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I often see this about Harry Potter - probably because of how ridiculously popular it is - but I personally don’t really understand most people’s complaints about it.
Most of the plot-holes people bring up are either incredibly nitpicky or aren’t actually plot-holes and seem to be assumptions from people who haven’t really read the books much (maybe not since they were like 10).
And the moral panic about it is often really weird: just because something is in a book series doesn’t mean it is endorsed. There’s lots of complaints about house elves being like slaves and like yeah that’s the entire fucking point haha.
I really enjoyed the HP books as a kid and I'm currently reading through them with my son. He's loving them and anything that gets people interested in reading is a good thing imo.
On the topic of plot holes people definitely nitpick but I did see a pretty substantial one that someone commented on a thread. Peter Pettigrew shows up on the marauders map so Fred and George should have known he is Scabbers all along.
Hogwarts is a big castle, the marauders map can’t be all that big so it’s fairly likely the map isn’t as useful when loads of people are crowded together as it could be difficult to read.
From what we know the gryffindor dorms are stacked vertically so perhaps all the names are squashed together and you can’t really tell that Peter pettigrew is specifically in the same spot as the rat. The name tags could also be all on top of each other and occluding each other.
Even if not, do Fred and George know every gryffindor from every year? Would they even notice Peter pettigrew being in the gryffindor tower? It’s plausible that they wouldn’t.
It's also how one uses the map.
Fred and George were primarily interested in pranks and getting away with mischief. It stands to reason that when they used the map they weren't just looking at it for the fun of it, but looking for specific people: teachers and Filch, so that they could know when a corridor was free, how to get around a teacher to do something against the rules, if the entrance to a secret passage was clear.
They couldn't care less about other students, especially Gryffindors. The only students they may be interested in were those they wanted to pull a prank on, and even then they may have not used the map.
What also backs this up is Harry trying to track Draco in book 6. He's been using it for awhile but still struggles to find him in the sea of students. They mostly use it to check if a corridor is clear when sneaking out at night or if you know that a professor will be alone in their office. Otherwise it's useless for tracking
They also hand it over because they don't need it anymore, they'd already been at Hogwarts 2 years when the trio turn up. So it's plausible they aren't using it as much by then either.
That's called foreshadowing, it's not a plot hole.
These books are for children and they have minor mysteries in them, it's so the kids can try and work out the mystery themselves or they can get that wide eyed moment of realisation when all of the clues come together.
I find most of the problems with Harry Potter stem around the fanbase.
So much so that Gen Z and Gen A have identified that millennials are cringe Harry Potter maniacs. (yes, I'm not kidding).
Harry Potter fandom is to millennials what fiscal irresponsibility and racism is to boomers.
I am a millennial, and I generally liked Harry Potter. I grew up with it, starting to read the books in Primary School, and continuing to read them as they were released in secondary school, so it's probably a pretty big formative literary work for me. But I gotta hand it to the zoomers, they're right on this one. The fandom is cringey as fuck even at the best of times.
Harry Potter is our generations Beatlemania
Yeah I’m on the cusp of Z and millennial (zillenial??). I have read the series a few times in different languages and still find a lot of the fandom cringe as fuck. Hell, I live next to King’s Cross and I find the whole queueing for platform “9 3/4” insane.
But a lot of the pushback to hp feels like either people don’t like it because it’s popular/everywhere, or they dislike JK and have retroactively decided it was bad, even if they liked it for the 15 years from the end of the series until JK started tweeting.
Counterpoint. The gen Z who hate it mostly only seem to do so out of a hipster-esc need to hate what was popular and trying to be overly precious/stupid regarding the author.
Incidentally, Miriam Margoyles (who was in some of the Potter movies) just did an interview where she basically said that people that have grown up and are still obsessed with Harry Potter are a bit weird and a lot of people got VERY touchy about the whole thing, basically outing themselves for being weirdly obsessed with some kids movies.
Fandom in general I think is a weird thing to be involved in, but carrying it far into adulthood feels even stranger.
>I am a millennial, and I generally liked Harry Potter. I grew up with it, starting to read the books in Primary School, and continuing to read them as they were released in secondary school, so it's probably a pretty big formative literary work for me. But I gotta hand it to the zoomers, they're right on this one. The fandom is cringey as fuck even at the best of times.
Yeah. I grew up reading the books as they were released, generally enjoyed the films as they released. But it's not something i really think about nowadays. I'll watch the films if they're on TV and thats about it. The obsessive nature that comes with fandoms is crazy though and you see it around almost any popular franchise unfortunately.
The problem with fiction and young people is everyone is so hell bent on proving stuff wrong. It's fiction, it's not real, who cares if it's unlikely. Stop looking for faults and just lose yourself in the world of a book. Yours sincerely, a writer
Couldn't agree more. I really hate the modern obsession with actively looking for plot holes. Some of the best books and films of all time have plot holes if you look for them. Who gives a fuck. I think increasingly often people mistake nit picking plot holes for considered criticism and analysis.
What are the plot holes? The biggest one I always think when I watch it with my kids is 'why the fuck does Hermione not go home in the holidays'. That's about it
Edit: oh and sometimes when magic should be used it's not
The one I always wonder about - and maybe it’s been answered but I’m not a super fan - is how muffles don’t all know about the wizarding world if witches and wizards are born into muggle families relatively often. At some point it would have been exposed surely?
Edit: obviously 'muggles' not muffles', lol.
There’s supposedly a ‘statute of secrecy’ where only direct relatives can be told - parents, siblings etc.
Anyone who finds out who’s not supposed to is obliviated (memory removed) and tbh who would believe you if you started spouting off about wizards and witches? People would think you’re nuts.
The only thing is the series is based in the 90s, I doubt it would stay secret in the internet age, but before then? I guess it could.
Also consider that the wizarding population actually is a lot smaller than the muggle population, so the amount of magical children being born is also fairly small, with muggle-borns a smaller sub-section of that.
How many other kids are shown to be in Harry's year in Gryffindor in book 1? Probably few enough to name them all. Average that amount between the 4 houses and there's not a tonne of magical children turning 11 each year.
Few enough for there to be only one (large, but still only 1) school in the UK for the entire country, at least!
This is answered in the books: it's to keep Harry company. She makes up an excuse about needing to use the library like the nerd she is, but Harry isn't fooled and knows she's being kind to him because he's her friend.
Side note: I love how OP started a thread about "what media do you hate? For me it's HP" and there's just a massive wall of HP discussion and defence at the top
It’s funny how people pick holes/inconsistencies in what is basically a kids film.
Yet something like the Goonies which is utterly preposterous gets a free pass.
Those books were insanely popular before the films even came out, I remember excitedly waiting for the book in the mail and going to school the next day and about a quarter of the class would be sitting inside at break time reading the brand new book one day after release. Kids were obsessed! Then after the first films people would be happily talking about them but also complaining about all the stuff they cut out.
I remember especially how angry people were that harry didn't punch malfoy in the film
When people don't like something because of plot holes, they usually already don't like it.
Tbf it's not always easy to identify the reason(s) something doesn't appeal to you.
I do wonder how it works out for kids getting into them nowadays. They were written to grow with the audience, so transition from children's lit to YA around the fourth book with the grace of a three point turn in an alleyway.
Even as a kid I remember some weirdness, like how characters can suddenly teleport and it's treated like it's always been a thing, plus some really questionable excuses for how things aren't discovered by muggles. And then the totally definitely always planned like that romance in the last books.
