"Mainstream"...what does that mean to you?

[Vault101]

so yeah....."Mainstream"

anyway I was thinking about it when I realised...I dont watch TV much anymore except as background noise

and when I look at the TV and see its the most mainstream thing ever, it jsut seems soo......stupid, I cant take it seriously anymore also the same with big budget action blockbusters...they jsut dont hold my interest anymore

I know this is because somwhat recently Ive spend alot of time on the internet (and playign games) indulging in my Geeky interests

also because of TV tropes I often I now break everything apart into tropes,

anyway I dont think Im NOT mainstream I think there are different levels

 

[Fanboy]

It has no meaning to me but another pointless label to ignore while I watch, play, and read whatever interests me.

 

[Miles000]

It has no meaning to me but another pointless label to ignore while I watch, play, and read whatever interests me.

Pretty much this.
However I believe mainstream to be something that is widely accepted.

 

[sushkis2]

Games that ripoff an another successful game's mechanic like god of war and gears of war?
Or just shitty and unnecessary sequels like bioshock 2?

 

[ThisIsSnake]

I view it as games developed with low risk high profit in mind when created. Like a modern combat first person shooter. A game that is basically made of tickboxes of what is currently popular with gamers.

 

[Sepphyre]

Mainstream = Generic rubbish with little in the way of quality, that is eaten up by the stupid masses.

 

[badgersprite]

Mainstream is a term smug elitists use to bash on popular things that are liked by the majority of people so that they can feel superior to the average person to for no adequate reason.

 

[deleted_by_strongbad]

a. anything enjoyed by the majority of the consumer bell curve, which like every niche market segment has both great and terrible selections.

b. an easy way to spot a hipster who has no real individual taste/opinions, just the self imposed parameter of "Anything but mainstream."

 

[Aidinthel]

Generally "mainstream" stuff is characterized by blandness. It's rarely outright bad, but it takes so few risks that it becomes basically interchangeable with a half-dozen other things that are just like it.

 

[Mallefunction]

Mainstream is just whatever is accessible to the most amount of people at a given time. It's not good or bad, but it has the potential to be both.

 

[swankyfella]

Deeply ingrained in the general consciousness of the culture to which it applies. Basically, something that the majority of people know about.

 

[Vault101]

Mainstream is a term smug elitists use to bash on popular things that are liked by the majority of people so that they can feel superior to the average person to for no adequate reason.

not that I dislike popular things (alot of things I realy like are ALSO very popular)

however its hard not to facepalm when somthing like Transformers is so popular and everyone is like "omg! look at megan Fox's tits!!! omg!!" EXPLOSIONS and "oooohhhhh look at me Im shia la'boof urrrr I'm LIKEABLE!"

sorry couldnt help it

anyway I bash somthing because its bad not because its popular (I mean I dont hate AVATAR, its not bad)

hell its even worse for young girls

hey were watching "Insert stupid romantic "comedy" here"

that?...eh its kinda dumb....

?....but its like got this hot guy in it!

Really?....that why your watching it? if you wanted to see hot guys why dont you jsut look them up on the internet?

but hes soooo hot...and its liekk soooo sweet when hes like and tryin to get her back...dont YOU think hes hot?

well yeah, buts its not worth gritting my teeth through a shitty movie, in fact thats the problem, hes not a charachter or a real person , I dont see anythign there except for a souless perfectly chizled face, I cant see him as anythign else but eye candy...and I dont feel sypathetic in fact hes completley unlikeable, I jsut want to punch him in his pretty perfect face!

?

never mind..have fun

(I dont hate all romantic comdedys or attractive looking actors)

 

[badgersprite]

Mainstream is a term smug elitists use to bash on popular things that are liked by the majority of people so that they can feel superior to the average person to for no adequate reason.

not that I dislike popular things (alot of things I realy like are ALSO very popular)

however its hard not to facepalm when somthing like Transformers is so popular and everyone is like "omg! look at megan Fox's tits!!! omg!!" EXPLOSIONS and "oooohhhhh look at me Im shia la'boof urrrr I'm LIKEABLE!"

sorry couldnt help it

anyway I bash somthing because its bad not because its popular (I mean I dont hate AVATAR, its not bad)

hell its even worse for young girls

hey were watching "Insert stupid romantic "comedy" here"

that?...eh its kinda dumb....

?....but its like got this hot guy in it!

Really?....that why your watching it? if you wanted to see hot guys why dont you jsut look them up on the internet?

but hes soooo hot...and its liekk soooo sweet when hes like and tryin to get her back...dont YOU think hes hot?

well yeah, buts its not worth gritting my teeth through a shitty movie, in fact thats the problem, hes not a charachter or a real person , I dont see anythign there except for a souless perfectly chizled face, I cant see him as anythign else but eye candy...and I dont feel sypathetic in fact hes completley unlikeable, I jsut want to punch him in his pretty perfect face!

?

never mind..have fun

(I dont hate all romantic comdedys or attractive looking actors)

...I'm sorry, what?

I'm not trying to be rude but your post is utterly incomprehensible to me.

But, taking a guess at what you're saying, why do you care if other people like bad things? I like a lot of bad things because they're hilarious and entertaining. Birdemic is the single most entertaining movie I've ever seen.

Some people like to watch dumb or bad stuff that doesn't make them think when it comes to their entertainment purely because it's an escape. That doesn't make them dumb or bad people anymore than enjoying a mindless session of an FPS multiplayer makes any gamer stupid for liking it.

