Being a feminist can often result in a conflicted relationship with popular culture. That’s no surprise. But I am endlessly surprised by the things that qualify as “popular.” Some of them I find rather charming, but a whole lot of it is confusing, silly, boring, or even repellent to me. Like: what is it about that person, show, or phenomenon that has everyone slavering–and usually, spending?
For example: I never liked “Seinfeld.” I’m not a humorless person, but I, unlike everyone I knew, just didn’t find it funny. I watched it, repeatedly, trying to figure out a) what other people were seeing or b) what the hell was wrong with me that I didn’t see it, until I couldn’t stand it any more. Fuckit. You could explain it six ways from Sunday, but I just don’t like it.
So, today’s FFT is a chance to share your bafflement, incredulity, and/or revulsion for some of the poppiest, most ubiquitous cultural manifestations: fashion trends, personalities, television empires, whatever. Now, be nice. No bagging on people who DO like those things you hate, and, should someone announce her distaste for something you absolutely lurrrrrve, please don’t launch into spirited defense of that thing, whatever it is . Feel free to commiserate (politely!) if the occasion arises, without getting all ad hominem.
What leaves you scratching your head and thinking: “what am I missing?”
Bieber. I don’t have the fever.
Glee. I tried. I failed. (I realize Glee is problematic for a number of reasons, but I just don’t find it entertaining aside from the singing.)
The Da Vinci Code
And ditto on the Seinfeld. The characters were whiny and unlikeable, and not much happened. I know that’s supposed to be what made it so brilliant, but…meh.
Special bonus points for the first person to mention “Twilight.”
C’mon, y’all…I know it’s gonna happen….
Add to that Twilight and the whole Edward vs. Jacob saga.
@BeckySharper
I was typing when you posted that!
How I Met Your Mother. It has all my friends ROFLing, but I just don’t get it. It’s not even a feminist thing, it’s just that I don’t find it funny, amusing or entertaining enough to watch more than five minutes of it.
@misscalculate: DING DING DING DING. You win!
I should send you some Charlaine Harris novels as a prize—vampire fiction that doesn’t suck.
South Park – I know people who love it, but I’ve even never been able to watch an entire episode.
@misscalculate – my manpanion and I like to do Bieber impressions where we pretend that he’s going through puberty and his voice is cracking. But the earnest fandom, I don’t get.
I also don’t understand:
-The hard-on people of my generation have for shitty live-action movies of cartoons from our childhood. Transformers the cartoon was awesome. Transformers the movie was awful. GI Joe? Underdog? The Smurfs?!?! Let it go, people.
-Leggings as pants. THEY’RE NOT PANTS.
-And the inevitable list of people that I just don’t think are hot. Like Tom Cruise. Or Zac Efron (I reeeeeally don’t get the Efron thing).
Mad Men. I don’t get AMC & have therefore never seen a single scene. I like the fashion, but I’m not terribly interested in a show about 60s gender inequality in marketing. blech.
Yes! To Seinfeld. I recently tried watching it again because it’s supposed to be this classic show or whatever, but it is AWFUL. Dull humor aside it’s also a little sexist. Elaine was often shown as this hysteric woman almost begging for Seinfeld’s love. When they got back together women were being laughed at for supposedly always wanting more than just sex/not being able to see a man without romance/falling into hysterics yadiyadah. It made me feel very uncomfortable and when I watched more of the show it because painfully obvious that they kept joking with the same old stereotypes of men being pretty vapid and emotionless and women being money-worshipping whores.
I may got a little too worked up about it because I watched it during a pretty stressful time in school but still.
Also Glee. It has everything I ever wanted in a show; a diverse cast, dancing! singing! but I’m just incredibly bored with it all. Though I thought the songs were duller than I thought they’d be, the story lines too typical and there were only 2 characters I loved (Jane obviously! but also Quinn) I could live with those things if only they let the characters become more whole and rounder! And I hated how this is a story about supposed freaks (whatever that means, I didn’t see anyone there that can be classified as even remotely weird) but the ones that could really be different (the gay kid, the sassy black chick) were very flat stereotypes that they seemed to be using as just a gimmick. I first thought they’d point out how stereotyped they are often seen on TV etc. and then tried to make the characters rounder and different; real even!, but alas! I tried to get over it, but it annoyed me horribly & I tried to concentrate on the dull story lines, the uninteresting characters, and those awfully perfectly sung and finished songs (they are high school kids! stop tinkering with their voices damn it!) but I eventually got too frustrated and so I gave up.