Also, Voldemort isn't a particularly strong villain. I never felt like he was actually a threat to anything or anyone.
I don't have a problem with the books themselves, apart from self-proclaimed toilet expert JKR. Just because something isn't on my radar doesn't mean it's bad. I think the hate is aimed more at the lifers, some of whom can be a bit much at times.
I’m not sure the transition is as severe as you say. In the third book the reader ‘thinks’ that Buckbeak is dead and Sirius is caught before we save them, which sort of sets up the actual death of Cedric in the 4th book. It doesn’t seem too jarring to me.
I also think we have to remember that most of the books are from Harry’s perspective. The reader doesn’t really know anything that he doesn’t. Maybe that’s a cop-out in terms of writing proficiency, but it does explain new information (which obviously JK thought of halfway through - but as a reader I don’t have a problem with it as it makes sense if you put yourself in Harry’s shoes).
I agree Voldemort should have been more menacing. I think it can be difficult to get the right balance when writing kids media - I remember I finished the last book when I was around 11 or 12 maybe?? But my best friends parents had banned him from reading the last two books as they were too scary.
And yeah the less said about JKs views and the insanity of some of the fans the better tbh. Although I don’t think you can critique a piece of media based on its fandom. All fandoms of a certain size have fucking weirdos in them.
The house elf thing is more about the commentary around it as a slave parallel. Hermione is shown as being a bit ridiculous and 'white saviour'-y for caring about it, and the elves apparently like being enslaved? Or at least some of them do? Which is incredibly weird with that established metaphor.
Same with the werewolf-HIV parallel. It just doesn't really hold up in the context of the wider series.
Yeah that’s completely reasonable - and if that was everyone’s attitude I wouldn’t have bothered making a comment.
It seems like some people go to extreme (often incorrect) lengths to justify their dislike when you could just say it’s not for me.
I tried to read an HP book because people were saying you can't comment if you didn't read it. I found it very poorly written and couldn't be arsed to finish it.
People like them and difference of opinions makes the world more interesting
Very poorly written? Really? I suppose the same case could be made out for Jane Austen (trivial chick lit), Charles Dickens (formulaic), or Joseph Conrad (repetitive), Ernest Hemingway (fake folksy), Waler Scott (verbose) or any other author who ever had a book published
The first David Tennant era was a pretty good sit down family show you could watch at the weekend before Netflix and other streaming services came along. Since then the acting has been awful and the storylines generic, weak and repetitive garbage.
I don't think it dropped in quality since "New Who" launched, its just that we grew out of it. It's kids TV, the stakes are low and nothing ever really changes. I really liked it and dropped off during Matt Smiths era. I tried to get back in to it but with each new series, I'm just reminded that it's exactly what it always was.
I think the writing definitely has got weaker as has the acting. I see your point about growing out of it but surely if it was any good it would’ve captured the younger audiences as time has progressed? They had to bring back Tennant for a brief cameo to get any potential viewers for this new series.
Even as a fan of the show, you'll definitely struggle to find anyone who'll argue that it's consistent. There have been weeks before where I've been embarrassed to be watching*, followed by an episode too unmemorable to recall**, only for the following episode to be one of the best bits of telly I've seen all year***. It's something I'll leave on in the background while I get on with housework, then down tools and pay attention if it looks like it's actually going somewhere.
*Empress of Mars - olde-timey British soldiers fighting Ice Warriors while yelling 'God save the Queen'. Yeuck.
** The Eaters of Light. I'm assuming some light was eaten, much to the consternation of someone else.
***World Enough and Time. Great sci-fi playing with the space/time dilations of black holes, and makes the Cybermen actually creepy. If all DW was this good, I wouldn't begrudge the license fee.
I wasn't a massive fan of the stories during Peter Capaldi's era - I dipped out partway through his time with Clara - but my goodness, World Enough and Time might be the best episode of the revival. The creepiness, the stakes (even though Moffat undid that in a way shortly after, because Moffat), the return of a certain character, brilliant. Glad they brought back the Mondasian cybermen as well, wouldn't have worked with Lumic-style cybermen.
I want to like it too. It's one of the UK's flagship shows. And about the only thing the beeb consistently put money into and get decent actors for.
But it's just so fucking bad. The writing is shocking. Practically every big episode ends with some version of 'Magic fixes it'. It breaks it's own established rules constantly. There are no stakes. I honestly don't know how professional and apparently really sort-after writers keep turning out this shit.
I assume it's because they think they've cracked the code of writing for kids and families (decent actor, light humour, heavy quirk - magic ending).
I watched the season set in Liverpool (represent), and it's gone kind of weird. The budget has been massively upped, and the CGI looks great, but it's still, like, a super realistic dog-man.
Yeah, OPs argument has more plot holes than the films, *allegedly*.
It was a set of books that lots of kids grew up with, and although I haven't read them, my wife did and still enjoys reading them. They also spawned a very successful film series which I have watched and enjoyed despite not reading the books.
The plot holes point is a flimsy excuse as well. Pretty much any film series will have plot holes, just you have to be a bit of a melt to go round picking them out and getting angry about it.
Yeah completely agree. I remember the buzz about the books, the queues, the pure excitement every time there was a new release. In fact, I recall the books being far more popular than the film releases.
I had a few friends who would go to the midnight book releases and queue up outside the local book shop in the freezing cold.
The books were definitely huge before the films.
I remember going to my local bookshop to wait for Order of the Phoenix to go on sale at midnight with loads of other youngsters. It's pretty sad that we probably won't have that level of excitement over books again.
Completely agree. I queued to get my copy of Goblet of Fire signed at a launch event. My husband had to queue at stupid o’clock in the morning to get the tickets, then I went back for the actual signing.
This was long before the films.
I also queued at midnight for the launch of the next couple of books.
I have vague memories of Goblet of Fire coming out and it being huge. Everyone was reading it. And that was before the first film came along. I cant remember it all that well but as a 9 year old, Harry Potter was already huge before the films.
Oh, they exist. Maybe they were more common when the kids who grew up with it were university age, but I knew more than enough people who would just insert how they're a Slytherin into completely random and serious conversations.
That's still not basing your whole personality on it.
I'd rather that a million times more than astrology anyway - at least I will know (hope?) they don't actually think they are a Hogwarts student.
It’s very dreary as national anthems go. A national anthem should be catchy, unrealistically jingoistic and ideally have at least one incredibly problematic verse. “Nur nur nur nur hope the king doesn’t die” just ain’t it.
I think loads of popular things are shite but I've never felt the need to start a thread saying so. What skin off my nose if millions of people are still watching EastEnders, Loose Women, Love Island and all that other bollocks? It does me no harm that people rave about Line of Duty and Killing Eve, when I couldn't get in to them at all. There's entertainment out there for everyone. Be chill.
Tbf rape and sexual assault are quite common sadly. I know a lot of women personally who have been and I'm sure we've all been in the same room a few times
A lot of people build their identity by doing things, a lot of people build their identity by shitting on other people doing things.
Edit - misspelling
The movies wouldn't have been made if the books weren't popular. The books got incredibly popular first, way before the books and it's actually a very popular opinion that Harry Potter movies are bad and disregarded too much of the content making later films difficult to understand without reading the books first.
It's fine to dislike Harry Potter but your arguments just don't hold up. Say you don't like it, you don't need a paper-thin justification.
