Dan Futterman Quotes

It seems this is an age of clever critics who keep bewailing the fact that there are no works worthy of criticism.

The idea that popular arts were shallow by definition and the traditional arts were profound was dead, I thought, and I wanted to prove it.

It's hard to judge literary merit.

Once people write criticism about something - and even in 1967 I was far from alone - they're assuming it's art, and art is supposed to last.

I don't see why escapist literature shouldn't also be a work of art.

The novel is the first art form that is an honest-to-god commodity. That's what makes it different from both high art and folk art.

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.

People want to make a distinction between what's commercial and what's art.

I just want to make sure I'm contributing good films to movie history rather than being famous just to be famous.

Mass appreciation doesn't always equate to something good.

And who cares, five years down the road, what most movies made or didn't make? If it's good, it stands up.

People go to see beautiful paintings to see how much they cost. Wow. The practical value is that it shows you what the human spirit can do.

Now, there are so many movies, so many festivals, and so many awards going on, each judged with each other, like your work is worse than others and that's not fair. How can you tell what's best and what's worst from these awards? We're talking about art.

No highbrow literary type would ever say 'Moby Dick' is good but it's just about a whale, or a Jane Austen would be important if she wasn't just writing about romantic relationships.

If something becomes old-fashioned, it was no good to start with. Think about it. Michelangelo is not old-fashioned.

A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.

Sometimes novels are considered 'important' in the way medicine is - they taste terrible and are difficult to get down your throat, but are good for you.

On one level, of course, the notion of judging films or books or music against each other is completely ridiculous. Who's to say '12 Years A Slave' is a better film than 'The Wolf of Wall Street'? Or that one album in a certain genre is better than another in a completely different genre?

It's a good question, because a movie isn't good or bad based on its politics. It's usually good or bad for other reasons, though you might agree or disagree with its politics.

As for political poetry, as it's usually defined, it seems there's very little good political poetry.

If a show is good, it helps people learn about themselves in some way and in some function. Whatever the genre is, if it's executed well, audiences grow and learn from it, and that's where their passion and enthusiasm comes from.

We believed that there's no such thing as good art or bad art. Art is art. If it's bad, it's something else. It was a much, much harder line in the '50s and '60s than it is now, because the idea of art education didn't exist - they didn't have a fine arts program when I was a kid.

Art is good but it isn't the best.

A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good.

Art is often valuable precisely because it isn't a sensible way to make money.