What is with the adult obsession with the MCU? - General Discussion Discussion

Why can't people like what they like and hate what they hate?

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[–] Skavau (10336) 13 days ago

Well they can. I'm just puzzled about the obsession, the intensity of both really.

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Well I think most people need something to fixate on, so for some it's the MCU.

Personally I think people should focus on Pong.

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (72942) 13 days ago

Superhero movies, MCU or otherwise are great escapist fun for lots of people. The sorts that claim to hate them as mindless nonsense for dummies come off as snobs and
bores.

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[–] Skavau (10336) 13 days ago

To be fair, I think the second person in my post is more baffling to me: those who hatewatch it and doom and gloom about all content based on what the MCU offers.

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (72942) 13 days ago

Seriously painful and difficult dramas (Sophie’s Choice, Cries And Whispers, American History X, etc.) certainly have a place and are valuable. However, it’s sometimes nice just to kick back after a hard day and forget all the terrible stuff we all see.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

MY MAN SHOGUN WITH THE BEST REPLY...AGREE ENTIRELY.

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

I think the correct response should include something about "go watch Transformers"

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (72942) 13 days ago

Yeah, I should have gone with that and added something about ‘your Mom’s basement’😄

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

🤣🤣

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[–] AndyKing1967 (34631) 13 days ago

Or Fast and Furious.

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[–] VinceD (7350) 13 days ago

I do think some people genuinely enjoy these films, but I also believe much of the interest can be attributed to a modern version of the 'water-cooler effect.' Essentially, people feel compelled to watch these films to network and socialize effectively with certain groups.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

That makes sense. It's kind of like pretending to like Taylor Swift or to be politically progressive in order to get some p****.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

NO...NOT REALLY.🫤

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

So you are sincere when you tell a woman you like Taylor Swift and so on? I confess that I am completely full of shit when I make such statements and have ulterior motives.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

I ONLY TELL WOMEN THINGS THAT ARE TRUE...SAME AS I DO WITH MEN.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

No wonder you're single.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

THAT IS INCORRECT ON MULTIPLE LEVELS.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Are you in a relationship then or just technically still married for legal reasons? I thought it was the latter*.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

FOR CLARIFICATION...I HAVE A "WIFE"...DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCE I HAVE LEFT HER IN A ROMANTIC SENSE...WE MAINTAIN A LIVING ARRANGEMENT FOR OUR DAUGHTER WHO IS TWO YEARS FROM COLLEGE...I AM A TALL,STRONG,FUNNY AND SINCERE...I WILL NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS FINDING DATES WITHOUT THE USE OF TRICKERY OR DECEPTION IN TWO YEARS WHEN IT DOESN'T ROCK THE ODD BOAT WE ARE CURRENTLY ON.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

I'm sorry to hear that about your wife; that has to be rough on many levels but I've gathered that your daughter is the center of your world so I'm sure it's worth it.

I dunno if I'd go so far as to call that trickery. I don't have to worry about that now since I'm happily married, but you might be surprised at how many women will ironically find it attractive that you not only subverted your own tastes out of a desire to get to know them better, but that you were honest enough to confess it at a later time. For sure there's something to be said about the all honest approach too, I suppose. IMO that's more of an endgame thing though.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

THOSE SOUND LIKE WOMEN I CAN DO WITHOUT...I AM ALWAYS PLAYING FOR THE ENDGAME.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Hypothetical here...if you got into a car with a woman shortly meeting her and after she turned the key and music started playing that turned out to be Blink 182 (I'm roughly guessing the age range of women you might be interested in, from what I've gathered)... would you have the heart to tell her you don't like the music and they suck, even if you liked her otherwise?

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

WELL...I LOVE BLINK...SO THAT'S A WIN...BUT SAY SHE PUT ON SOMETHING I HATED...I WOULD SAY I HATE THIS...I WOULD DEAL WITH IT...BUT I WOULD NOT HAVE ISSUE BEING HONEST.

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[–] capuchin (2748) 13 days ago

'I had a rough night and I hate The f--king Eagles, maaaan.'

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Blink 182 on top of Pet Sounds? Well shit man, if you like those things already then I suppose you've got a leg up in the dating scene with women and I stand corrected. My wife and I are one of those circumstances of opposites attracting and if she knew how much I hated music like Akon and Oasis that she used to play, I would have missed out on so many good times from her being self-conscious. She does now and we can both laugh at it, so really its a win/win.

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

I've never wanted a partner to pretend to like something that I like just because. If it's something that they don't like, that's fine. We don't have to love the same things. I can watch movies, listen to music by myself and so can they. I also won't pretend to like Hockey just because my boyfriend does. If he wants to go to a game with friends or something, I don't need to be included. I would rather be upfront about something like that and not find out later that they were pretending to like something. I'd then wonder what else in our relationship was a lie.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

I'm with you in regards to the long term, but we're talking *before the getting to know you phase here.

