Incredibly popular phenomena which you know nothing about?

[Ishal]

I still have to see all six Star Wars films.

I'm going to be doing it within a week's time, however.

There are only three Star Wars films. Two, if you're fussy.

OT - I know ABSOLUTELY nothing about Adventure Time beyond the name. I know that Ponies was a show aimed at young children but managed to snag a bunch of post-pubescent men as well. The reasons for that differ depending on who you ask, but I am given to understand the show is charming. I know very little about Doctor Who in a broad sense, but I feel like I know the plot to every other episode due to my girlfriend not shutting up about it for one particularly grueling month. I know very little about a great many beloved console gaming series, including (but not limited to) Zelda, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and others. I don't know who Bear Grylls is, but it is my understanding he drank his own pee in particularly memorable fashion on more than one occasion. I know few if any of the popular bands of today. You kids and your crazy music. For instance, I have never heard a Justin Bieber song, yet I know it is a cultural imperative that I hate him, and openly question his sexuality in a smug and knowing fashion.

Ponies and Adventure time drew large followings for a bunch of reasons, but largest among them is nostalgia and that they have fantasy settings that draw heavily on D&D. If you came up to me a year ago and told me I'd be a fan of MLP:FiM I would have laughed in your face, but it happened. Like anything else, I like to withhold judgement of something before I experience it for myself. I started noticing that MLP was everywhere on the internet and while playing GW2 I ran a dungeon with a guild called "The Greater Brony Alliance" and they started telling me about the show, so I finally decided to watch the first episode. It was pretty meh then OMG is that a manticore?!?! A D&D monster in a kids show? The manticore wasn't the only thing. There is a cockatrice, hydra, cerberus dog, and dragons. So I started watching more and more and was hooked. The show is pretty good. Its characters aren't just caricatures of "the mean one", "the cute one", "the shy one", "the leader" and all their crazy friends. I've always been a fan of animation and cartoons and the aesthetic of the show is very colorful and bright (same with adventure time). The creator of the show previously worked on cartoons from my childhood like Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary friends so that could be a reason it attracted the first of the bronys on 4chan. Ponies also tends to sneak in memes, pop culture references, and other easter egg type stuff in the show which is always fun no matter what medium its in, as long as its not in excess.

Speaking of that, and going by your Star Wars comment above (which I agree with).. you may or may not appreciate this...


OT:
Hunger Games
Twilight Saga
American Football
YOLO
Hip Hop
Nintendo Fanboys
Les Miserables (and really any musical)
Dancing with the Stars
Almost every crime drama on TV
How I met your Mother ( I really don't find that show humorous, probably because I can't relate to anyone on there)

Most Pop music

The whole Vampire craze lately and all the books (mentioned above) and shows (vampire diaries,trueblood) it spawned

The list could go on

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

The "Legendary" movies

Godfather
Scarface
Fight Club
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
Psycho
American History X
North by Northwest
Citizen Kane
The Shining
Vertigo

etc....

Would you believe me if I said I have a bachelors Degree in Film? To be fair I am more of a video maker than a film lover. I prefer tv shows to movies... they just seem to get more complex and less cliche. Mostly because they have hundreds of hours to build a character while movies have like 3.

 

[Neuromancer]

The most notable for me must be Ulysses. I managed to read Dubliners (goddamn it Joyce why do I have to re-read every bloody page twice to make sense of what you're saying?), but Ulysses is so damn big and difficult to read that currently I have neither the time nor the will to go through it. Still, since it's still standing over at my bookself taunting me all day, I'll most likely try and read it on my Christmas holiday.

 

[Dethenger]

I've never been interested in Doctor Who, I have no idea what Adventure Time is, and I don't understand the appeal of social networking places like Facebook or Twitter or whatever. I hear people talking about how many followers they have and I die a little on the inside for reasons I don't quite know how to express.

 

[babinro]

There are too many to name...
I barely watch tv or movies and so I've missed out on a ton of media.

I think The Dark Knight is the newest movie I've seen.
I was given Archer by a friend and that show is pretty amazing.
Most other shows in the last 10 years have gone over my head.

The bulk of my tv these days comes in the form of internet clips like AVGN, TGWTG, Escapist, etc.

 

[Strazdas]

Gangnam Style. it is beyond me why would anyone like it, let alone make it the most popular youtube video.
Bronies. I first learn what that mean a week ago. why would you even need a term for that?
Increadible pervasiveness of men. This one deserves an explanation. There is nothing wrong with sex. whats wrong is when people go around telling me that they wont watch a movie because it doesnt have sex scene or because acress A doesnt get naked in it or that a movie turns from a 1/10 to a 10/10 just because of some "nice tits". if you want sex porn exists for that. why put sex in EVERYTHING. the whole "bra-sized brestplate armour" ties into that and so on.
Star trek. the movies were quite good. the shows were so-so. whats so fanboying about? (then again im guilty for being a firefly fanatic).
sports. A bunch of men chasing balls. how very boring. theo nyl sport i know something about is Formula 1 (not counting computer sports here)
Pokemon. I watched 1 episode, and it started by a guy jumping across falling giant meatballs. i kid you not. the next one started with guy and a girl walking across forest and having that "incest" vibe whne two "rocket team" (or w/e) guys show up and they are the definition of corny stereotype badguy idiots. a fan tried to explain it to me but without sucess. besides, everyone know Digimons are superior. All Hail digimons.

The "Legendary" movies

Godfather
Scarface
Fight Club
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
Psycho
American History X
North by Northwest
Citizen Kane
The Shining
Vertigo

etc....

