People treat Pretentious as if it is far more serious than decpeiton, lies, manipulation. Especially in art. Peopel don't say "this commercial advertising is manipulating people into obesity and diabetes" nearly as much as they "oh thart artist is so pretentious"
As if predicting the future, pretense, is something to call out and guard against.
Word-choice, word selections.
"Marshall McLuhan used James Joyce's Finnegans Wake as a major inspiration for this study of war throughout history as an indicator as to how war may be conducted *in the future." - year 1968
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace_in_the_Global_Village
ToDo: Pretence / Pretense spelling Wake/Woke Joyce.