Totally alienated from and disinterested in popular culture

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The mass media is always trying to brainwash the masses with popular culture and other junk.
I don't watch tv unless we dl a show...
Almost all the news has an agenda.
It's screwy times to live in.

This is a really interesting topic

I don't like most music you could ever find on radio 1 (a radio channel in the UK). I didn't like it five years ago or 10 years ago. But I like it less now than ever because of the drivel that passes as music.

Best example is the song "gangnam style" .. I like to say about this song and anything you can hear on radio one - "One day I'm going to become rich and famous over night when I get around to recording a load of gibberish with a mixed techno and d&b song.. it'll go right to number 1." and yeah really I think it would because that's exactly what the charts are now. People just "keeping it real" and talking on a weird d&b track, literally most of the time. I don't think I will ever be able to view the charts as even an attempt at art, because it's mostly not much art as just finding something jazzy to sell like you would if you were selling suits for a living.

If there is art in the charts sadly I'll miss it for a long time because in the meantime I don't want to listen to something like "gangnam style" (embarrased cringe). With you on the music thing for sure. I mostly like classic rock, and I used to view this in a rebellious way like "I like it, I don't care what you think". Now I don't mind but I can see the point about "not being able to talk music is bad" and that there is some room for improvement if I find some tracks I like.

But I am open to the possibility that I don't have to ignore all popular media. I actually had this idea recently that if I go and watch a film at the cinema once a month or fortnight (on my own) and find something that I think I'll like, I may just end up with something I can talk about with most people. I'm not sure if it alienates me if I haven't seen a certain film but it would be easier if I had. An added bonus is I may get a chance to invite someone to watch with me one time.. I might not actually invite anyone but the option will be there when it wasn't before.

I think there are all kinds of ideas like this you can do. Watch the news for half an hour a day.. it's incredibly dull but it's full of the drivel most people like - celebrities and scandals and all that which they seem to obsess over. I dunno maybe not, I don't like gossipy type topics.. but maybe something else on there (a long shot I know).

I think there is one problem I can never solve. Probably others have a similar thing they just can't get around that they really really don't like:
Football. I don't like watching football. I don't want to like watching football. I don't want to pretend I like watching football. I don't want to pretend I want england to win the world cup. Nothing I can do about it except don't make "unpatriotic" jokes like "I should bet on France because theres an actual chance of them winning."

Anyway, rant over.

Last edited by savvyidentity on 17 Jul 2013, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If you live near an arthouse or 'independent' cinema, why not check the listings? You might find something you want to watch.

Well I mean that if I can just find one film that's hugely popular and I like, then well it's the masses that are more interested in that than me so that's something useful in a social situation to avoid people thinking "he live under a rock".

But that's actually not a bad idea, I do like many arty type stuff. I don't do a lot of art myself but I surprised myself a while ago by finding out I can sketch. There's a lot of stuff here like that I remember something in the paper, the fellow who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films apparently protested the closing of a theatre here. I remember it was a pretty passionate defense of the theatre.

When you say arthouse I am not sure how you mean. I think I get it (different types of art on display) but what actually is an arthouse?

Also could you define independent cinema. Do you mean people who make their own films or just anything theatre / play / acting related?

Have you tried reading brief synopses of major new releases? You may find a film that you like in that. I've seen films I like through that.



No, no, no - 'arthouse' cinema doesn't mean actual art! It means cinema that is more arty and symbolic, and less conventional than regular cinema.



"Arthouse cinema" has nothing to do with pictorial or other art - what it typically means is serious, independent film (i.e. not big-budget blockbusters) intended for a specific and much smaller audience of people. These are often foreign films, although not always. They are often meant to convey deep meaning, and are often highly complex and symbolic in nature.



It basically means films that are professionally produced but are outside the main film studio system - hence, it's 'independent'. The budget and actual production values often vary due to the amount of money the independent producers of a film have.

If you look at, for example, the cinema listings of Manchester's Cornerhouse Cinema (here), you may get a good idea of what I am on about.

Ah thanks for the info, there probably is something as it's very mixed culture here. I'll have a look about and see if theres something interesting

I almost never listen to music and don't really know current music. The last movie I saw in a theater was Saw 3D in 2010. I don't have cable so I don't really watch any tv except for dvds.

Hate pop culture. It breaks every law of niceness, by praising drugs, sex, and evil.

They even teach people to forget how to sing. They only need to use a machine to hide that fact.

The last movie I saw in a theater was the 25th anniversary re-release of Lawrence of Arabia in 1988.

No cable. Just an antenna to watch the Red Green Show on Saturday night, but it was moved to Wednesday when I'm not home a month or so ago after 20 years being on at 10pm Saturday.

II have DVD's of old cartoons and TV shows like the Honeymooners, Eisenbahn Romantik and Schmidteinander. If I want to be especially annoying, I put on the Heino Show or the ZDF Schlagerparty.

What annoys me is that people think I'm being pretentious and acting like I'm more clever than them because I don't like mainstream stuff everyone else likes. I'm not saying I'm better or more clever as some ego trip. I'm not saying I don't like it because it's popular, I'm saying that I don't like it because I genuinely don't like it. And they don't understand because they genuinely do like it.

This makes me feel very alone. Either I have to pretend to enjoy things I don't like so that I can have some company, but this makes me sad because I am living a lie or I can just get on with liking what I like and be alone. It's catch 22.

I only have 1 friend that likes similar things to me and we live far away from each other which is a pain.