This topic came to my mind when I was at work and I was thinking about a movie trio that I'd rather watch than a single episode of any reality show, the first thing I could think of being a movie marathon of A Serbian Film, Salo, and Men Behind The Sun. I'm sure I could come up with a lot more disturbing trio of movies that go together nicely (maybe I'd put Gross Out in there) but all it meant was that I would rather watch some of the worst movies that are only meant to gross out and disturb people beyond comprehension before I watch a reality show willingly. I was also trying to make a joke about it as Penn Jillette was one of the people in the show I was really complaining about (Celebrity Wife Swap...... just why?) and one of the quotes he made in the beginning of the show was that he only lets his kids do things that are intellectually stimulating and my quip was that "And when they misbehave, we do stuff like being on Celebrity Wife Swap. Works better than any other form of punishment," I also came up with a ridiculous idea of a found footage parody influenced by the John Travolta film Phenomenon but that's for another time. Yet I kept thinking about the topic about my disdain for reality shows for quite a long time, even during my blood donation but at least it subsided until I got home after and finally gave the Nostalgia Critic's Top 11 Trailers video. I enjoyed his list, and his reasoning behind his choices was well thought out, yet I was kind of pissed off on how he mentioned watchmojo.com and it's top 10 trailers list, as I do not really like the site all that much, since their lists usually contain the usual suspects and the reasoning behind the choice seemed really half-assed at times, even when the picks are some I agree with mainly due to the reasons and their placement on the list.
So back to the Nostalgia Critic, since I was watching the video on YouTube, I read some of the comments and saw that someone mentioned that watchmojo put Gravity Falls in the top 10 most hated Disney cartoons, which is perhaps one of the most surprising things I had heard and I thought it was a joke until I actually watch the video and saw that it was on there (at number 7, which did kind of diminish the blow but still). It was so pissed off at this choice that I didn't bother finishing the video because I don't understand why Gravity Falls is even a choice in that, as in my opinion and probably many others, it is easily one of the best kid's shows that is on television now and maybe the best Disney animated show. This also was an example of half assed reasoning as well, since they only gave a sentence to explain what they thought was wrong with it and those were that the show was dark, stereotypical, and inappropriate for kids. Now I can understand why people can dislike the show, as it probably isn't for everyone but that reasoning is perhaps one of the worst reasons for hating something I have heard in quite a while. A easy contraction I could make for the argument of that the show is too dark is paraphrasing Don Bluth, as part of his philosophy with his movies was it doesn't matter how dark a story is; if it has a happy ending, kids will be able to take it. And since I'm sure a lot of people have seen at least one of his movies, mainly the ones in the '80s like Secret of NIMH and Land Before Time, they could attest to that Bluth was kind of correct in his assumptions, although it could also depend on the maturity level of the children and how they are able to process some of the more dark moments.
Now here comes part of the my topic and why I am kind of a hypocrite in regards to this, and even though I dislike most of the opinions on the site and there are other people's opinions I disagree with (the whole reality show argument this started with), I can't really force someone not to like a show they want to watch no matter how much I dislike it myself. Some goes with movies and the like, as there are always going to be people that are in the minority regarding opinions, such as when someone says they really did not enjoy the movie that got all of this praise and accolades and vice versa. The easiest example I could give is my enjoyment of Friday the 13th Part 5, as a lot of people do see the movie as being one of the worst in the franchise, yet I enjoy it. Although not really so much for the horror aspect of it, as more of the fact that the movie is really unintentionally hilarious, where is plays kind of like the least self aware parody of itself, almost the opposite of Part 6 which in itself is rather self aware and makes fun of itself on many occasions. Part 5 is almost the equivalent of The Room in where it's humor comes from, yet it never reaches that Tommy Wiseau level of incompetence, yet how many movies actually do? If I had to pick some of the more hilarious moments from the movie, it has to come from the hick mother and son combo of Ethel and Junior and those performances are kind of something else, where it almost feels like they were meant to be in a comedy or something.
Yet before I forget about it, part of the issue with the system of Watch Mojo I have a problem with is that a lot of the top 10 content looks user generated, and the lists come from user suggestions, which while it does at least mean that some of the more lesser known things could get mentioned, the way it works doesn't always make it that way, as those kinds of suggestions could always be made towards the end of the voting process, meaning that they never had a chance to go against the mainstream picks. And yet, it also does show how the majority thinks for the time which I guess is fine and if the top 10 lists feel as if they are perfect choice, then I can disagree all I want but also know that my opinion isn't the same as everyone else's. It feels as if I never really talked all that much about the headline of this post, but to be honest it should really be a given. Part of the problem is that we often just expose ourselves to things that we know we'll like and sometimes, just act all snobby about it whenever we are introduced to something out of our comfort zone and hate it almost immediately without giving it a chance. Expectations also play a big part in it as well, as we can hold things in such high regard that it is difficult to watch something without holding it to that standard as well. Now some movies seem to just pander to a specific audience and those are the movies and shows that are kind of hard to pinpoint as to why one may like or dislike it, yet others are much easier such as mainstream blockbusters for example. I can respect one's opinion regarding their dislike for a movie or show I love if the reasons behind that disdain seem legitimate as it makes it easier to understand how someone's own views on genres compared to your own. So I guess all I can say is that have your own opinion and just follow your own thoughts and not anyone else's just because it is the mainstream thing, but also take in those other opinions to see not only how they differ but also try and tune your own so that you can understand your own views better.
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