Man, even Jane Lynch couldn’t keep me from finding this show intolerably dull.
how about the boat shoes worn by sorority/fraternity undergrads. Come on, people. The ocean is two hours away from here.
@Becky – The Sookie books are great, I’ve been reading them since I was in middle school. The Twilight thing, though…I get a couple things about liking the movies: the soundtracks are good, they’re generally good for watching when mopey and needing to wallow, and the two-hot-guys-fighting thing brings me back to my slash fiction days. But I’ve read the first half of the first book and some assorted excerpts and the writing is SO bad and the creepy, controlling, abusive, stalker aspect of the relationship is SO much more exaggerated that I really don’t understand enjoying the books at all.
Oh gosh.
I ALWAYS hated SATC, back when it was on HBO and literally every single friend of mine at the time absolutely loved it. Loved it, talked about it the next day after a new show, referred to it constantly, the whole deal. Thank god for the internet that I was finally able to find other people who hated it.
Also, Sleepless in Seattle. I was just bored to tears.
@VMT: I don’t get Mad Men either. I mean I enjoy reading about it and talking about the significance of certain cultural events related to it but to sit there and watch a whole hour long episode. Yep. Yawnsville. I have tried really hard too.
Typing this through my tears re: those who don’t love Mad Men
Never liked Seinfeld. Or Will Farrell. Or Sex and the City. Two and A Half Men.
Things I do not get in pop culture:
Old Spice Commercials
Justin Beiber
Lady Gaga’s Alejandro music video
Vampires (any/all)
Twitter (yet I use it)
@K: Your putting Twitter on your list reminds me of something else I don’t get: Tumblr.
oh yeah. Since we’re admitting things I also don’t find John Hamm that attractive. There I said it.
I mean he’s ok, nice looking, just so bland to me. He’s kinda jowly.
/ducks for cover
K: HA! The thing that got me thinking about this topic (earlier this week) was another orgasmic outpouring about the Old Spice guy. Okay, he’s attractive, I guess, in an inoffensively bland, gym-bunny, way. And the commercials are…goofy? Parody? Trying too hard?
Meh.
SATC is also on my list. Bieber is ridick, but I’m a grown-ass woman; I don’t think I’m supposed to get him.
I’m learning a lot of shocking! things about you today, bluebears.
I am so sick of food crazes. Cupcakes, for instance. I remember when tater tots were “in” again (I guess they still are). Not that I don’t enjoy tots and cupcakes, but the fads really annoy me. People line up around the block to buy a frickin’ cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake; it pisses me off.
I don’t like How I Met Your Mother. A lot of people I know love it but I don’t find it funny at all.
I do love Seinfeld, though; it’s one of my favorite shows.
@Gorda i second HIMYM, i watched one episode and felt cheated by the lameness of it.
True Blood, i prefer my Vampires to be read from tacky Anne Rice fiction.
Lil’ Wayne & pseudo pop-rap, i…don’t even know where to begin.
@SarahMC: don’t judge me too harshly
I agree about the food crazes I don’t get it. Have people really gone through their lives without liking cupcakes and then suddenly….OMG cupcakes!!!! It’s so odd to me. Also macaroons.
Don’t get me started on macaroons. If I see one more twee picture of those pastel motherfuckers …
Macaroons are so not worth the hype. Cupcakes mostly aren’t either.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of foods I don’t get:
Wine.
I don’t drink anymore, but even when I did, I didn’t really care for it. Even good, expensive wine didn’t appeal to me like a beer or a cocktail. I always hid this indifference, though, because I know so many people who are obsessed with wine and all the different vintages, varietals, etc.
I third anything written by Dan Brown. (Angels and Demons was the only book that I actually threw out when I moved from Chicago to Atlanta).
Reality TV in general (Jersey Shore in particular).
Ditto for Glee.
