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:

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The very concept of "isekai" has been hollowed out, where it used to mean anything from The Neverending Story to The Vision of Escaflowne but now there's a cultural expectation even in the narratives of most isekai that "well, now that I'm in an isekai, where are the waifus and how is my mediocrity as a horny audience insert going to be turned into a superpower to get them to fawn and fight over me?" :disgost:

    Any talk of how "empowering" it is when the half angel half vampire, dubiously aged but totally centuries old, maid/schoolgirl/healer gets world shattering powers when she "fights for senpai" rings laughably hollow for me.

    I believe such ideology in entertainment does have a gradual and subtle detrimental effect on its consumers, no matter how treats defenders hate criticism of the treats and how much flak I get for criticism.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        just look at how porn fucks people up mentally

        That's a can of worms right there to talk about, even on Hexbear, but I don't think you're wrong, especially when the hedonic treadmill gets involved and porn-saturated people start needing bigger hits for the same effect. The contemporary behavioral fad of "choke-fucking" didn't come out of the aether (no matter what the "my entertainment has no effect on me" crowd may insist) and it's genuinely disturbing to know women in my own social circles that have experienced alienated violent dates trying to live out their entertainment with that, or spitting in the mouth, or similar misogyny-coded kinks established and normalized by contemporary porn.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I've long used the "baked potatoes and ice cream" metaphor. It's possible to like baked potatoes and to like ice cream but not want baked potato flavored ice cream.

            :volcel-judge: posting aside, I'm not anti-sex or sexuality in storytelling, far from it, but I do roll my eyes at 90% of movie trailers that have to have the mandatory "1 second of hot sexy sex thrust against the wall, between psychologically researched committee designed sequences of thumping sounds and screeching sounds, before the title bwaaaaaams onto the screen" arrangement for maximum engagement.

            The term I've seen used for the kind of people you mentioned are fuccbois, and that term amuses me so I use it sometimes.