I cannot describe the visceral level of aversion I have to mainstream shit. It doesn’t matter if the show is the best thing on earth, if the general public knows about it (And I don’t mean the internet I mean the general public) then I refuse to watch or partake in it. I have no idea why and it genuinely kills me to be like this and I have no idea why.
It prevents me from joining most fandoms nowadays unless the fandom is super niche. Things like Hotel Hazbin, Star Wars, The Office, K-pop (in general), Kpop Demon Hunters, most popular anime… WHY. WHY AM I LIKE THIS?? Is anyone else like this? Even people just mentioning “Oh yeah I love One Piece, you should watch it sometimes” makes me go “Oh fuck nah I’m good” as if the damn show was a personal insult. I feel like a stuck-up prick when I do this but I genuinely can’t control it, why???
Other people’s responses were good, and may have helped you. But there’s another, less complimentary angle. You can decide if it’s relevant to you.
You may have learned too boost your self-esteem by looking down on popular media and selecting things that are not popular, to some extent because they are not popular.
It’s an easy trap to fall into, but only you can decide if that’s what you have done.
I suppose I have. But it’s not a conscious feeling, it feels like an unconscious one. It’s a weird feeling between my heart and my brain and it permeates the rest of my body until I can change the subject. That’s why I say it’s a visceral reaction.
Kpop Demon Hunters looks interesting but god damn if I had to choose between watching that and running full force into a brick wall id rather run into the brick wall. Like it makes me uncomfortable to wanna watch popular stuff. The more popular it is the worse the feeling.
K-pop Demon Hunters irks me especially cus, I’m not gonna lie— Them Korean boys be hot asf, and now you’re adding DEMONS to the mix? like— girl I cant be doin this shit, fuck no, its like they’re just trying to entice me and god damn it I refuse to let it happen 😭😭😭 K-pop almost hooked me in middle school I ain’t gonna let it happen again 😩
Maybe you could approach it slightly differently. K-pop demon hunters maybe a fine show, or movie, or whatever it is, but there are other ones just as good, maybe even better, that haven’t received worldwide publicity. Don’t reject the popular mainstream things, but intentionally seek out gems that haven’t got a media empire behind them.
I haven’t been to a large concert for many years, but I am absolutely delighted to attend concerts by local and indie artists. The intimacy of a small show, and the ability to talk to performers before or afterwards, makes it a very different experience. A large concert is more of the group think, ecstatic evangelical experience.
I an absolutely guilty of this. I was a strange boy and I leaned into it. Sea shanties and suits, but there no way I was trying too hard. It was those other sheep.
I have tried to be conscious of the flaw since I became aware of it. Marvel movies are okay. It’s not a character deficit to have fun watching a sporting event.
Not as strongly as you, but yes, I have a strong aversion to popular media. I didnt used to be that way but somewhere in my adulthood that changed (I’m 45 now).
The more people try to sell me on a show, game, movie etc the less I want to interact with it. I still dont have a solid reason for why but there’s a few ideas (for me at least): 1 I don’t like watching stuff WITH people as I feel self conscious that they will be watching me and my reactions. 2 I’m not interested in discussing the things I enjoy with others. I just dont participate in Fandoms. I just want to take in the experiences and enjoy them for what they are. 3 People recommending stuff can take a really pushy turn and it can become a prickly topic if you don’t take their advice (whether you asked for it or not). 4 Fans can zealously hype their media and create expectations that aren’t lived up to in the consumption. Just comes down to we like that we like and it’s not the same for everyone.
You could try ignoring the fandom and enjoy it by yourself.
Obviously not every popular fandom is worth this, but some are, and you can avoid the nastiness or weird obsessions of the fandom thst way.
I have a strong aversion to popular stuff too. Not as extreme as you , but for example I watched breaking bad 8 years after it came out and I was like damn that was good. I just couldn’t watch it while everyone else went on and on about it.
Never have liked most popular music unless its from an earlier era. I can’t name 1 new popular song from today. Ive been like this since I was 6.
Never liked new games everyone went on and on about graphics when I was little and I’m like, I dont care , new games suck.
I’m better now at being receptive. But I still cringe.
i’m autistic, not ADHD. But yeah I feel.this exactly.
I had a realization about this in the last band I was in. All of my friends and my musical network had fallen apart as we grew up do I turned to Craigslist for months. I found a band and joined. The singer who also wrote most of the music moved away, so we changed names and I took over both of those duties too.
Before, I had formed my taste with my friends, and we formed bands together. This was different- we all had our own tastes relatively established, and I was trying to find the overlap that we all liked. We also wanted to play live, so for the first time in my life I was also writing to try to please audiences rather than just do what I wanted.
What worked? Being bland as fuck. All of the little weird quirks that I found interesting were rough edges that needed to be smoothed off for accessibility. It is the difference between art and a product.
Most TV shows and movies are huge productions that cost millions of dollars to produce. There are some people involved who are trying to be artists, who actually have vision and creativity they are trying tk share with the world. But there are also executives trying to monetize it, trying to get a return on that investment. With TV shows in particular they often keep characters around and keep trying tk make new seasons not for the sake of art but for the sake of employment.
I find smaller productions more interesting. YouTube used to be good, and maybe still has some good content but the platform is terrible.
No one will really be able to answer that question but you, but other people can make suggestions for consideration that may help you find the answer. I would suggest spending time with the feeling and approaching it like a puzzle. Is your repulsion to a thing proportional to it’s popularity or does it not make a difference until it reaches some threshold? What in your mind makes a thing popular? Does it make a difference if you found out it was only popular with people you know but not popular in the larger community? What about the inverse? Do you care about what is popular to other distant cultures/languages that you will probably never interact with?
This may or may not lead to you finding the answer of “why”, but it can help you better understand the dimensions of your personal quirk.
I feel the strong discomfort with popular things and and almost compulsive need to avoid them, but I’ve never felt i was missing anything.
It can be frustrating to run into so few people who understand my taste / break free of conformity, but that’s their failing, not mine. 🙃
Are Hazbin Hotel and K-Pop Demon Hunters “mainstream”? I’m vaguely aware of them but I feel like I’ve only heard about them in nerd-adjacent spaces. Maybe I’m too out of touch to know what counts as mainstream.
All of the people I know who still like Star Wars are fanfiction writers who are obsessed with the prequel era, do normal people still actually watch the new content?
At least kpop demon hunters is everywhere, go to a grocery store and you’ll see big displays of products themed around kpop demon hunters. The song Golden gets played a lot.
Netflix has a strong marketing push.
I think it’s a generational thing.
Yes, kinda.
I try to avoid mainstream English-language music, the stuff with hundreds of millions or billions of plays, and I try to seek out the smaller, underloved, good stuff, from anywhere in the world, and share that stuff with my friends and at my quiz show. I don’t think I’m a hipster; I don’t gatekeep people away from the music I find and like. I want them to hear it!
If you want to hear some music I’ve discovered recently, I’ll offer up Wishy, Angine de Poitrine, Chase Petra, Kaede Hirata, Suzane, and Fhalomir!
Going to a wedding and hearing 100 songs that I’ve heard 100 times before, but have never voluntarily played on my own equipment.
When people overhype stuff, I know watching it with high expectations will ruin it for me. I prefer for the hype to go away, me to forget everything and go in with a clean mental slate and no expectations. I enjoy what I’m watching much more.
Folks overhyped films before and I didn’t enjoy it. I waited 10 years to watch Titanic and was pleasantly surprised. Weird? Sure, but it works for me.
My wife has this same problem. The more people tell her to watch something, the less she’s able to. I have to get her into things by watching them on my own and luring her into the room when she’s nearby
