Firstly, yes, this is meant somewhat as a companion piece to my latest review. My close friend Laura, also an arts lover, has often said to me that when somebody asks if she enjoyed a certain type of very mature work, she will reply "Well, I'm not sure if "Enjoy" is the right word." I've known her for over a decade, and I must say (without being a kiss-arse) I've recently found myself thinking of that quite a bit. I'm sure we could both apply it to different but equally mature and serious texts, but it now makes sense to me and has real depth.
After all, not every memorable thing is pleasant, per se. Seeing or hearing about family or friends in distress obviously never is, or being in that yourself for that matter. There's also frequent subjectivity to most works or situations. But in art, that comes down to separating the content from the craftsmanship, as much as necessary. For example, my #1 movie of the 1990s is Schindler's List, which is a true story and about as narratively serious as cinema gets. It's also three hours long, but it's not great because it's historically important, but because everybody involved worked their hardest and smartest on it, and wanted to do the subject justice.
Maybe it's just because I love when art (intentionally) challenges or provokes me, and I know not everybody does, but that is one of its purposes. Otherwise, it would be superficial and pointless. Overall, I don't think you have to be able to enjoy something content-wise in order to enjoy it artistically.
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