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

Yeah, but if a guy lies to me in the getting to know me phase, how can I ever trust him? I want to get to know HIM, not who he thinks I want him to be.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

So if you put on Evanescence and the guy who you are on a date with, that you really like in general, is like "yeah, that music is alright," but you find out later they hate that shit and they said it because they liked you and wanted to be nice, you'd have problems trusting the person?

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

Yes, because they lied. How do I know they aren't gonna lie about other things that I might not like to hear?

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

I supposed you'd have to gauge their honesty based on the totality of the relationship, including the later confession that they hate Evanesence but said that they didn't because they liked you.

Speaking honestly, as a woman, such a confession at a later time, and the honesty it entails, wouldn't make you trust the person more? If not, that goes against all of the experiences I've had in my relationships.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

EVERY PERSON IS DIFFERENT...BUT GENERALLY PEOPLE WANT HONESTY...AND GENERALLY SPEAKING DISHONESTY IS NEVER FOR A GOOD REASON AND USUALLY ENDS IN PROBLEMS.

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

Nope. A confession that someone lied to me isn't gonna make me trust someone more. No matter why they lied.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

This reminds me of the movie Liar, Liar where Jim Carey told his son about not wanting to tell his wife she looked like a fat cow when she was pregnant, so he said she looked beautiful instead. Something tells me that these Puritanical expectations of yours might be a bit more flexible when it comes down to real life.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

THAT ISN'T A LIE...TELLING SOMEONE YOU LOVE THEY LOOK BEAUTIFUL IS NOT A LIE...FINDING YOUR PREGNANT WIFE TO LOOK LIKE A FAT COW...THAT IS A PROBLEM THOUGH.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

We're running into that honesty problem again, I think. Unless you have a thing for stretch marks and stretched vaginas, I don't think you're being honest with yourself if you said you find your wife as physically attractive as you did before she gave birth.

Does not being as physically attracted to the person mean that you don't love them, or that you love them any less? No, and if you are with someone that you care to have a child with, I would hope that isn't a decisive factor in your relationship.

The ironic part of this conversation is that I think I might be more honest here than you are, Kowalski.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

NOPE...I FOUND MY WIFE BEAUTIFUL BEFORE,DURING AND AFTER PREGNANCY...THE MORE YOU POST ON THIS TOPIC THE MORE JUVENILE YOU SOUND...IN CASE YOU HADN'T NOTICED WE ARE NOT PERFECT SPECIMENS OURSELVES...YOU WANT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE...YOU GIVE IT...END OF STORY.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Now you had to throw a personal attack in there when I thought we were having fun. That makes me sad K, truly.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

FALSE...YOUR REASONING SOUNDS JUVENILE...I AM SURE YOU ARE A VERY MATURE GUY OTHERWISE.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Well, lets look at one glaring fact:

Which one of us is happily married right now?

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

I'M HAPPY FOR YOU...ENJOY.

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[–] AndyKing1967 (34631) 13 days ago

Sorry old chap, my wife turns 50 this year and she’s still stunning.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

You're right, my mouth hasn't left the floor since I saw how fat she is.

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[–] AndyKing1967 (34631) 13 days ago

Cheeky bugger, she’s 4’11 and weighs 45kg (99lbs), lol.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Speaking of irony, I'm going on drunken rants right now because I drank a pussy 805 beer that I wasn't supposed to while my wife is out of town and instead of copping up to it I went and got more. When I went to the store though, I saw that 12 packs were only a few dollars more than six packs so I got one of those instead. Now here I am downing them all so that there's only one left by the time she gets back tomorrow. If I told my wife that upon cross examination, she'd think it was funny as hell. Different strokes for different folks and all that, I suppose.

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

Not really. But here's the thing, if someone thinks I look like a fat cow while I'm carrying their child, I wouldn't want to be with them. I should look beautiful to them, even if I have gained a bunch of weight. If I am suddenly unattractive to them because of a baby, yeah....not someone I want to be with.

If I'm gaining weight, I know I'm gaining weight. If my partner has a problem with it, he could ask me if I want to go for a walk, or offer to make some meals that are healthier for me. He doesn't have to say, "you're looking like a whale". There is tact, but don't lie to me.