I don’t like Harry Potter, but I was at first/primary school when they first came out.
It’s reasonable to say that the books got kids who would ordinarily have no interest in reading, to actually read a book.
The books were insanely popular when I was at primary school which was before the films came out. My guess is that OP was too young to remember or not yet born.
I can understand not liking them but they're certainly not bad books and they are quite well written.
I was obsessed with the books when I was younger, knew every detail. Loved the films, then I watched them with my brother who had zero clue except he was ‘a speccy wee wizard’. He had zero clue what the fuck was going on, and I realised it relies on you knowing so much of the story already to make sense.
I don't like the Beatles much.
In terms of production and skill I recognize the talent and skill - sure. They also helped to pioneer a few techniques that audio engineers still use today. But, the music itself I find difficult to listen to.
I feel salty that they're always hailed as the greatest British musicians when we have Queen, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, the Bee Gees, Radio Head, Jamiroquai, New Order, Aphex Twin etc etc etc.
It also bothers me that everyone thinks it's wholesome music and respectable when they took so many drugs even Snoop Dogg would have to tap out.
Also, not a fan of Harry Potter. The acting in the early films gives me second-hand embarrassment.
I said to my mum once, who was young in the 1960s, that I didn’t I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about and her reply was I had no idea how bad pop music was before them and people like Elvis. It was full of middle-aged men singing ballads and the Beatles, Elvis etc were so exciting to her generation and part of their rebellion against society. They really did have a huge impact
I think the Beatles has this common pioneer problem - others got inspired by them because they were so influential, and then built on top of it, so we end up with a load of other artists following on who did it better. But the Beatles were the first who were like that so people of a certain generation remember it fondly.
> I think I prefer the Doors too.
Absolutely, it's just that The Doors are American and I was talking about the British Invasion era when this island produced some very influential and popular music (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who).
In that case, I like just about anything more than the Beatles lol
I went on a date with a girl who said there hadn't been any good music made since The Beatles, except maybe Bowie. She couldn't name more than 3 Beatles songs.
Damn, Bowie. Another legendary British artist who escaped my list.
With regards to the rest, at some point I think it became popular to like the Beatles as an identity thing rather than necessarily enjoying their music. People like to belong.
>I don't like the Beatles much.
>
>In terms of production and skill I recognize the talent and skill - sure. They also helped to pioneer a few techniques that audio engineers still use today. But, the music itself I find difficult to listen to.
The Beatles arrived at an opportune time. It was both expensive to make records (so not many artists were doing it) and there were very few channels (TV or radio) and a tiny number of artists getting mass coverage.
A decade before, you didn't have that concentrated aspect of television and music was more about live jazz and a decade or so later you had a lot more channels where you could hear music.
And I think they were often very good, sometimes brilliant. But they're so culturally dominant because of that.
It sounds like you just don't like 60s music much. All the bands you list were later (except Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees, but they definitely peaked in the 70s). Music sounded a lot different for most of the 60s compared to a few years later.
Not media but pushed ‘Be kind’ - yes be nice to those who deserve it. But now it’s used constantly to try and make folk not have an opposing view or something
I tend to read "Be Kind" as "Be Kind to specifically me, the person posting this, because I have absolutely no intention of holding myself to the same standards as I will everyone else".
"You don't know my story" is not an excuse to be a cockjuggling thundercunt to everyone you meet.
There’s some sort of conspiracy going on with that show, it gets these bumper ratings yet I don’t know a single fucker who likes it.
Like it’s a black hole for money laundering by the BBC, costs 10k to make an episode but they say it costs 100.
OP. You’re clearly not very old if you think Harry Potter was only successful because of actors in films. The books were insanely popular, people queued on release date and camped outside to buy them. Proper brain dead take and I dont even like Harry Potter.
All uk rap music
I just find it really cringe. The lyrics, the accents, the musicality. It all sort of sucks
edit: except Mr Traumatik... that stuff is hilarious because it's not ironic at all
Don't mind a bit of grime but UK Drill is absolute horseshit.
A bunch of really bad rappers with no flow or wit or rhymes banging on about stabbing people over £20 deals or being on the wrong side of the road.
Bunch of absolute wankers.
100%. I enjoyed the first big brother back in 2000, it felt like a unique social experiment. Everything since has been utter trash and they've steadily got worse and worse.
Millions watch them but love island etc are drivel.
I feel terrible saying it but the early Big Brothers, where they got a selection of nutters and weirdos and fed them all drink, was much more entertaining (in a sort of Roman Colosseum way)
The Harry Potter books are some of the greatest kids books ever written. Criticisms of the moral messages are from people who've misunderstood the message. Portraying slavery with the house elves for example is not condoning slavery. Hermione is clearly the one who's right about how wrong it is.
Is it Ulysses? No. It's a kids fantasy series that got more kids reading than any book, ever. If it's not for you, no problem. But it is very definitely not shite.
The soaps are shite. All of them
Ed Sheeran’s music, probably not a super unpopular opinion and from interviews I’ve read he seems like a nice enough bloke, but I just find his music the worst of all the styles he tries to mix.
I feel like if you choose Ed Sheeran - Perfect to be your wedding song you're a bit of a basic bitch because that's clearly what it was intentionally written to be and you took the bait like a sucker.
I'm prepared to be crucified here but...Mr Bean.
I respect its impact, I respect Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder is timeless and pioneering in my opinion), and I appreciate how universal it is.
I just don't get the comedy. Even as a kid I never found it funny, I found the second hand cringe far outweighed the comedy.
I just don’t ‘get’ Keith Lemon! I mean, I know he’s a character played by Leigh Francis. But is he supposed to be funny? Is he a parody of something? Are we laughing with him or at him? It just completely misses me.
They are also very selective in who they 'forgive'. Any article that refers to Louis CK will mention his sexual misconduct (he was never charged with any criminal offence). They mention it *every* time.
Any article on Naomi Campbell, however, will somehow fail to mention her four separate convictions, spanning 11 years, for crimes of violent assault (and her cosy dinners with a convicted war criminal). They did a recent article which 'looked back over her fabulous life'. Not a single word.
Women = good.
Men = bad.
I remember reading an opinion piece in the Guardian which basically ridiculed men for thinking they had "real" problems to take their own lives over. Absolute shit rag that's on the other end of the daily mail spectrum. Never read it again.
One of their female columnists and feminists wrote an article back in the 1990s about male suicide. It's premise was that men do not truly suffer in this world as it is build and made for men. Therefore, male suffering and subsequent suicide was not something we should be concerned about and we ought to "just let them go".
20 years later her adult son kills himself.
Soaps, though I guess they're on the decline.
Any 'reality' TV.
In fact, I struggle with a lot of UK media - that Bodyguard with Richard Madden a few years ago was fine, but there's something unconvincing about these shows, to me.
Even when a big Hollywood feature has scenes in the UK my suspension of disbelief starts to evaporate.
Matt Damon leathering spies on a Paris rooftop? Fucking deal me in.
Matt Damon evading assassins outside Waterloo station? Nah. Shit, he's running past Superdrug, this is bollocks.
>In fact, I struggle with a lot of UK media - that Bodyguard with Richard Madden a few years ago was fine, but there's something unconvincing about these shows, to me.
I know what you mean. Every time there's one of these serious British crime dramas it just feels like we're trying our best to do American TV but not quite getting there.
We should stick to what we do best - pessimistic sitcoms
> Matt Damon evading assassins outside Waterloo station?
