Overrated/Underrated Geek Media

[MGibster]

That's something a lot of music is prone to. It all sounds the same, when taken as a whole, but was very different from what almost everyone was doing at the time. The same thing applies to movies and TV shows; what was incredibly progressive, at the time, seems backward now.

That's kind of the case with a books and movies as well. By the time I saw The Godfather, I was about thirty and the movie had been around a few years longer than me, so I had seen a whole slew of movies that it influenced as well as watching countless parodies. Even though I had never seen it, I knew the plot, the names of many characters, and there wasn't much in the way of surprises, so it didn't have the same impact it would have had on audiences in 1972. That's not even considering the changes in how movies are made, in 1972 the last vestiges of the Hays Code had only been abandoned a few years earlier whereas I lived my entire life without the code.

 

[MGibster]

Overrated: anime... pretty much all of it, with a few notable exceptions. I'm not even convinced that the people who like some if actually do; I think they're just expected to like it to be part of the in-crowd.

I tend to agree, to a point. I really enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, which I think is head and shoulders above a lot of anime I've seen, but I don't rate it as being any better than Magnum P.I.(the original). That isn't to say there aren't some really, really good anime movies or shows, Princess Mononoke was fantastic, just that a lot of it really isn't anything to write home about. I'm sure fans actually love it though.

Underrated: The Barbie Movie
A lot of the narrative surrounding critique of the movie focused on gender stuff and arguments over what exactly counts as "woke."

Other than the culture war nonsense, I don't think this movie is underrated. It's been almost universally praised outside of the nonsense.

 

[Deset Gled]

Other than the culture war nonsense, I don't think this movie is underrated. It's been almost universally praised outside of the nonsense.

It got 7 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Calling that underrated is almost enough to make me flip sides and call it overrated.

 

[TiQuinn]

There is definitely art that I was originally dismissive of but have grown to love, and often because enough people wax poetic about it that I decided to give it another chance. In fact, I hated the first episode of Severance so much that I haven't watched another, but so many people on this very forum have raved about it that I plan to give it another go.

I think there's a big difference between pretending to like something in order to be cool, and changing your mind about something because you've given it more time, or you've changed, or whatever.

Another example: growing up, I hated country music, because it was my dad's music, and he made a point about how my musical taste (mostly metal and punk, back then) was crap. As an adult, I have made a pointed effort to listen to and appreciate country music, because it is important to someone I love and...mixed results! It's still not my first choice of genre, but now there are some country songs and artists that I think are just fantastic!

Apropos of this topic, my thoughts about overrated/underrated geek media have really shifted as I've aged. Partially, I think this is an inevitable result of having more points of comparison.

I think country music is a great example. I was predisposed to disliking it but when something is varied enough, you are able to reevaluate. But sometimes not!

But at the end of the day, saying someone doesn’t know their own mind, or is somehow mislead…that’s just not something I can agree with.

 

[Deset Gled]

I think country music is a great example. I was predisposed to disliking it but when something is varied enough, you are able to reevaluate. But sometimes not!

Hmm...

 

[TiQuinn]

Hmm...

I kind of had Johnny Cash in mind when I wrote that.

 

[GreyLord]

I think country music is a great example. I was predisposed to disliking it but when something is varied enough, you are able to reevaluate. But sometimes not!

But at the end of the day, saying someone doesn’t know their own mind, or is somehow mislead…that’s just not something I can agree with.

I think the problem with country music, isn't the music itself, but the types of people who tend to listen to it.

That would get too political for this forum, but there is a certain type of individual that listens to country music in the United States, drives large trucks, brags about their guns, and many other things. Some of the things they want are not....the best things in the world and some would even say rather discriminatory on their part.

Not all of them, obviously, but enough of them to put a bad taste in my mouth.

It's not the music, but the people.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Country music is in two big camps nowadays:

Commercial country music, which nowadays has a lot of pop and rap elements to it, ironically, and gets all the radio play. And is widely embraced by one political wing of the US.

And then there's "Americana," which actually sounds like more traditional country music, includes more than a few elder statesmen (and women) from the outlaw country scene, and is more embraced by the other political wing of the country, although it's a pretty minor musical scene on said side.

If you like country music but don't like the baggage a lot of it has nowadays, considering checking out Americana. Or, contrariwise, if you are finding Americana too "political," country music radio is ready and waiting for you. Someone will need to explain the rappers with the face tattoos to you, though.

Politics: Ruining everything since 1792 BC.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think the problem with country music, isn't the music itself, but the types of people who tend to listen to it.

That would get too political for this forum, but there is a certain type of individual that listens to country music in the United States, drives large trucks, brags about their guns, and many other things. Some of the things they want are not....the best things in the world and some would even say rather discriminatory on their part.

Not all of them, obviously, but enough of them to put a bad taste in my mouth.

It's not the music, but the people.

Even if I strip all of the political stuff away, I think there’s enough of a difference between classic country and modern country just on their own merits.

 

[Ryujin]

Even if I strip all of the political stuff away, I think there’s enough of a difference between classic country and modern country just on their own merits.

Classic Country - My wife left me and my dog died music.

Modern Country - Pop, but with a nasal twang.