That's just your opinion then, which has no objective value. If someone finds artistic merit in Rainbow Brite, then Rainbow Brite is a classic to them, isn't it? Since there are differences of opinion, doesn't that mean that everyone just has to judge for him or herself?
Yes. Yes that's exactly what we're saying. What's the problem with that? People like what they like. It doesn't hurt you. And as I said before, it doesn't hurt the eventual process by which works become largely considered classics by the reading public on the whole, either. Rainbow Brite, even if it appears on one person's classics list, in the end will almost certainly not end up on a general list of the classics because it doesn't hold up in the minds of MOST people.
Why not? What would keep Rainbow Brite from holding up in the minds of MOST people? Why wouldn't it end up on a general list of the classics?
Because the audience will lose touch with it as they grow older. As you grow older, perspective grows and changes. Eventually, the audience will want to be challenged on a deeper level. That still doesn't invalidate the merits of the work, though; I would say that almost any given Dr. Seuss book has more literary merit than 90% of the stuff out there.
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But that's just my opinion.