discussions with people who see themselves as having finer taste.
Big production superhero movies make millions, but are worth an eyeroll to a seasoned veteran of high culture cinema. This is not without some good reason though, since many movies such as these legitimately have little integrity can easily be seen as profit-oriented projects (because they are). That is where film goes back to its roots of entertainment, which puts a bad taste in the mouths of those that believe film should always be treated as an art form. There is this idea that the more obscure the better for a two main reasons: 1) it wasn’t made for monetary purposes 2) the limited conception of a piece makes it seem like a hidden gem. The exclusion of both materialistic greed and of the popular majority inspires an air of pureness and hierarchy, a feeling that euphorically tickles the fancy of the viewer.
The same goes for the judgement of bands/artists.
Seemingly enough the value of a band goes down as the size of the fan base goes up. This is because a rise in popularity seems to be attributed to “selling out” or a decrease in the music’s quality in order to be more accessible. Though this can be the case, these concepts can also be slapped onto the event of the increasing success of a band just because it upsets the original fans since they are no longer much different than everybody else. The taking away of what one considers an aspect of their distinctive identity through homogenization causes outrage, since it was a small piece of their precious individualism. This is the “they were good before they were popular” phenomenon. I hear such expressions all too often in my everyday life, being a part of these communities
myself.
However, I can’t act like my record is clean in being a bit of a snob every now and then. I roll my eyes when people tell me they don’t watch “old movies” referring to the 90s. My inner core cringes at the repeated melodical algorithm that makes up almost every empty worded pop song. I may be uppity, but at least I’m aware of it.