I fourth anything written by Dan Brown. And also have to jump on the “I really just don’t ‘get’ Seinfeld” bandwagon. This saddens my boss greatly because I don’t get his “jokes.”
I also don’t get Ke$sha, reality television (with the exception of Iron Chef America, Ace of Cakes, and Man -v- Food), and more fashion than you can shake a stick at. For example, why is it that for the last three years I have been unable to buy a summer top that didn’t look like my grandmother’s geometric-patterned shower curtain circa 1975?
I get Twilight. I don’t like it, but I get it.
Many many things, far too many to mention.
Off the top of my head:
1. Friends and the entire cast of friends
2. Sex and The City
3. Bridget Jones in book and movie form
4. Billy Elliott in musical and film form
5. American Idol and all singing reality tv shows
6. Most things that Aaron Sorkin does – in that I don’t mind the West Wing but I don’t love it, the sports show was ok, I hated Studio 60 with a passion so great I feel ill just thinking about that show.
7 American football and basketball both of which I find mildly silly as sports
8 Dan Brown which is sad as I love most trashy novels but this is a trash step too far for me
9 Tom Hanks and Leo DiCaprio who irritate me irrationally as an actor
10. Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock who irritate me irrationally as actresses.
Oh and Brad Pitt who just irritates me full stop and who i simply can’t see the attraction for.
One reason I’m not much of a tv person is that I find laugh tracks extremely grating. I’m able to decide for myself when something is funny, thanks. And on tv, it mostly isn’t.
My husband was watching “My Cousin Vinny” the other night and was astounded that I (1) couldn’t identify it immediately on sight and (2) didn’t find it amusing. He also loves “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”, which I acknowledge is in tune with my politics but which I experience as loud and annoying. Can I have my own taste, please?
For those of you who are not fans of “Alejandro”, here’s a parody you might enjoy that takes on Republican closet cases: http://www.sherryvine.com/youre-a-homo/
@emilyanne – watching the West Wing was actually a homework assignment for my 9th grade civics class. I was like…the show’s decent and all, but it’s not like we’re going to learn about the government watching it.
So, we’re all pretty alike. I’ll agree with Seinfeld, Bieber, Twilight, Dan Brown, etc. I think Mad Men was the only controversial thing so far in these parts.
On the topic of Twilight, not only do I think the books were dull, but I don’t think the guys are even a little bit hot.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, which is obsessed with booze of all kinds, and I just don’t really like much of it. I hate hoppy beers, I don’t like whiskey even if it’s distilled next door, and I’m fairly indifferent to wine – I like a glass with dinner, but I would never seek it out. I read article after article about this craft brewer or that distiller or that up and coming vineyard, and I just don’t care. It’s worse, because I’m married to a super talented homebrewer, and I don’t appreciate it even a tiny bit.
Lady Gaga. I’ve never understood why she’s a big deal.
@Spark
I am more wow’d by viral videos of Lady GaGa impersonators than i am by her in general.
Av0–please allow me to appreciate your dude’s homebrewing skills in your stead. NOM.
emilyanne–The victim of my irrational actor-hatred is Nic Cage. GOD. LOATHE.
Other things I just recalled: GPS systems, the relentless trading in of 3-month-old tech gadgets for brand new tech gadgets, and “enhanced water” drinks. My reaction is more contemptuous than indifferent on these scores.
Twilight and all things vampire related. I don’t get it.
I tried to read my sisters vampire novel over vacation. I didn’t get through the first chapter. All the character did was whine about how she could be prettier if…. she lost weight, wore make-up etc, etc.
The same tired story that popular culture feeds young girls and women everyday. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!
My sister thinks I am a square.
Where do I begin? Haha.
The top of my list is definitely WHAT NOT TO WEAR…and make over shows in general.
All things Mac or “i” – it’s just like buying name brand clothing, which I don’t do.
Definitely with you on Twilight, I’d like to add all episodes of True Blood after the first season. We get it, vampires are sexy, Anna Paquin please put your shirt on and stop grating my ears with your awful accent.
Fuck Sex and the City and everything that comes with it – expensive shoes, “gourmet” cupcakes, the obligatory gay best friend…
I have a seething long time hatred for Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. Sorry, I hate crappy movies and people who make careers out of them.