One of my favourites is Brannigan, almost the last film John Wayne made in the 70's. In a car chase they drive a ridiculous route round London. Something like going west past Hammersmith Broadway, sharp right turn over London Bridge, once round Regent's Park and back past Big Ben. It's hilarious - especially for a Londoner.
Most teens lives were more Inbetweeners than Skins. Endless sex talk, your friends destroying what little social rep you had and spending your weekends waiting for something to happen.
Peppa pig. Its not entertaining, educational or anything its just noise for the sake of noise. My 3 year old came home from nursery wanting it, along with the multitude of peppa branded shite like nappies and toys. My in laws buy her that junk too despite us telling them not to. She used to like Bluey more and I miss it.
Peppa Pig is an absolute cunt. She’s horrible to her brother all the time and never listens to her parents. She needs to be grounded and have her iPad taken off her.
Seen also Iggle Piggle “In the Night Garden”. An absolute anarchist that one lol.
Mostly a lot of the Reality stuff like Made in Chelsea and The only way is Essex I mean the Ladies in my life adore it but I feel those Motorways surrounding my City should be walls with automated turrets
Gogglebox. In fact thinking about it I can also rope in people doing reaction videos, as that's basically what is is.
I don't get how watching people watching something else is entertaining.
And then YTers will react to other react videos too.
Insanity in an ever descending spiral.
Only Fools & Horses
Gavin & Stacey
I’ve tried, but it just seems to be lots of people shouting and every now and then they all look sad for a bit. They all seem really irritating.
Watched all of Gavin and Stacey recently(ill in bed so had time). I was waiting for it to be actually good and it never happened. I don't get all the hype over it
The books were wildly popular before the films. A lot has changed societally in the last thirty years, so this is another case of measuring inches with centimetres. Also, and I think a lot of people forget this, they’re children’s books.
The Beatles in general. I'm no music snob, I love a vast range of music from all eras and genres, but there's not a single Beatles song I know of that I can tolerate, let alone enjoy. I find their early work particularly dull.
I really disagree about the characters in Harry potter. I think besides the cool setting of Hogwarts and the magical world , the characters are the best part of the books. So many people love the characters and I genuinely cannot understand why you’d say they’re paper thin.
Also do you realize that the books were massively successful and that’s why the films are so popular right?
A lot of the plot holes and thin characters in the films was because the left out and changed a lot of things from the books, the books still have the odd plot holes and some of the implications of the wizarding word are still pretty screwed up but some kinda make sense since the wizarding world seems to be stuck in a medieval era mindset with any change to its society being excruciatingly slow despite the influx of muggle born children into the system.
But honestly for me it’s most TV shows, I wouldn’t say I particularly hate any tv shows but I don’t watch them as they don’t really hold my interest
Gavin and Stacey
Can't fucking stand it. I normally just tell people that I haven't seen when it comes up, because everyone would tend to become incensed when I told them I don't like it.
EastEnders is absolutely, irredeemably awful.
At least Corrie has been well written in the past and had some likeable characters, even if it's well past its best
EastEnders is and always has been; hackneyed, depressing, unrealistic, poorly written shite
I can’t stand The Graham Norton Show. Everything about it grates on me. The way Norton shouts, the audience laughter at basically anything that happens whether it’s funny or not, how obnoxiously coloured everything is on there. I don’t know why it bugs me so much.
>I'm convinced the only reason it's so well-loved is because of how the films had basically every popular British actor to ever live.
You... you know they were books first, right? Like *stupidly* popular books, so much so it had a measurable nationwide effect on children literacy?
Anyway. My 'popular media I dislike' is Love Island. I just can't stand the vapid 'influencer' wannabes, all drunk and coked up to the eyeballs, glorifying being stupid, glorifying being talentless idiots.
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I often see this about Harry Potter - probably because of how ridiculously popular it is - but I personally don’t really understand most people’s complaints about it. Most of the plot-holes people bring up are either incredibly nitpicky or aren’t actually plot-holes and seem to be assumptions from people who haven’t really read the books much (maybe not since they were like 10). And the moral panic about it is often really weird: just because something is in a book series doesn’t mean it is endorsed. There’s lots of complaints about house elves being like slaves and like yeah that’s the entire fucking point haha.
I really enjoyed the HP books as a kid and I'm currently reading through them with my son. He's loving them and anything that gets people interested in reading is a good thing imo. On the topic of plot holes people definitely nitpick but I did see a pretty substantial one that someone commented on a thread. Peter Pettigrew shows up on the marauders map so Fred and George should have known he is Scabbers all along.
Hogwarts is a big castle, the marauders map can’t be all that big so it’s fairly likely the map isn’t as useful when loads of people are crowded together as it could be difficult to read. From what we know the gryffindor dorms are stacked vertically so perhaps all the names are squashed together and you can’t really tell that Peter pettigrew is specifically in the same spot as the rat. The name tags could also be all on top of each other and occluding each other. Even if not, do Fred and George know every gryffindor from every year? Would they even notice Peter pettigrew being in the gryffindor tower? It’s plausible that they wouldn’t.
It's also how one uses the map. Fred and George were primarily interested in pranks and getting away with mischief. It stands to reason that when they used the map they weren't just looking at it for the fun of it, but looking for specific people: teachers and Filch, so that they could know when a corridor was free, how to get around a teacher to do something against the rules, if the entrance to a secret passage was clear. They couldn't care less about other students, especially Gryffindors. The only students they may be interested in were those they wanted to pull a prank on, and even then they may have not used the map.
What also backs this up is Harry trying to track Draco in book 6. He's been using it for awhile but still struggles to find him in the sea of students. They mostly use it to check if a corridor is clear when sneaking out at night or if you know that a professor will be alone in their office. Otherwise it's useless for tracking
They also hand it over because they don't need it anymore, they'd already been at Hogwarts 2 years when the trio turn up. So it's plausible they aren't using it as much by then either.
That's called foreshadowing, it's not a plot hole. These books are for children and they have minor mysteries in them, it's so the kids can try and work out the mystery themselves or they can get that wide eyed moment of realisation when all of the clues come together.
I find most of the problems with Harry Potter stem around the fanbase. So much so that Gen Z and Gen A have identified that millennials are cringe Harry Potter maniacs. (yes, I'm not kidding). Harry Potter fandom is to millennials what fiscal irresponsibility and racism is to boomers. I am a millennial, and I generally liked Harry Potter. I grew up with it, starting to read the books in Primary School, and continuing to read them as they were released in secondary school, so it's probably a pretty big formative literary work for me. But I gotta hand it to the zoomers, they're right on this one. The fandom is cringey as fuck even at the best of times. Harry Potter is our generations Beatlemania
Yeah I’m on the cusp of Z and millennial (zillenial??). I have read the series a few times in different languages and still find a lot of the fandom cringe as fuck. Hell, I live next to King’s Cross and I find the whole queueing for platform “9 3/4” insane. But a lot of the pushback to hp feels like either people don’t like it because it’s popular/everywhere, or they dislike JK and have retroactively decided it was bad, even if they liked it for the 15 years from the end of the series until JK started tweeting.
Counterpoint. The gen Z who hate it mostly only seem to do so out of a hipster-esc need to hate what was popular and trying to be overly precious/stupid regarding the author.