Would you believe me if I said I have a bachelors Degree in Film? To be fair I am more of a video maker than a film lover. I prefer tv shows to movies... they just seem to get more complex and less cliche. Mostly because they have hundreds of hours to build a character while movies have like 3.

yeah, i like TV shows more as well due to time to build characters. as for the top movies they are very much hit or miss for me. loved some, hated many. wouldnt call any of what you listed "masterpiece".

 

[MetalDooley]

Who the hell is this "FPS Russia" guy? He's in the Black-Ops 2 "Surprise" commercial (he's the one with a few drones around him before the m, as well as doing a Kickstarter program with The Chive. I have absolutely no clue who this fella is...

Spoiler: This guy with the Russian accent

From what I gather he's some American bloke pretending to be Russian who has a youtube channel where he post videos of himself firing weapons.Quite popular with the Call of Duty crowd I understand

 

[Arcadian Legend]

Touhou and Homestuck. I keep hearing passing mentions of them from time to time, and how the are apparently a big thing, but I haven't seen anything on what they are. Well, I have a vague idea on what Homestuck is at least.

It doesn't apply now since I know who he is and what he on the Internets, but PewDiePie. I feel like a lesser man with that gained knowledge.

 

[mechashiva77]

League of Legends. Doesn't seem like my type of game.

War Shooters (i.e. Call of Duty, Gears of War). Seems really hypermasculinized and filled with white boys who are going to do nothing but shout racial and sexual slurs at me.

My Little Pony. I want to give it a try, but I can't bring myself to do it.

 

[triggrhappy94]

I saw Les Mis while I was in London two years back. Amazing! Laughing and crying at the end.

OT: I don't care much for Dr. Who or Gangdum Style.

 

[Auron225]

Doctor Who and Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The most I know about Doctor Who is that it involves time travel. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I couldn't tell you a thing about it...

 

[The Comedian]

I know nothing about MLP.
Dont know why but I just don't care for it
and also I have only seen 1 or 2 episodes of Dr.who and don't care for that eather.

 

[Ironman126]

Who the hell is this "FPS Russia" guy? He's in the Black-Ops 2 "Surprise" commercial (he's the one with a few drones around him before the m, as well as doing a Kickstarter program with The Chive. I have absolutely no clue who this fella is...

Spoiler: This guy with the Russian accent

He used to do CoD commentaries. Then he stopped and now he shoots guns like a good 'Merican. He also makes video games apparently. He's a Youtube persona and usually pretty funny. I kinda shit my pants a little when I saw him in the Blops 2 commercial cuz I followed him before he was cool (queue hipster jokes).

 

[Yopaz]

Also what the hell is this Yolo thing?

It stands for "You Only Live Once"... as you've probably gathered, people often say it before doing something stupid.

What is this travesty! Everyone knows You Only Live Twice!

Until now, I had no idea what Yolo was, I didn't even have the energy to google it. Things have a habit of passing me by a lot...

Actually, you only live once, then you spawn and immediately get shot in the head because fucking spawn campers.

OT: Firefly, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Gangham style. I want to watch Firefly, but I have a feeling that I either wont like it, or I will be opened to a world of tragedy that it got canceled before its time. It's on Netflix so it's easy enough for me to actually go through with it...

 

[Flatfrog]

I still have to see all six Star Wars films.

I'm going to be doing it within a week's time, however.

I can't recall the blog where I read this, but the author made a compelling argument that the best order to see the films is IV, V, II, III, VI, or if you absolutely have to watch I, then IV, V, I, II, III, VI.

Without wanting to spoil aything for you, there's a big reveal in V which is a major shocker if you didn't already know it (admittedly, you'd have to have your ears pretty closed culturally to miss it, but that's what we're talking about in theory). But episodes I, II and III are essentially one big spoiler for that reveal, so if you watch them first you kind of lose the excitement of that moment. So why not just go IV, V, VI, I, II, III? Because III is a giant downer and not how you want to finish the story. So instead, you watch IV and V, get the big "oooh" moment, then "wait, how could that be?" and then, with imaginary squiggly screen lines you go back in time to the prequels. And with those watched, you gear up for the grand finale of VI and fireworks and happy endings all round.

And why miss out Episode I? Because it sucks, sure, but then frankly most of them suck. You miss it out because it's entirely filler and really adds nothing to the story at all. It's kind of fun in its own lame way, but it isn't necessary.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

Firefly
My Little Pony
Adventure Time
Doctor Who

Ofcourse I know this and that, but only by reputation. Other than that I have not seen a single episode and I don't know any of the characters by name etc.

Firefly(Loved it, but I know more than a few people who didn't, I think it was the style of it) and My Little Pony(I enjoy it, but understand why some don't), tend to be a love it/meh it/hate rage fire and hell to all fans, kinda thing, so you may or may not be "missing out" depending on what you do or do not like, they are more of a thing you watch to see about when you have nothing better to do.

Adventure Time, is one of the few cartoons out now that I think everyone should watch at least a few episodes, as it is pure funness with a topping of awesomesauce.

And Doctor Who, I would suggest watching, but start with the 2005 series, as far as most people are concerned, the earlier stuff albiet good, is unnessecary to grab on to the show, but 2005 on is awesome, I would suggest watching some episodes as soon as you are able.

As for me, if it's incredibly popular, it's probably been shoved down my eye/earholes at least once, so I would say, no there isn't a single incredibly popular phenomena that I don't know about.

 

[Product Placement]

I've yet to see a single Harry Potter film.

That's right. Not a single one.

Read the first book, though.

 

[Beryl77]

A lot of tv series.
Everyday I hear popular tv series being referenced on the internet but most of them have never been aired or at least I've never seen them on tv in my country.
For example, I know that Doctor Who is about a guy being able to travel time or something like that but that's about it. In most cases, if I know that I can't watch it, I'm not looking up what it is about.