Huh. Wannabe Jill-Come-Lately. I liked him in Empire of the Sun, when even his Mum didn’t know who he was. I am thus much hipper than you, and reserve the right to wear a black turtleneck and beret and sneer at you over my copy of Paris Match while smoking a Gauloise and sipping Pernod.
But there is a large chunk of the population who do do things because they’re trendy. They’re not reading Lord of the Rings because they like it, they’re reading it 'cause everyone else is. They’re not wearing Birkenstocks because they’re comfortable, or drinking Pinot Noir because they have a taste for it, they’re doing it to keep up with the Jones’s. We tend to forget it here on the Dope because so many of us are nothing if not stark individualists, but there are many, many people whose tastes are influenced solely by what their neighbor or the next cube-dweller thinks is the hot thing.
Disagree. They may have tried it because it was trendy, but that doesn’t make them shallow.
What if they try something when it becomes popular and find out they like it? And continue liking even after it’s not so popular?
I seem to have the opposite problem. Many singers(Celine for ex), movies, ect I enjoy are usually refered to derisively on this site as being shallow or sappy or whatever despite or
because of their popularity. Often by someone with extensive Indy/ art chops. This makes me think the desire for elitist coolness is a little more ingrained in this forum then it appears per current thread. Too bad though the OP didn’t emigrate to the US Pacific NW
20 yrs ago. Poster could have a high old time grumbling about newbies ruining it.
I just go on enjoying what I like including this forum of people fighting ignorance, at least
their version of it.
I did get frustrated in the '90s when suddenly my father and I couldn’t go see the Cleveland Indians because they were sold out. They sure as hell weren’t sold out in the Mistake during the 80s when he and I would go. So that’s an example of hating the bandwagon jumpers.
On the other hand, I always find that foods I love tend not to stay in business. If I like a particular flavor of something, it’s always very hard to find and then it disappears. I love when I pick up a popular habit. I spend too much time liking stupid obscure stuff that’s impossible to find.
Well then, what does? Are there no shallow people? I would consider someone whose actions are influenced by the mass culture rather than by their own tastes - their own likes and dislikes - to be shallow. Why would you not?
Guin, certainly one can be turned onto something by it becoming popular. But, the key to it, in my opinion, is that one finds one likes it. Just because something has become popular doesn’t mean one has to like it. (Or pretend to like it.) In my opinion, that is just what many do.
Remember, fads are not forever. You can turn the sudden trendiness of something you’ve always loved to your advantage. You can stock up, or find things that might not have become available, but for the trend. If there is a buck to be made, you can count on it. Johnny Cash is now popular? Some label will probably take advantage of this and re-release some hard-to-find recordings. A book by an obscure author you loved has become a must-read for the masses? His out-print works are likely to be reissued. A wine you love becomes popular? More of it is produced, and if there are similar wines, more of those will be produced, too. Maybe some little winery will come up with the best version ever.
I used to be mildly annoyed when something I liked, usual in the realm of fashion, suddenly became popular. For example, I’ve always like the color lime green, and though it is hard to wear for some people, it actually looks good on me. And it used to be rather hard to find. Several years back it became quite popular and every Mary, Jane and Susan was wearing clothing in that color. The same for turquoise jewelry; though never unpopular, it reached fad status a couple of years ago.
It almost made me want to stop wearing those things. Instead, I took advantage of their popularity to buy more of them. Now that those trends have faded, I have plenty of things to wear and love that I might not have had if it wasn’t for their brief period of ultra-trendiness.
But do you have Johnny Cash on reel-to-reel?
Okay, that’s fair. I only got into Tolkien after seeing the Peter Jackson films, and I’m really glad I did. My problem is, I was turned off years ago by that horrible Rankin-Bass production of The Hobbit.
Are you serious? Are you actually saying that people aren’t allowed to want to attend the games of a winning team if they didn’t go all the time when the team was a loser?
That’s the very nature of sports.
Yes it’s great to go to a game regardless of whether your team is good or not. The atmosphere is enough for a lot of people. But for casual fans it’s depressing to go to the games of a team that can never win.
The whole reason teams get better is in hopes of selling more tickets.
This whole line of thought just boggles my mind.
Why do people read what they want to be offended by instead of what is actually written? I said it was frustrating because we couldn’t get tickets. We couldn’t get tickets to go see our team.
And no, that’s not the “nature of sports.” It’s human nature, but that doesn’t make it less frustrating if it means that you’re suddenly shut out of a favorite activity entirely.
So? Who cares why other people are fans? How does it affect you in any way?
It affects me (speaking as a fan of live music) because it genuinely does change the nature of the experience. The people who go to see indie bands when they’re still unknown tend to have a particular audience dynamic; the knuckle-dragging hangers-on tend to have a different audience dynamic. So when a band gets more popular, I’m certainly happy for the musicians–but on the other hand, trying to go see the band in larger venues when I’m surrounded by people who don’t know how to behave in public really isn’t as much fun.
I wonder if we should have a thread one upping each other with how cool we were about something before anybody else knew it was cool?
:rolleyes:
Oh yeah, we got one here!
;j
But it’s not your team and your reasoning for being frustrated is idiotic.
Can you tell me why it’s wrong that people want to see a winning team? Or how that makes them bandwagon jumpers. Watching all these Yankee fans sprout up in the late 90s bugged the hell out of me (because I hate the Yankees) but that’s a little different from just wanting to attend a game.
And you know what, the Indians play in Jacobs Field, a stadium considered by many to be one of the best stadiums in baseball. Maybe they want to see the new stadium? Maybe attending games in the new stadium is 100 times better than the old stadium (in fact I have a friend who tells me this exact thing)? Jacobs Field is a huge draw for out of town fans whether you like it or not.
So boo hoo.
Not being able to do something I used to be able to do is an idiotic reason to be frustrated? Huh?
I didn’t say it was wrong. I said it was frustrating that I couldn’t get tickets to see my team play baseball.
So, you got frustrated by something that doesn’t affect you in any way, and you’re saying that I’m idiotic for being frustrated by something that did affect me. Got it.
Well, no. It’s not any more. They sucked for a couple of years and now tickets are readily available again.
I don’t understand your hostility.
I was frustrated by something very specific that impacted my life. If you can’t grasp that, I can’t help you.
You were frustrated because someone likes the same thing you like and you couldn’t get a ticket.
That’s life.
I’m very sorry your favorite team got better and built a fantastic stadium that even makes non-fans want to see it. But those things also make your favorite team more competitive in the future.
I guess I just can’t believe you’re whining about how “someone bought tickets before you did and THAT’S NOT FAIR!”
Yes.
Who said it wasn’t?
You got frustrated because people started liking something (the Yankees) that you hate. That’s life, too.
Please point to where I said it wasn’t fair. I said it was frustrating. You are doing some serious projecting.
If you went downtown in some city and couldn’t find a parking spot, you’d find it frustrating. Finding it frustrating doesn’t mean you don’t think it’s fair. Finding it frustrating doesn’t mean you don’t understand the world. Finding it frustrating means that it’s frustrating.
I didn’t throw a fit. I made a comment. Your replies are incredibly out of proportion and rude.