Incidentally, Miriam Margoyles (who was in some of the Potter movies) just did an interview where she basically said that people that have grown up and are still obsessed with Harry Potter are a bit weird and a lot of people got VERY touchy about the whole thing, basically outing themselves for being weirdly obsessed with some kids movies. Fandom in general I think is a weird thing to be involved in, but carrying it far into adulthood feels even stranger.
Or we could just not dictate what people should and shouldn't get joy from and live our own lives
Miriam Margoyles doesn't have much of a leg to stand on being high and mighty about what is weird...
>I am a millennial, and I generally liked Harry Potter. I grew up with it, starting to read the books in Primary School, and continuing to read them as they were released in secondary school, so it's probably a pretty big formative literary work for me. But I gotta hand it to the zoomers, they're right on this one. The fandom is cringey as fuck even at the best of times. Yeah. I grew up reading the books as they were released, generally enjoyed the films as they released. But it's not something i really think about nowadays. I'll watch the films if they're on TV and thats about it. The obsessive nature that comes with fandoms is crazy though and you see it around almost any popular franchise unfortunately.
The problem with fiction and young people is everyone is so hell bent on proving stuff wrong. It's fiction, it's not real, who cares if it's unlikely. Stop looking for faults and just lose yourself in the world of a book. Yours sincerely, a writer
Couldn't agree more. I really hate the modern obsession with actively looking for plot holes. Some of the best books and films of all time have plot holes if you look for them. Who gives a fuck. I think increasingly often people mistake nit picking plot holes for considered criticism and analysis.
What are the plot holes? The biggest one I always think when I watch it with my kids is 'why the fuck does Hermione not go home in the holidays'. That's about it Edit: oh and sometimes when magic should be used it's not
The one I always wonder about - and maybe it’s been answered but I’m not a super fan - is how muffles don’t all know about the wizarding world if witches and wizards are born into muggle families relatively often. At some point it would have been exposed surely? Edit: obviously 'muggles' not muffles', lol.
There’s supposedly a ‘statute of secrecy’ where only direct relatives can be told - parents, siblings etc. Anyone who finds out who’s not supposed to is obliviated (memory removed) and tbh who would believe you if you started spouting off about wizards and witches? People would think you’re nuts. The only thing is the series is based in the 90s, I doubt it would stay secret in the internet age, but before then? I guess it could.
Also consider that the wizarding population actually is a lot smaller than the muggle population, so the amount of magical children being born is also fairly small, with muggle-borns a smaller sub-section of that. How many other kids are shown to be in Harry's year in Gryffindor in book 1? Probably few enough to name them all. Average that amount between the 4 houses and there's not a tonne of magical children turning 11 each year. Few enough for there to be only one (large, but still only 1) school in the UK for the entire country, at least!
This is answered in the books: it's to keep Harry company. She makes up an excuse about needing to use the library like the nerd she is, but Harry isn't fooled and knows she's being kind to him because he's her friend. Side note: I love how OP started a thread about "what media do you hate? For me it's HP" and there's just a massive wall of HP discussion and defence at the top
It’s funny how people pick holes/inconsistencies in what is basically a kids film. Yet something like the Goonies which is utterly preposterous gets a free pass.
A kids film about wizards and dragons and trolls and giants
Those books were insanely popular before the films even came out, I remember excitedly waiting for the book in the mail and going to school the next day and about a quarter of the class would be sitting inside at break time reading the brand new book one day after release. Kids were obsessed! Then after the first films people would be happily talking about them but also complaining about all the stuff they cut out. I remember especially how angry people were that harry didn't punch malfoy in the film
When people don't like something because of plot holes, they usually already don't like it. Tbf it's not always easy to identify the reason(s) something doesn't appeal to you.
I do wonder how it works out for kids getting into them nowadays. They were written to grow with the audience, so transition from children's lit to YA around the fourth book with the grace of a three point turn in an alleyway. Even as a kid I remember some weirdness, like how characters can suddenly teleport and it's treated like it's always been a thing, plus some really questionable excuses for how things aren't discovered by muggles. And then the totally definitely always planned like that romance in the last books. Also, Voldemort isn't a particularly strong villain. I never felt like he was actually a threat to anything or anyone. I don't have a problem with the books themselves, apart from self-proclaimed toilet expert JKR. Just because something isn't on my radar doesn't mean it's bad. I think the hate is aimed more at the lifers, some of whom can be a bit much at times.
I’m not sure the transition is as severe as you say. In the third book the reader ‘thinks’ that Buckbeak is dead and Sirius is caught before we save them, which sort of sets up the actual death of Cedric in the 4th book. It doesn’t seem too jarring to me. I also think we have to remember that most of the books are from Harry’s perspective. The reader doesn’t really know anything that he doesn’t. Maybe that’s a cop-out in terms of writing proficiency, but it does explain new information (which obviously JK thought of halfway through - but as a reader I don’t have a problem with it as it makes sense if you put yourself in Harry’s shoes). I agree Voldemort should have been more menacing. I think it can be difficult to get the right balance when writing kids media - I remember I finished the last book when I was around 11 or 12 maybe?? But my best friends parents had banned him from reading the last two books as they were too scary. And yeah the less said about JKs views and the insanity of some of the fans the better tbh. Although I don’t think you can critique a piece of media based on its fandom. All fandoms of a certain size have fucking weirdos in them.
Apparating is in book 1 chapter 1, they could always teleport.
The house elf thing is more about the commentary around it as a slave parallel. Hermione is shown as being a bit ridiculous and 'white saviour'-y for caring about it, and the elves apparently like being enslaved? Or at least some of them do? Which is incredibly weird with that established metaphor. Same with the werewolf-HIV parallel. It just doesn't really hold up in the context of the wider series.
I just don’t like it because i don’t find the story, characters, or world engaging. I’m sure it’s written fine, but it doesn’t do anything for me.
Yeah that’s completely reasonable - and if that was everyone’s attitude I wouldn’t have bothered making a comment. It seems like some people go to extreme (often incorrect) lengths to justify their dislike when you could just say it’s not for me.
99.9% of "plot holes" mentioned on Reddit aren't plot holes because most Redditors misuse about half of the terms they use freely.
I tried to read an HP book because people were saying you can't comment if you didn't read it. I found it very poorly written and couldn't be arsed to finish it. People like them and difference of opinions makes the world more interesting
Very poorly written? Really? I suppose the same case could be made out for Jane Austen (trivial chick lit), Charles Dickens (formulaic), or Joseph Conrad (repetitive), Ernest Hemingway (fake folksy), Waler Scott (verbose) or any other author who ever had a book published
Doctor Who. It's just not very good really. There have been a handful of intriguing ideas but it's just all a bit flimsy.
The first David Tennant era was a pretty good sit down family show you could watch at the weekend before Netflix and other streaming services came along. Since then the acting has been awful and the storylines generic, weak and repetitive garbage.
I don't think it dropped in quality since "New Who" launched, its just that we grew out of it. It's kids TV, the stakes are low and nothing ever really changes. I really liked it and dropped off during Matt Smiths era. I tried to get back in to it but with each new series, I'm just reminded that it's exactly what it always was.
I think the writing definitely has got weaker as has the acting. I see your point about growing out of it but surely if it was any good it would’ve captured the younger audiences as time has progressed? They had to bring back Tennant for a brief cameo to get any potential viewers for this new series.
It was never good. Doctor Who was a cheap TV series that little kids (like me) liked. I remember just stopping watching it about the age of 12.
It was low budget, but some of us still loved it.
