Not Liking Stranger Things Does Not Make You A Martyr
As surprising as it may be, we’re not obligated to all share the same taste in popular culture consumption.
I used to work in one of those “open concept” environments. You know, the one where people will spend 30 minutes complaining how they will have to stay late doing work instead of doing work. That’s the kind of thing that happens there along with shared drama. It happens, I presume, because of ease of access to other people which makes you feel like they want unfiltered access to your stream of thought. It’s like an office equivalent of Twitter if Twitter also blasted country music for half a work day.
That was my co-worker, who shall remain nameless, who enjoyed increasing amounts of country music and constantly told us how much she liked country music and then also often played it for all to hear despite having a set of functional headphones. What I’m saying is, she was the worst and the most obnoxious kind of fan. The one who can’t enjoy a thing without having to make you an active participant in how much they are enjoying said thing. I like hip-hop, but never once did I blast it in the office. Obviously because A) DMX is not exactly the most work conducive ambiance creator B) DMX lyrics would probably earn me a very unproductive meeting with our HR Department. But more importantly, because I know not everyone enjoys the same thing.
The point I’m trying to make is that we’re constantly exposed to other fandoms. Golden State Warriors fans can’t stop talking about how much they like the Golden State Warriors (seemingly despite the fact that the Golden State Warriors are bitch-made). TV Show _______ fans continue to tell you how great the show is and won’t stop talking about it or some of its characters. The latest in this string being Stranger Things. People love stranger things, and people will tell you they love Stranger Things, and that can be annoying.
But I am here to pose a thesis, that people who don’t like Stranger Things are equally as (if not more) annoying than the people who do. Because they are.
Remember that time your ex-coworker Nancy tweeted that she hates Halloween? Or Mark said that St. Patrick’s Day is just another excuse for people to drink alcohol during the week (people don’t need excuses Mark) or anyone anywhere who looked at the culture phenomenon, raised their nose and said “this is stupid.” Except, instead of saying “this is stupid” they decided to climb atop Twitter mountain and release it into the internet, following up with occasional retweets and replying to people’s posts with stuff like “actually, it’s not that good.”
You know who these people are, the ones who probably have a notebook of things they’re better than you for because they don’t “buy into” a cultural phenomenon. The ones easily identified because they make posts like “am I the only one that doesn’t find _________ that good/interesting/intriguing.” No, you’re not the only one, but you’re the only one that seems bothered enough to rant about it.
Look, here’s the thing. I liked Stranger Things. I liked Stranger Things a lot and in a different universe this article would be about how much I liked Stranger Things (as well as probably about some things that I didn’t because nothing aside from Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in White Men Can Jump is perfect). I would very much focus on why you should (or shouldn’t) watch the show as I talked about it. But this is not that type of article.
It’s time to wake up and smell the irony, because by proclaiming your indifference or disdain for cultural phenomenon du jour you’re pretty much engaging in the same self-fulfilling and glamorizing act that the people you’re “rebelling” against. Sure, they don’t have to scream about how much they like a show or a movie, but you also don’t have to scream back because both parties just end up looking like idiots screaming into the void in hopes of gaining some cultural cache instead of having a productive argument as to what they don’t and don’t like.
So, for once, I hope we can all start acting like it’s some sort of burden to not enjoy or “understand” the hype behind something. Let people have things.
