When They’re Committed To Misunderstanding Your Creative Work

Audrey Dundee Hannah
5 min readOct 20, 2022

How to decode such feedback without losing your mind

I’m sure some people don’t appreciate Arlette and dog Jean Gabin or even “Dix Pour Cent” but I sure do

We’re artists who want to excel in our creative work, and that means a) asking for feedback so that we can only get better; and b) submitting our work for approval or rejection.

Usually when we turn in our best efforts the underlying assumption is that if what we made was truly good, that work will automatically get noticed and appreciated.

But how often do we question who exactly is assessing what we put forth? What qualifications do they have?

It’s not enough for someone to be famous, or successful in their own right, or to have hung out a shingle that reads EXPERT.

What values do they have?

What world do they — consciously or unconsciously — intend to make through their promotion or holding back of anyone else’s talents?

Here are a few recent examples from my life in which I had to ask myself these questions — perhaps more than I ever have before.

Bros

Let’s be clear: I went to the first showing of on opening day to see this historic and hilarious gay rom-com helmed by Billy Eichner, directed by Nick Stoller…

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Audrey Dundee Hannah

Actor (“Bones,” “9–1–1”), satirist (Slackjaw, Points in Case, Flexx), entrepreneur (of many stripes), community organizer (parrots, googly eyed objects).