Family Guy – I think it may be the most sexist thing on tv…hell lets just add anything that Seth MacFarland has anything to do with.
Any “reality” show that stars an asshole, obnoxious idiot, or plain old walking stereotype – off the top of my head: American Idol, Cake Boss, Hells Kitchen, Bridezillas, Jersey Shore, anything else with Jersey in the title…you get the idea.
Lady Gaga – I’m not annoyed by her, I just hate dance music. I much preferred the Glee versions of all her songs (much as I felt about Madonna and Journey).
Any tv show (except the Simpsons) that tries the tired pairing of a beautiful woman and some obese allegedly funny man – and that’s the entire premise: The Honeymooners, The Flintstones, According to Jim, King of Queens…there are many more.
Tyler Perry – I feel like his popularity is the black version of Sex and the City. Folks are so desperate for something that they are willing to accept an awful, offensive, watered down version of it.
Pretty much any book on the NYT best seller list.
I could go on and on, lol.
It’s over now, but the greatness of Lost was just lost on me (Ha!). I’ve tried to watch, but when a show needs to be aired with plot info scrolling across the bottom (even if it was just the repeats) its plot is too obtuse.
I don’t know how popular he is any more, but I won’t go to see anything with Tom Hanks in it. I think Big ruined him for me. I can tolerate him in Mazes and Monsters though. ;P
Oops, I should say I won’t see anything live action with Tom Hanks. Animated stuff doesn’t bother me as much.
VaS – you may have just made my day, until this moment I had no idea that they’d made a movie of mazes and monsters which remains my favourite crap novel by Rona Jaffe ever. (Admittedly its a small subsection but still….)
@bluebears ditto on Sleepless in Seattle.
and, [not exactly poppy, but] I really do not get the fuss about Moleskines.
Wow, I agree with literally every single thing everyone has listed except:
Wait, Wait…, Sandra Bullock, Macs, and Mad Men
I don’t think Mad Men is feminist or anything, I just like it.
More things I don’t like even a little despite many people I respect love them:
fashion blogs, Doctor Who, Mighty Boosh, and I’m probably going to be sorry for admitting this I’m sure, but — anything by Joss Whedon
I’m late to the party, but here they are:
The Outlander series (wife beating sexy? Reaaaallly?)
Twilight (read it, still don’t get it AT ALL)
Seinfeld as well (I thought I was the only one)
Flared bottom pants / bell bottoms
Any tween pop star
Brad Pitt as a sexy, sexy man. Maybe in Thelma and Louise, but not since. Eeeuuwww.
Macarooooons are great – it’s the damn macarons that suck. It’s the missing “O” – but love my coconut macaroons.
AND Not Everyone Loves Raymond either!
I hated Seinfeld too – I deal with whiny people all damn day at work. WHY would I want to watch a SHOW about more of them?
I do not find Tom Cruise or Robert Pattinson attractive (Cruise because he just seems fake, Pattinson because I think he needs a good wash. And needs to brighten up a little.). I’m with EmilyAnne on Brad Pitt too.
The Hills and The Real Housewives of Anywhere are on my list – only saw each of them once or twice but they were mind-numbingly boring. In fact the only reality shows I like are cooking ones (Come Dine With Me FTW).
I’m a little meh on House, just doesn’t draw me in.
There are probably lots of other things but I’m not terribly in touch with popular culture so I wouldn’t know what they are.
Holly, Moleskines and Rhodia notebooks! I love little booklets and notepads and stuff, but crikey, the 99-cent 3-pack works exactly the same way. (This is prompting another FFT topic…tune in next week!)
Holly and PhDork, I agree about Moleskines but I am a complete pen snob (I used to work in a stationery shop). I will splash out for decent pens, I hate the crappy Bic types.
The Real Housewives, Jersey Shore, The Hills, The City, etc.
I feel about The Office the way most people on this thread feel about Seinfeld.
Like Dork, I also don’t get the constant trading up of tech gadgets, and I particularly don’t get the iPad.
The vampire phenomenon, particularly Twilight.
I don’t get Tumblr either, not in the sense of I don’t like it; I seriously don’t understand how to decipher it, which makes me feel old and dumb.