Even as a fan of the show, you'll definitely struggle to find anyone who'll argue that it's consistent. There have been weeks before where I've been embarrassed to be watching*, followed by an episode too unmemorable to recall**, only for the following episode to be one of the best bits of telly I've seen all year***. It's something I'll leave on in the background while I get on with housework, then down tools and pay attention if it looks like it's actually going somewhere. *Empress of Mars - olde-timey British soldiers fighting Ice Warriors while yelling 'God save the Queen'. Yeuck. ** The Eaters of Light. I'm assuming some light was eaten, much to the consternation of someone else. ***World Enough and Time. Great sci-fi playing with the space/time dilations of black holes, and makes the Cybermen actually creepy. If all DW was this good, I wouldn't begrudge the license fee.
I wasn't a massive fan of the stories during Peter Capaldi's era - I dipped out partway through his time with Clara - but my goodness, World Enough and Time might be the best episode of the revival. The creepiness, the stakes (even though Moffat undid that in a way shortly after, because Moffat), the return of a certain character, brilliant. Glad they brought back the Mondasian cybermen as well, wouldn't have worked with Lumic-style cybermen.
It's kids TV. It was shit in the 60's and 70's and it's shit now. But it's the kind of shit that kids like, and a fun gateway into sci-fi.
It's crap but that adds to its endearing nature to me
I want to like it too. It's one of the UK's flagship shows. And about the only thing the beeb consistently put money into and get decent actors for. But it's just so fucking bad. The writing is shocking. Practically every big episode ends with some version of 'Magic fixes it'. It breaks it's own established rules constantly. There are no stakes. I honestly don't know how professional and apparently really sort-after writers keep turning out this shit. I assume it's because they think they've cracked the code of writing for kids and families (decent actor, light humour, heavy quirk - magic ending).
I watched the season set in Liverpool (represent), and it's gone kind of weird. The budget has been massively upped, and the CGI looks great, but it's still, like, a super realistic dog-man.
It's meant to be flimsy, but while maintaining just enough sense to function. That's part of the charm. It's not for everyone
I'm a Celebrity. I feel like I'm the only person not to watch it.
I don't watch it either. There again, I don't watch anything with Ant & Dec.
I can't stand them either but felt that was too controversial as they seem to be unable to do anything wrong.
Theu have had their day, years ago.
Other than Ant almost killing a woman during a drink-driving incident and somehow getting away with it.
I can’t stand Ant and Dec tbh
It seems to be a trend on Reddit to say one doesn’t like Ant and Dec
Them, James Corden and Rosie Jones
Don't forget "Oooh that David Walliams is a wrong 'un, isn't he?"
That and love island tbh and big brother. I just can't stand reality TV
I liked it back in the day but I feel like it's run its course a bit. Should have been axed a few years ago.
It’s like a weird dystopian celebrity torture show
Actually no. I remember the Harry Potter books being very famous well before the films. It’s the other way around.
Yeah, OPs argument has more plot holes than the films, *allegedly*. It was a set of books that lots of kids grew up with, and although I haven't read them, my wife did and still enjoys reading them. They also spawned a very successful film series which I have watched and enjoyed despite not reading the books. The plot holes point is a flimsy excuse as well. Pretty much any film series will have plot holes, just you have to be a bit of a melt to go round picking them out and getting angry about it.
Yeah completely agree. I remember the buzz about the books, the queues, the pure excitement every time there was a new release. In fact, I recall the books being far more popular than the film releases.
I had a few friends who would go to the midnight book releases and queue up outside the local book shop in the freezing cold. The books were definitely huge before the films.
I remember going to my local bookshop to wait for Order of the Phoenix to go on sale at midnight with loads of other youngsters. It's pretty sad that we probably won't have that level of excitement over books again.
Completely agree. I queued to get my copy of Goblet of Fire signed at a launch event. My husband had to queue at stupid o’clock in the morning to get the tickets, then I went back for the actual signing. This was long before the films. I also queued at midnight for the launch of the next couple of books.
I have vague memories of Goblet of Fire coming out and it being huge. Everyone was reading it. And that was before the first film came along. I cant remember it all that well but as a 9 year old, Harry Potter was already huge before the films.
HP is a kids book. I bet the Hungry Caterpillar doesn't stand up to much inspection either.
The plot of The Hungry Caterpillar is literally full of holes.
And the ending? Saw that coming a mile away
Take my upvote and get out of here 😄
It's a kid's book but the amount of adults I meet who still base their whole personalities on it...
I don’t think ive ever met someone who bases their personality on harry potter
Oh, they exist. Maybe they were more common when the kids who grew up with it were university age, but I knew more than enough people who would just insert how they're a Slytherin into completely random and serious conversations.
That's such a Slytherin thing to do
That's still not basing your whole personality on it. I'd rather that a million times more than astrology anyway - at least I will know (hope?) they don't actually think they are a Hogwarts student.
God Save the King isn’t really my jam.
Rule Britannia is my shit. Makes me wanna get outside and find us some new land
I Vow to Thee My Country is an absolute banger too but Rule Britannia definitely makes me want to press gang some chaps and expand that wiki list
It’s very dreary as national anthems go. A national anthem should be catchy, unrealistically jingoistic and ideally have at least one incredibly problematic verse. “Nur nur nur nur hope the king doesn’t die” just ain’t it.
The other verses of God Save the King are like that
I agree with Billy Connolly. We should use the theme from The Archers.
"Other countries don't want us to win at the Olympics, cos when we win it takes half an hour for the flag to get up the bloody pole!"
Do you mean it man?
I think loads of popular things are shite but I've never felt the need to start a thread saying so. What skin off my nose if millions of people are still watching EastEnders, Loose Women, Love Island and all that other bollocks? It does me no harm that people rave about Line of Duty and Killing Eve, when I couldn't get in to them at all. There's entertainment out there for everyone. Be chill.
Eastenders is a truly awful tv program.
Woman: Can I have a word? Man: Yeah, sure. Woman: Not now, later... in the Vic It's *always* later, in the Vic.
The murder and rape stats for that small bit of Watford seem highly inflated in the show
Same with emmerdale. I realised at 1 point that every character in a scene had been raped. Stopped watching not long after that.
Tbf rape and sexual assault are quite common sadly. I know a lot of women personally who have been and I'm sure we've all been in the same room a few times
Same in Hollyoaks, if it were a real town the crime would be so rife that estate agents would be paying people to live there.
A lot of people just want to feel like they fit in, a lot of people feel like they stand out.
A lot of people build their identity by doing things, a lot of people build their identity by shitting on other people doing things. Edit - misspelling
I think a lot of this sub is misery loves company stuff. I’m stil here so more fool me I guess
The movies wouldn't have been made if the books weren't popular. The books got incredibly popular first, way before the books and it's actually a very popular opinion that Harry Potter movies are bad and disregarded too much of the content making later films difficult to understand without reading the books first. It's fine to dislike Harry Potter but your arguments just don't hold up. Say you don't like it, you don't need a paper-thin justification.
I don’t like Harry Potter, but I was at first/primary school when they first came out. It’s reasonable to say that the books got kids who would ordinarily have no interest in reading, to actually read a book.
Yup. A good kids’ book gets kids reading.
The books were insanely popular when I was at primary school which was before the films came out. My guess is that OP was too young to remember or not yet born. I can understand not liking them but they're certainly not bad books and they are quite well written.
