The Trials of Being an Elitist.

[rockyracoon01]

It's hard being an elitist. It really is. Some people may think 'oh man, it must be easy hating everything.' Let me tell you now, it's hard. I can't like the things that everyone else gets to like, and it sucks. Take Bright Eyes for example. At the Bottom of Everything, among others, are absolutely fantastic songs and they produce full and

Comments

[ex_mysolace268]

i never quite understood the distaste for the mainstream. i mean, i understand it in the superficial sense, but you hit upon the same thing i said a while back. some people hate mainstream bands but love indie bands. so theoretically if the same band kept the same style and just happend to sign themselves to a major label, people would keep loving them... but they often don't. people often say that bigger labels influence the bands to change their style, but again, that happens, but not every time. and you definitely can't judge it purely upon hearing the news of the change.

yep. people love conformity. but not too much of it. there's 2 levels of conformity - essentially conforming to all of society, and then conforming to a small group of people. nobody likes being alone, but still few people want to be the same as everyone else. so they do in the middle. that's why it's often tough being an elitest business freak, because i'll want to say "this movie is so much better than that one..." but if that were really true, the majority of people would be seeing the one i like, and the studio/filmmaker would be rich. oh well. i like to think my movies and my music are better than everyone else's tastes, but i'm consistently proven wrong by the fact that people are spending billions to see "bad" movies or artists, whereas the seemingly "good" ones are going broke. (or at least aren't popular enough to make a real dent in the world yet.)

i saw some weirdass image on a website i'm apart of. some guy posted his computer background, and it was for volcom. and it had a slogan: "youth against establishment." and i couldn't help but think, yes, volcom, sooo indie, now one of the biggest companies in their market.

i don't think anyone really has anything against being apart of something popular. i think people just want to be able to define for themselves what popular means. innovation is an instinct. people want to start something new. and everything new has to start out small, and it must be significantly different than what's currently out there in order to be considered truly new. and if it's actually a good idea, then people will join in, and eventually it will become the "establishment" that everyone seems to dread. the people in charge won't dare admit it. Volcom apparently still thinks they are new and independent. Steve Jobs still thinks he's a hippie despite being a billionaire and owning 2 giant companies. but by the nature of the world, we take things for granted that are widely available. and good ideas often become widely available because of the fact that they are indeed good. but they always start out small and idealistic.

but then there are the people who like something purely because they think it's cool. those are the ideas that do often die off quickly. like donnie darko. everyone claimed to love that movie. it was a cult. some people legitametly do, but most apparently just said so. because when they rereleased it, they expeced to get rich off it. but nobody went to see it. the movie failed... again. miserably. horribly. where was the "cult following?" it was nowhere to be seen. it's a bunch of kids trying to fit in. who don't actually believe in their ideas enough to support them.

i think you can believe in whatever you want, as long as you're willing to support it and defend it. i may not agree with you, but if you at least act as if you give a damn about your belief, support it, and know something about it, then you at least have my respect. there's true innovation, true underdog stories... and then there's the people attaching themselves to the ones that won't happen. it's all human nature... some people are just wiser than others at choosing their battles.

[rockyracoon01]

i agree.
that's all.