussing: what work would say is pretentious and give a reason why you think something is pretentious.

[Fox 5,330]

In on thread.

Usually if they're dishonest upon their own abilities and poorly demonstrate a lack of talent.

[Vox 870]

Clear lack of talent with overbearing content, best way i can put it.

[Celtore 2,770]

It's kind of hard to describe what I mean in words, but here is a link to an example. Don't try understanding it, it's randomly generated, but you can see what I mean. It's the writing style, using long uncommon words to describe something which could probably be summed up in a few simpler ones. It's intellectual pretentiousness at its worst, trying to make what you're saying look more important than what it actually is. 

 

For specific examples, look no further than literary analysis and philosophy. 

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

I have a very simple five-point pretentious test:

 

1) Do you even know what the hell you're talking about? The true mark of a pretentious douche is that they will just make shit up without giving it any kind of meaning, and then try to fit one in later and pretend like that was the plan all along. These idiots seldom fool anyone.

 

See: Five Nights at Freddy's; Take Me to Church.

 

2) Lit dropping is a very clear giveaway. We get it, you can read. You aren't clever just because you shoehorned in a reference that will confuse half your audience and induce groans of annoyance from the other half. The exception to this rule is when you are clearly adapting said work to a new medium, in which case normally cringey references may be acceptable.

 

See: Dead Space; Amnesia - A Machine For Pigs

 

3) Self-quoting.

 

"Eat big bag of something unpleasant."

                                                         - Me

 

I know you believe really hard in yourself, but in the marketplace of ideas, self-promotion is frowned upon. The whole point of a quote is to attribute credit to somebody else for something they said, not to stroke your own ego at how witty and clever you are. This includes quoting something your wrote for a fictional character. Don't put yourself on a pedestal. If somebody else likes your work, then it will speak for itself.

 

See: Republique; Basically every internet commenter

 

4) Restating an extremely old, cliche'd point with "ze arts." If you have nothing new or insightful to say, then why should we listen to your points? We've heard them a million god damn times before, so why would this be the time that moves us to tears?

 

See: 'Dances With Wolves' and all of its ripoffs

 

5) Overdoing it. This one is very subjective, and sadly, difficult for even a good writer to catch sometimes. However, even if you pass every other one of these tests with no sign of pretentiousness, you can still fall into the age old trap of going too far. Sometimes, you simply have far too much confidence in your work, too many ideas that all sound great, but fit together terribly, or have simply gone too long without anyone telling you "no." You aren't an idiot if you overdo it, but you're an idiot if you can't take a hint when someone points out that you overdid it.

 

See: 'Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name'