“This Show Is Overrated!”: A Conversation That Needs Nuisance

Another popular thing is in the corner. This time it was a K-drama, Squid Game. If you happened to be in social media at that time, you might have seen all the debates centered around buzzwords like "overrated" and "overhyped". No, this is not an article to find whether Squid Game is overrated or not.

Here, we have two sets of people arguing for and against this topic. On one side we have people who loved the show and believe it deserved all the success it got, which we will call the “Let us have fun, you hater!” camp and on the other side we have people who either like or dislike it, but are flustered about all the hype. We will call this side the “This is overrated” camp. I am actually frustrated about the way conversations unfolded in both the camps.

This is not happening for the first time. Such conversations are always created whenever something gets popular among the masses. I would like to put forward some thoughts to both sides.

>> To the “this is overrated” camp:

Don’t ruin the fun

When something gets extremely popular, there is always a set of people who knowingly or unknowingly ruin the fun. For you, it might be one among the many great shows you watched, but for a lot of people, this might be their first experience. So, let them have fun. It is good to introduce other people to shows which you think are as good as the current popular show, but that should be done without making the other party feel annoyed.

You shall not randomly call something overrated just because you didn’t like it.

If a lot of people happened to like a certain thing, then there must clearly be a reason for it, whether we understand it or not. And, even if there is no reason, it is okay, as long as it is harmless. For an experiment, I searched the word ‘overrated’ on Reddit and the results were very interesting - Drake, BTS, Taylor Swift, Sex Education, Harry Potter, high school, pizza, alcohol and even Nutella were on the search results. Just search your favorite thing along with the keyword ‘overrated’ on the internet and I am sure you will find a social media post about it.

Let people enjoy popular media

Some people look down upon individuals who consume pop culture. Pop culture isn’t that bad as they make it out to be. Also, whether you like it or not, but a lot of people just want pure entertainment and nothing else.

The ‘I am not like the others’ complex

I have come across a lot of people who shun anything popular and follow only the less popular stuff just to feel intellectually superior to others. You can have dislike for anything and anyone, but hating popular things is not that cool.

Art is subjective

I am talking to myself here. Sometimes, I don’t understand why a certain song or movie got too popular. I try to listen or watch it but get no value from it. It is kind of frustrating, I admit and I just want to understand why everyone likes it. Then I realized that it is totally fine to be unable to enjoy something that everyone likes because art and experiences are subjective. And we should learn to respect everyone’s interests as long as it is harmless. Let us also learn to not judge people and their interests with our own skewed perceptions of art.

>> To the “let us have fun, you hater!” camp:

People can dislike things, they are not haters

We all are different. Our interests and tastes are different. It can be frustrating when people question our personality just because we listen to a particular artist or only follow the popular media. Apart from the ones who actually hate popular things for its own sake, those who say they did not like a certain thing are not really haters. It is just that, that particular thing is not their cup of tea and there is nothing they can do about it. Just let people be.

Our consumption history defines our artistic experience

A person who is deep into a niche interest will have a different set of expectations than a casual consumer. It is probably true when a K-drama/web-series enthusiast says there are a lot of series better than Squid Game. Also, they are probably just annoyed that the shows they found to be better than this particular one didn’t get enough attention. Just understand where they are coming from.

Some people like analyzing things to the last bit, it is not hating

Our brains are different. For a lot of people, art is just a form of fun and entertainment. For others, it is a way to interact and understand the world around them in an analytical way. And the analysis and scrutiny are fun things to do for them. That is why critical reviews and art debates exist.

>> In conclusion...

This is a never ending conversation. And, both parties have valid points. As long as people fail to see the nuisance of this debate, it will continue. We will get the same amount of social media discourses for the next popular thing as well. Let us not judge people based on their harmless interests - be it pure entertainment or hardcore analysis. Both sides can co-exist. Because, life is short and art is forever.