What makes a piece of art 'pretentious'?

[Guernsey]

What makes a piece of art 'pretentious'? The dictionary defines this as:

Pretentious
–adjective 1. full of pretense or pretension.
2. characterized by assumption of dignity or importance.
3. making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

I really like movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or novels like Lord of the Flies but what makes them so pretentious as they call them? It is not as though an average joe cannot grasp any of the symbolism or references to other works but it is that the work itself may alienate certain viewers, readers, etc. I may not understand half of what 2001: A Space odyssey actually means but I enjoyed the movie nonetheless, it is when I try to understand the movie that it makes want to bash my head against wall, blame myself for being an imbecile for not understand this or maybe say that the work was so complicated that only intellectuals, theorists, authors, etc. can understand it. What makes a certain piece of art pretentious?

[Du Soleil.]

It depends how you use the word 'pretentious' as it's often used as a bad term. I'd rethink that one if I were you.

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

I really like movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or novels like Lord of the Flies but what makes them so pretentious as they call them? It is not as though an average joe cannot grasp any of the symbolism or references to other works but it is that the work itself may alienate certain viewers, readers, etc. I may not understand half of what 2001: A Space odyssey actually means but I enjoyed the movie nonetheless, it is when I try to understand the movie that it makes want to bash my head against wall, blame myself for being an imbecile for not understand this or maybe say that the work was so complicated that only intellectuals, theorists, authors, etc. can understand it. What makes a certain piece of art pretentious?

gatdam you sound pretentious with that whole "average joe cannot grasp" line

It's all in how the work of art carries itself so to speak. Good art will convey its message effortlessly and in relatively simple terms. This doesn't mean it's "dumbed down," just that you really shouldn't have to make a huge amount of effort to piece together a message. All art relies on the knowledge of its audience to some degree in order to convey its message. The "pretentious" works are generally the ones that demand a great deal of knowledge on its subject in order to understand. Certainly there are works out there that are intentionally confusing for the sake of being pretentious, but not all movies that require a more in-depth knowledge than average are not pretentious.

I find a lot of people throw around words like "pretentious" at various works of art without really understanding what it means. Just try to gauge the behavior of said work of art's fans. That should help.