I'll mention something different for my own contribution than my usual:

I've always hated Seinfeld, including when his show was brand new. "It's a show about nothing!" was a thought terminating cliche in the 90s that was used to pitch the show at me again and again by its fans, and also to dismiss any and all problems I had with the show and its ultra-privileged smarmy main character. If I got anything valuable out of that show and for that matter his stand up routine, it was a lifelong allergy to New Yorker comedy that front loads a whole lot of "I am a New Yorker which means I am smarter and tougher and wiser and more cultured and more sophisticated yet more grounded than you" self-aggrandizement into the set. :nyet:

EDIT: Please post your own disliked Hexbear-approved popular things! Don’t just reply to mine! :rage-cry:

  • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I disliked squid game, every one goes on about how anti capitalist it was but it wasn't anything special. I watched a movie a month before squid game came out that had a guy volunteering to be hunted by rich people because he had cancer and didn't want to leave his family massive medical debt. I've seen quite a few shows/movies with that idea. As for the battle royal setting that's been done better by other shows too.

    The only special about squid game was it came out when a lot of people were stuck at home and acutely aware of how fucked up the system they were living in is.

    • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It belongs in the very tolerated and accepted genre of anticapitalist media that just end up portraying the general bad feelings and shittiness of capitalism without a real conclusion of what is to be done, combined with the story just ending up being a drama between individuals rather than dealing with structures and organizations.

      Its well done for what it is but its also bourgeoise-friendly, just like how Parasite had a bunch of rich people praising it, they dont really miss the point because there isnt that much of a greater point beyond "wow our world and system sure is shitty huh", which is a sentiment you could hear from fucking Churchill in that old dogshit quote about how "Capitalism and democracy are the worst systems ever except for all the rest" or however it goes.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I thought Squid Game was fine, but I'm with you in that I really didn't think it lived up to the hype. Maybe season 2 will be more explicitly revolutionary, but with South Korea's laws probably not.