History Main / MagnumOpusDissonance

''Just DoingItForTheArt guarantees success, but intentionally striving for success and fame gets you nowhere.''

* Robert Asprin started work on ''Another Fine Myth'', merely to give himself a break from the grimness of another book he was writing, ''The Cold Cash War''. Nowadays, he is fondly remembered for the MythAdventures series, while ''Cold Cash War'' gathers dust alongside other proto-cyberpunk dystopian scifi.

* It has recently been revealed that ''{{Pocahontas}}'' was ''the'' project to work on at Disney in the wake of ''Beauty and the Beast'' being the very first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. [[HilariousInHindsight Animators working on it would often pick on the animators]] working on "[[TheLionKing Some dumb little musical with talking animals]]..."

-->--Louisa May Alcott's vicarious description of her experience writing '''''LittleWomen''''', from '''''Jo's Boys'''''

* Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle created a detective character based on an old medical professor whose techniques and insight had always impressed him in order to pay the bills. The character was never meant to be anything special, just the subject of a few stories that would bring in some money and allow Conan Doyle to work on the historical epics he loved so much and which he was sure would make his name and reputation as a writer and artist. Result? The historical epics are all but forgotten, while the [[SherlockHolmes detective character]] went on to become probably the most famous fictional character of all time.

* Peyo's favourite work, and actually his original main one was ''Johan and Pewitt'' (''Johan and Pirlouit'' in its original French title)... But, one day, in one of this series' album, appeared a certain band of little blue creatures. They were intended to be one-shot characters, but quickly became [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]]... And from then, ''TheSmurfs'' (''Les Schtroumps'') became the single most remembered work of Peyo.

* ''Heaven's Gate'' was the passion project of ''TheDeerHunter'' director Michael Cimino. It's considered one of the biggest mistakes in film history, effectively ending Cimino's career and the auteur-driven NewHollywood movement of the 1970's.

What happens when a writer or artist deliberately tries to create their ''MagnumOpus''. They slave over it for years, pouring 110% of their heart and soul and energy and sanity into it, and confidently expect it to be big, monumental, GenreBusting, and assure them eternal fame and honor... and what is the response? "Meh, it's SoOkayItsAverage."

* So far, Quentin Tarantino's masterwork ''InglouriousBasterds'' is far from the recognition of his earlier PulpFiction.
* It has recently been revealed that ''Pocahontas'' was ''the'' project to work on at Disney in the wake of ''Beauty and the Beast'' being the very first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. [[HilariousInHindsight Animators working on it would often pick on the animators]] working on "[[TheLionKing Some dumb little musical with talking animals]]..."

* Lewis Carroll greatly preferred ''Sylvie and Bruno'' to his Alice books.

* This is the source of Arthur Conan Doyle's grudge against his creation, SherlockHolmes -- Doyle wrote many stories he considered far superior to the tales of the detective and the doctor, but most of his audience much preferred Holmes. While many of his other stories have certainly gained and maintained recognition, it's safe to say that even in the present, Holmes is the most famous of Doyle's characters.

* So far, Quentin Tarantino's masterwork ''InglouriousBasterds'' is far from the recognition of his earlier PulpFiction.

* ''{{Pocahontas}}'' vs. ''TheLionKing'', anyone?
* Orson Welles believed that his greatest completed film was ''Chimes At Midnight'', not ''CitizenKane''.

* ''EndersGame'' is considered Orson Scott Card's ''magnum opus'', but it's known he only wrote it as a prologue to the much less successful ''Speaker for the Dead'' and its sequels.

* Sir ArthurConanDoyle famously hated ''SherlockHolmes'' and was much more proud of his historical novels.

* GoNagai created MazingerZ as a kid-friendly side project while he worked on the (''much'' darker) {{Devilman}} manga. Guess which one became the bigger hit? (That didn't stop him from exploiting Mazinger to the hilt however.)

[[AC:Music]]
* Camille Saint-Saëns correctly anticipated that his "Carneval of the animals", a musical joke thrown off for a private birthday party, might eclipse his serious symphonies, oratorios, operas, string quartets etc. (of which there are an awful lot). He went so far as to ''forbid any public performance of it whatsoever''. [[ItGotWorse It didn't work.]]

[[AC:Theater]]
* Tchaikovsky is said to have greatly disliked the popularity of his ''TheNutcracker'', considering it mere fluff in comparison to his serious works.

* ''EndersGame is considered Orson Scott Card's ''magnum opus'', but it's known he only wrote it as a prologue to the much less successful ''Speaker for the Dead'' and its sequels.

What happens when a writer or artist deliberately tries to create their ''magnum opus''. They slave over it for years, pouring 110% of their heart and soul and energy and sanity into it, and confidently expect it to be big, monumental, GenreBusting, and assure them eternal fame and honor... and what is the response? "Meh, it's SoOkayItsAverage."

* So far, Quentin Tarantino's masterwork ''InglouriousBasterds'' is far from the recognition of his earlier PulpFiction.

* Orson Welles believed that his greatest completed film was ''ChimesAtMidnight'', not ''CitizenKane''.

* MarkTwain's favorite of his works was ''PersonalRecollectionsOfJoanOfArc'' -- ever heard of it?
* Sir ArthurConanDoyle famously hated Sherlock Holmes, and was much more proud of his historical novels.

* Tchaikovsky is said to have greatly disliked the popularity of his ''{{Nutcracker}}'', considering it mere fluff in comparison to his serious works.

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