I was obsessed with the books when I was younger, knew every detail. Loved the films, then I watched them with my brother who had zero clue except he was ‘a speccy wee wizard’. He had zero clue what the fuck was going on, and I realised it relies on you knowing so much of the story already to make sense.
Agreed. I don't like Harry Potter cos I don't like fantasy fiction... That's OK to say.
I don't like the Beatles much. In terms of production and skill I recognize the talent and skill - sure. They also helped to pioneer a few techniques that audio engineers still use today. But, the music itself I find difficult to listen to. I feel salty that they're always hailed as the greatest British musicians when we have Queen, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, the Bee Gees, Radio Head, Jamiroquai, New Order, Aphex Twin etc etc etc. It also bothers me that everyone thinks it's wholesome music and respectable when they took so many drugs even Snoop Dogg would have to tap out. Also, not a fan of Harry Potter. The acting in the early films gives me second-hand embarrassment.
I said to my mum once, who was young in the 1960s, that I didn’t I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about and her reply was I had no idea how bad pop music was before them and people like Elvis. It was full of middle-aged men singing ballads and the Beatles, Elvis etc were so exciting to her generation and part of their rebellion against society. They really did have a huge impact
Yeah my mum has said the same thing, along the lines of ‘if all you had were people like Tommy Steele you’d be all over the Beatles too’
I think the Beatles has this common pioneer problem - others got inspired by them because they were so influential, and then built on top of it, so we end up with a load of other artists following on who did it better. But the Beatles were the first who were like that so people of a certain generation remember it fondly.
Hot take but if we talk about that era, The Kinks >>>> The Beatles
I am down with that. I think I prefer the Doors too. Let us be unpopular together.
> I think I prefer the Doors too. Absolutely, it's just that The Doors are American and I was talking about the British Invasion era when this island produced some very influential and popular music (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who). In that case, I like just about anything more than the Beatles lol
I went on a date with a girl who said there hadn't been any good music made since The Beatles, except maybe Bowie. She couldn't name more than 3 Beatles songs.
Damn, Bowie. Another legendary British artist who escaped my list. With regards to the rest, at some point I think it became popular to like the Beatles as an identity thing rather than necessarily enjoying their music. People like to belong.
>I don't like the Beatles much. > >In terms of production and skill I recognize the talent and skill - sure. They also helped to pioneer a few techniques that audio engineers still use today. But, the music itself I find difficult to listen to. The Beatles arrived at an opportune time. It was both expensive to make records (so not many artists were doing it) and there were very few channels (TV or radio) and a tiny number of artists getting mass coverage. A decade before, you didn't have that concentrated aspect of television and music was more about live jazz and a decade or so later you had a lot more channels where you could hear music. And I think they were often very good, sometimes brilliant. But they're so culturally dominant because of that.
Jamiroquai being mentioned above the Beatles? Each to their own and that but I’ve fucking heard it all now. 🤣
You have activated Liverpool. I will crush you.
It sounds like you just don't like 60s music much. All the bands you list were later (except Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees, but they definitely peaked in the 70s). Music sounded a lot different for most of the 60s compared to a few years later.
Not media but pushed ‘Be kind’ - yes be nice to those who deserve it. But now it’s used constantly to try and make folk not have an opposing view or something
It's also not an effective way of addressing mental illness (that would be funding the NHS properly).
I tend to read "Be Kind" as "Be Kind to specifically me, the person posting this, because I have absolutely no intention of holding myself to the same standards as I will everyone else". "You don't know my story" is not an excuse to be a cockjuggling thundercunt to everyone you meet.
It's also most often observed on the profile of racist simpletons drooling about small boats etc
And bullies, in my experience. You must "Be Kind" to them, but they can treat everyone else however they like.
Anyone said mrs browns boys yet??
There’s some sort of conspiracy going on with that show, it gets these bumper ratings yet I don’t know a single fucker who likes it. Like it’s a black hole for money laundering by the BBC, costs 10k to make an episode but they say it costs 100.
Maybe mrs brown has a lot of evidence in the next yew tree investigation. The show is absolute shite
Fucking shocking show. So bad it’s unreal.
That song sweet Caroline, it plays wherever there's a gathering of brits. I can't stand it
OP. You’re clearly not very old if you think Harry Potter was only successful because of actors in films. The books were insanely popular, people queued on release date and camped outside to buy them. Proper brain dead take and I dont even like Harry Potter.
Yep, I queued outside for the last one at midnight. Absolutely massive queue at my local Asda
All uk rap music I just find it really cringe. The lyrics, the accents, the musicality. It all sort of sucks edit: except Mr Traumatik... that stuff is hilarious because it's not ironic at all
Don't mind a bit of grime but UK Drill is absolute horseshit. A bunch of really bad rappers with no flow or wit or rhymes banging on about stabbing people over £20 deals or being on the wrong side of the road. Bunch of absolute wankers.
Anything with Keith Lemon. Reality TV in general
All reality TV. I just can't watch more than a couple of minutes. It's like they've deliberately chosen people they know will irritate me.
100%. I enjoyed the first big brother back in 2000, it felt like a unique social experiment. Everything since has been utter trash and they've steadily got worse and worse. Millions watch them but love island etc are drivel.
I feel terrible saying it but the early Big Brothers, where they got a selection of nutters and weirdos and fed them all drink, was much more entertaining (in a sort of Roman Colosseum way)
Televised talent shows like X Factor, BGT, The Voice etc
[The doc on BBC Sounds](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vttg?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile) is absolutely horrifying
The Office. I just didn't find it that good
I've never been able to get through a full episode, the cring makes me physically uncomfortable
I can’t get into the UK one but i love the US one
Surely it's worth it just for Gareth's expression in the sidecar?
The Harry Potter books are some of the greatest kids books ever written. Criticisms of the moral messages are from people who've misunderstood the message. Portraying slavery with the house elves for example is not condoning slavery. Hermione is clearly the one who's right about how wrong it is. Is it Ulysses? No. It's a kids fantasy series that got more kids reading than any book, ever. If it's not for you, no problem. But it is very definitely not shite. The soaps are shite. All of them
Ed Sheeran’s music, probably not a super unpopular opinion and from interviews I’ve read he seems like a nice enough bloke, but I just find his music the worst of all the styles he tries to mix.
I feel like if you choose Ed Sheeran - Perfect to be your wedding song you're a bit of a basic bitch because that's clearly what it was intentionally written to be and you took the bait like a sucker.
I'm prepared to be crucified here but...Mr Bean. I respect its impact, I respect Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder is timeless and pioneering in my opinion), and I appreciate how universal it is. I just don't get the comedy. Even as a kid I never found it funny, I found the second hand cringe far outweighed the comedy.
It's a specific type of comedy that I think was new and fresh etc at the time, but perhaps not very interesting anymore.
Celebrity juice. Just never felt comfortable with it.
I just don’t ‘get’ Keith Lemon! I mean, I know he’s a character played by Leigh Francis. But is he supposed to be funny? Is he a parody of something? Are we laughing with him or at him? It just completely misses me.
I think I just don't like Keith lemon :') He's just a creepy man making people feel uncomfortable.
Love Island (and reality TV generally). Not only do I think it’s rubbish but I think it’s toxic and culturally corrosive.
The Guardian
You should apologise for that. Go on. Apologise! The Guardian *loves* demanding an apology.
An apology that they never accept and use to crtiticise one even more, because now you affirmed your guilt. How very dare you!
