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What pop culture loves are you embarrassed by?
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What pop culture loves are you embarrassed by?
I went down the shore this weekend, which I really see as an excuse to read for an inordinate amount of time while I bake in the sun. It was, of course, glorious (as the Jersey shore always is) but I finished my book (Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad — I thought it was OK, not great. Rodney Anonymous agreed with me in last week's Book Quarterly) earlier than expected and was in need of new reading material so I hopped into the Atlantic Books to pick up something else. My purchase? Club Dead, the third in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, aka the inspiration behind HBO's True Blood. I've talked about my unabashed love of the Harris' series before — strong female lead, the mixture of dimestore genres sans the purple prose — but I've also discussed how I'm embarrassed by my choice of literature. As enjoyable as her books are, Harris is a pretty terrible writer, her characters (other than Sookie) are thin, her mysteries are basic and certain scenes are straight-up softcore. Even after I bought Club Dead and the next book in the series, Dead to the World, I spent the next 20 or so minutes justifying my love of this comparatively trashy fiction to my beach companions who didn't get why I needed to spend so much time reassuring them that I also read smart people books.
After that last sentence, you may be thinking that I'm some pretentious twat who only deals in the height of pop culture elitism, but I'm really not. I live for television of the ridiculous — I'll defend Cougartown to the death and I'm currently engrossed in ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars and Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva. I abhor close-minded music snobbery and, while I have the education to back myself up in a hardcore discussion of film, I can honestly say I'd rather watch a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie than some highbrow piece of cinema (clearly).
So why do I fold the cover over every time I read one of Sookie's stories in public, even though I insist on dropping my hard-earned cash on them? My gut says that I just think of books as high culture, while a medium like TV basks in low culturalism. Television was created as low culture, so it's alright that I have a standing date to watch Gossip Girl every Monday. Same goes for movies: Blockbusters have just as much currency as arthouse fare because of their sheer popularity, and if you haven't have gotten down to whatever is the song-of-the-moment on Q102, then you need to quit lying to yourself and admit that you too love Drake. (For the record, I'm halfway through Club Dead and it's my fave of the series so far.)
But I pose the question to you, dear Crit Mass readers: What piece of pop culture are you embarrassed that you love? What movies do you mumble are "for a friend" when you hit the video store counter? What pieces of music do you wish weren't on your iPod? Let's talk about 'em in the comments.
(Also, if you wanna talk Sookie, I'm down for that too!)
Billy Zane movies and Isaac Mizrahi Live on QVC!!!
coldplay. there, i said it.
I guess by these standards I should be embarrassed about everything I watch, but I'm really not. I was the biggest 98 Degrees fan there was for about 4 years of my life, and once I owned up to that later in life I pretty much stopped being embarrassed about things I like (I have since moved past boybands and have excellent taste in music, if I may say so myself). I will pretty much love anything the CW (yes, I like the Vampire Diaries) or ABC Family airs (except you, secret life of the american teenager). I know most of what I watch is trash and I'm totally okay with that. If you enjoy it, then why be embarrassed? Pretty Little Liars is a sweet fucking show.
vampires generally: trueblood, twilight also chick rock like the runaways. three power chords and a bad attitude is all it takes to get me on board. and boyband nostalgia from 5th grade i cant shake like hanson (they play their own god damn instruments and write their own songs get off my back!)
smallville and shia le beauf
See! This is totally my point: I would never think to be embarrassed by a love of the Runaways, but Cristina is. Cristina, if I promise to show everyone on the bus that I'm reading Club Dead, you have to shout all the lyrics out to "Cherry Bomb" next time you hear it.
I love the Sookie series and I read the most ridiculous things. I read Harry Potter (which is NOT ridiculous) and I even read the Percy Jackson series... I refuse to be embarrassed by what I like to read. Its about the writing for me. I get made fun of, sure, but who cares. At least I have a healthy hobby. Same goes for movies & music. You can't help what you like... why be ashamed?
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