No one forces you to watch things you don't like. Unless maybe you're listening to overplayed songs on radio, I can understand bitching about that because that is legitimately difficult to escape from. But, really, why are the interests of other people any concern of yours? Why do you give a fuck what other people do with their lives? Don't you have your own life to be living, or your own things to enjoy? Like, I hate Twilight, but does it really make me a better person if I bash on things aimed at twelve year old girls that were never intended to appeal to me? Really?

I don't know. I just don't get people sometimes.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Mainstream is just whatever is accessible to the most amount of people at a given time. It's not good or bad, but it has the potential to be both.

This guy gets it, the popularity of something doesn't determine its quality.

 

[tomtom94]

Mainstream is a term smug elitists use to bash on popular things that are liked by the majority of people so that they can feel superior to the average person to for no adequate reason.

This, this, a million times this.

It's especially amusing to hear people say that the bands I listen to are becoming more "mainstream" because I've never heard any other bands that sound similar...

 

[Keava]

There are no 'levels' to mainstream, nor mainstream is some bad word you should use to bash things with. It's pretty much a cultural construct that includes everything that is widely known, popular and commercial in it's nature. Something that appeal to wide variety of public either in general or within specific demographic.

In opposition to mainstream you have subcultures/contrculture which may, or may not, consider mainstream as artistically and aesthetically inferior.

It has nothing to do with levels of intelligence or 'good taste'. Some mainstream products have very high quality, while other's are quite obvious cash-ins. Pretty much anyone here, who plays AAA titles is part of mainstream. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[Bobbity]

Several of my friends, who I look upon with disdain.

Jokes; to me it means stuff that follows the established rules, not really doing anything new or interesting, but being of a generally good quality, and very popular.

 

[Vault101]

Mainstream is a term smug elitists use to bash on popular things that are liked by the majority of people so that they can feel superior to the average person to for no adequate reason.

not that I dislike popular things (alot of things I realy like are ALSO very popular)

however its hard not to facepalm when somthing like Transformers is so popular and everyone is like "omg! look at megan Fox's tits!!! omg!!" EXPLOSIONS and "oooohhhhh look at me Im shia la'boof urrrr I'm LIKEABLE!"

sorry couldnt help it

anyway I bash somthing because its bad not because its popular (I mean I dont hate AVATAR, its not bad)

hell its even worse for young girls

hey were watching "Insert stupid romantic "comedy" here"

that?...eh its kinda dumb....

?....but its like got this hot guy in it!

Really?....that why your watching it? if you wanted to see hot guys why dont you jsut look them up on the internet?

but hes soooo hot...and its liekk soooo sweet when hes like and tryin to get her back...dont YOU think hes hot?

well yeah, buts its not worth gritting my teeth through a shitty movie, in fact thats the problem, hes not a charachter or a real person , I dont see anythign there except for a souless perfectly chizled face, I cant see him as anythign else but eye candy...and I dont feel sypathetic in fact hes completley unlikeable, I jsut want to punch him in his pretty perfect face!

?

never mind..have fun

(I dont hate all romantic comdedys or attractive looking actors)

...I'm sorry, what?

I'm not trying to be rude but your post is utterly incomprehensible to me.

But, taking a guess at what you're saying, why do you care if other people like bad things? I like a lot of bad things because they're hilarious and entertaining. Birdemic is the single most entertaining movie I've ever seen.

Some people like to watch dumb or bad stuff that doesn't make them think when it comes to their entertainment purely because it's an escape. That doesn't make them dumb or bad people anymore than enjoying a mindless session of an FPS multiplayer makes any gamer stupid for liking it.

No one forces you to watch things you don't like. Unless maybe you're listening to overplayed songs on radio, I can understand bitching about that because that is legitimately difficult to escape from. But, really, why are the interests of other people any concern of yours? Why do you give a fuck what other people do with their lives? Don't you have your own life to be living, or your own things to enjoy? Like, I hate Twilight, but does it really make me a better person if I bash on things aimed at twelve year old girls that were never intended to appeal to me? Really?

I don't know. I just don't get people sometimes.

sorry I did go on off on a bit of a tanget there

youre right its no ones buisness what they like/dislike

Its just I resent transformers and all that other stuff because of my experience in boarding school/highschool (all girls) , how everyone was eather raving about transformers or some other stupid romatic comedy (or the notebook....seriously people its not sad) or "step up" I think it all drove me a bit mad

and you know what the funny thing is? at one point I was like "you want to be normal? then you have to like this stuff...I know it hurts but its for the better..now watch the notebook and cry!"

I mean I told everyone one day that I went and saw the star trek movie (2009) and they laughed...(not in a mean way but still)

that way I see it mainstream stuff in general CAN be pretty bad somtimes[/B] but mainstream stuff for girls.....is usually facepalm inducing bad

so yeah really I was just raving because I had a chip on my shoulder, its fine now though as I dont have to put up with stuff I hate

 

[Jamie0190]

Mainstream is just whatever is accessible to the most amount of people at a given time. It's not good or bad, but it has the potential to be both.

This pretty much sums up my view on something being mainstream.
I feel a person should try to like what they want, without the popularity of it influencing whether they should like it or not.

 

[Gigano]

Something with very broad appeal.

Meaning that either it's so incredibly good that most people cannot help but appreciate it, or so bland, safe, generic, and inoffensive that it doesn't push anyone away.

Guess which one is usually at play.