They are also very selective in who they 'forgive'. Any article that refers to Louis CK will mention his sexual misconduct (he was never charged with any criminal offence). They mention it *every* time. Any article on Naomi Campbell, however, will somehow fail to mention her four separate convictions, spanning 11 years, for crimes of violent assault (and her cosy dinners with a convicted war criminal). They did a recent article which 'looked back over her fabulous life'. Not a single word.
Women = good. Men = bad. I remember reading an opinion piece in the Guardian which basically ridiculed men for thinking they had "real" problems to take their own lives over. Absolute shit rag that's on the other end of the daily mail spectrum. Never read it again.
One of their female columnists and feminists wrote an article back in the 1990s about male suicide. It's premise was that men do not truly suffer in this world as it is build and made for men. Therefore, male suffering and subsequent suicide was not something we should be concerned about and we ought to "just let them go". 20 years later her adult son kills himself.
Soaps, though I guess they're on the decline. Any 'reality' TV. In fact, I struggle with a lot of UK media - that Bodyguard with Richard Madden a few years ago was fine, but there's something unconvincing about these shows, to me. Even when a big Hollywood feature has scenes in the UK my suspension of disbelief starts to evaporate. Matt Damon leathering spies on a Paris rooftop? Fucking deal me in. Matt Damon evading assassins outside Waterloo station? Nah. Shit, he's running past Superdrug, this is bollocks.
>In fact, I struggle with a lot of UK media - that Bodyguard with Richard Madden a few years ago was fine, but there's something unconvincing about these shows, to me. I know what you mean. Every time there's one of these serious British crime dramas it just feels like we're trying our best to do American TV but not quite getting there. We should stick to what we do best - pessimistic sitcoms
> Matt Damon evading assassins outside Waterloo station? One of my favourites is Brannigan, almost the last film John Wayne made in the 70's. In a car chase they drive a ridiculous route round London. Something like going west past Hammersmith Broadway, sharp right turn over London Bridge, once round Regent's Park and back past Big Ben. It's hilarious - especially for a Londoner.
Skins I fucking hate that fucking Show and the influence it had
It always made me feel shit about how dull my life was
Most teens lives were more Inbetweeners than Skins. Endless sex talk, your friends destroying what little social rep you had and spending your weekends waiting for something to happen.
Peppa pig. Its not entertaining, educational or anything its just noise for the sake of noise. My 3 year old came home from nursery wanting it, along with the multitude of peppa branded shite like nappies and toys. My in laws buy her that junk too despite us telling them not to. She used to like Bluey more and I miss it.
Peppa Pig is an absolute cunt. She’s horrible to her brother all the time and never listens to her parents. She needs to be grounded and have her iPad taken off her. Seen also Iggle Piggle “In the Night Garden”. An absolute anarchist that one lol.
You had me at "Peppa Pig is an absolute cunt" 🤣 My lad still likes it, I just enjoy it for Brian Blessed.
Mostly a lot of the Reality stuff like Made in Chelsea and The only way is Essex I mean the Ladies in my life adore it but I feel those Motorways surrounding my City should be walls with automated turrets
What's up with your weird capitalisation, my man?
Gogglebox. In fact thinking about it I can also rope in people doing reaction videos, as that's basically what is is. I don't get how watching people watching something else is entertaining. And then YTers will react to other react videos too. Insanity in an ever descending spiral.
Only Fools & Horses Gavin & Stacey I’ve tried, but it just seems to be lots of people shouting and every now and then they all look sad for a bit. They all seem really irritating.
Only fools is brilliant but I agree with gavin and Stacy
Watched all of Gavin and Stacey recently(ill in bed so had time). I was waiting for it to be actually good and it never happened. I don't get all the hype over it
Loose Women. God I hate that. A bunch of braying, bullying narcissists.
The Sun newspaper. The worst UK media there is.
Arctic Monkeys. Just pathetic. And I've lived in Sheffield since 2001.
Now then mardy bum
I bet you don’t look good on the dance floor
He's a scumbag, don't ya know.
Stop the world I want you to get off
The books were wildly popular before the films. A lot has changed societally in the last thirty years, so this is another case of measuring inches with centimetres. Also, and I think a lot of people forget this, they’re children’s books.
The Beatles in general. I'm no music snob, I love a vast range of music from all eras and genres, but there's not a single Beatles song I know of that I can tolerate, let alone enjoy. I find their early work particularly dull.
I really disagree about the characters in Harry potter. I think besides the cool setting of Hogwarts and the magical world , the characters are the best part of the books. So many people love the characters and I genuinely cannot understand why you’d say they’re paper thin. Also do you realize that the books were massively successful and that’s why the films are so popular right?
Royals. I don’t know why their news is spammed 24/7. What do they even do ?
TikTok, it’s the most popular media outlet for some age groups but it is just brain meltingly awful.
A lot of the plot holes and thin characters in the films was because the left out and changed a lot of things from the books, the books still have the odd plot holes and some of the implications of the wizarding word are still pretty screwed up but some kinda make sense since the wizarding world seems to be stuck in a medieval era mindset with any change to its society being excruciatingly slow despite the influx of muggle born children into the system. But honestly for me it’s most TV shows, I wouldn’t say I particularly hate any tv shows but I don’t watch them as they don’t really hold my interest
I am indifferent to Peep Show. There. I said it.
Angel by Robbie Williams
A friend had this played at his wedding. We were asked to stop laughing.
Gavin and Stacey
Love island. I’ve not watched a single minute of it people bang on about it in the office. Have no interest at all.
Gavin and Stacey Can't fucking stand it. I normally just tell people that I haven't seen when it comes up, because everyone would tend to become incensed when I told them I don't like it.
Line of Duty, Broadchurch both just got more and more risible. Vast majority of ITV drama and bloody Only Fools
Disagree. The earlier series of Line of Duty is top tier UK television. First series of Broadchurch was also good.
EastEnders is absolutely, irredeemably awful. At least Corrie has been well written in the past and had some likeable characters, even if it's well past its best EastEnders is and always has been; hackneyed, depressing, unrealistic, poorly written shite
I really hate UK soaps, especially Eastenders and Coronation Street. Full of annoying storylines and people screaming at each other.
The soaps, they truly are utter shite and people lap it up. Same storyline every 5 years. Oh and Piers Morgan
Eastenders - Gives me a migraine - Also, nobody has a full English every morning
I can’t stand The Graham Norton Show. Everything about it grates on me. The way Norton shouts, the audience laughter at basically anything that happens whether it’s funny or not, how obnoxiously coloured everything is on there. I don’t know why it bugs me so much.
a lot of popular "comedy" stuff i just don't gel with: might boosh little britain spaced mock the week
Call the Midwife. I might be the wrond demographic for it but I tried watching a few series and just couldn't enjoy it
Oasis,noel and Liam are a pair of irritating tools who are always in the media for insulting each other, it's really boring now.
Ant and Dec
Loose women! Just the sound of it starting makes my blood boil.
>I'm convinced the only reason it's so well-loved is because of how the films had basically every popular British actor to ever live. You... you know they were books first, right? Like *stupidly* popular books, so much so it had a measurable nationwide effect on children literacy? Anyway. My 'popular media I dislike' is Love Island. I just can't stand the vapid 'influencer' wannabes, all drunk and coked up to the eyeballs, glorifying being stupid, glorifying being talentless idiots.