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[–] AndyKing1967 (34631) 13 days ago

My wife didn’t even look pregnant until about 8 months, but she still had that wonderful glow.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

YOU SEEM TO BE TALKING ABOUT SAY WHATEVER REQUIRED TO DROP THE PANTIES...WHICH IS SOMETHING I JUST DON'T HAVE IN ME TO EVEN ATTEMPT.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

THE LIES ARE THE WORST...WHICH IS WHY BEING HONEST IS SO IMPORTANT...I COULDN'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH SOMEONE IF I HAD ANY SLIGHT THOUGHT THAT THEY WERE DISHONEST ABOUT ANYTHING.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

Anything? So if you cooked something and they said it was good, but you found out later that they didn't like it but that they didn't want to offend you, that would be the end and you couldn't trust them?

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[–] sslssg (29223) 13 days ago

Not to answer for Kowalski, but if that was me in that situation and someone told me they liked something I cooked, I'd probably cook it again, and again for them. It's fine not to like something, it's another for me to be wasting my time cooking something someone doesn't like because I think they like it.

They are very tactful ways to tell someone that you don't like something they like or do. You don't have to say "Yuck! This is gross." I want honesty.

What's the difference between telling me something like that to not offend me, and not tell me that you're cheating on me, because you don't want to hurt me? I couldn't trust that you told the truth about anything.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

That probably explains why I got slapped one time when I told my girlfriend that I loved something that she made and ate all of it, when the truth was there was no way I'd eat that disgusting hippie shit and she later found it in a tupperware container hidden in the back of the fridge. I guess women take that sort of thing way more seriously.

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[–] ColumboKate (5339) 13 days ago

I was going to say a similar thing. But you've said it better lol.

I'm with you and KOWALSKI on this one 🫤

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[–] VinceD (7350) 13 days ago

pretending to like Taylor Swift or to be politically progressive in order to get some p****.

LOL! That’s a humorous analogy, and I do think there probably are some guys that do shit like that, but I’d say that is better described as Machiavellianism, which, though it shares some overlaps, is distinct from the water-cooler effect. Machiavellianism involves strategic, manipulative, and self-serving behavior—for example, lying to women to get in their pants. There’s an underhanded ulterior-motive at play.

On the other hand, the 'water-cooler effect' pertains to participating in popular culture, like watching MCU films, more for social belonging and engagement than for direct personal gain.

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

That there is a distinction between the two makes sense to me, but because both involve some level of dishonestly as a means to achieve something personally beneficial, in one context a piece of ass while in another the sense of belonging, engagement and the psycho-social benefits to the self inherent in those, it seems that the water-cooler effect could be described as a distinctly Machiavellian phenomena.

Interesting stuff though. I haven't encountered that term before.

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[–] VinceD (7350) 13 days ago

Well damn this escalated into some shit while I was away 😂

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[–] SemiAnimus (1035) 13 days ago

It always does.

I still that think that my dishonesty was uh....more honest than their honesty though.

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[–] Kowalski (61931) 13 days ago

I GREW UP READING MARVEL COMICS...X-MEN ESPECIALLY...THE MCU SPEAKS TO ME...I LOVE SEEING THE BIG COMIC BOOK SHENANIGANS ANS SOMETIMES THEY ARE EXCELLENT FILMS TOO...LOOKING AT YOU GOTG FRANCHISE...I DON;T GET THE HATE EXCEPT THAT PERHAPS THOSE NOT AT THE PARTY TEND TO RIP ON THOSE WHO ARE.

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[–] capuchin (2748) 13 days ago

Some people love it

I have no issue with these people. Adults are entitled to a bit of family entertainment escapist fun. And part of the escapist fun might be to really engage fully with a 'universe' in all its nerdy detail and lore. If people enjoy a thing, good for them. I like Doctor Who. Doctor Who probably serves the same function for me as MCU or Star Wars or whatever serves for other people. It would be hypocritical of me to pretend otherwise.

I do find adults who only engage with this kind of material a bit odd. That moves us into the territory of arrested adolescence.

I think people should treat their media consumption as they would treat their diet: balance, variety, all of that. You need protein in your diet. There's nothing wrong with marshmallows, but you're going to do your health no favours if you only eat marshmallows well into adulthood.

Others hate it, and yet continue to hatewatch and rant about it

These people baffle me much more. It's like you attend a party, you decide it's not your kind of party, so you leave... but instead of going home or to surroundings more to your tastes, you hang around outside the party sneering at all the other attendees as they come out. And try to persuade them they only imagined they were enjoying themselves.

It is rather like they don't know where else to go... but there are, in fact, plenty of other places.

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[–] Skavau (10336) 13 days ago

Yes, the second one is much more bizarre.

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[–] Skavau (10336) 13 days ago

By the way, I don't like Doctor Who personally. But the closest show I do like to it is probably Farscape. Have you watched that?

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[–] capuchin (2748) 13 days ago

No. I've never seen Farscape. I'm much more of an arthouse / classic cinema kind of chap. I watch very few TV shows and -- outside of Doctor Who -- am a bit like an out of touch high court judge when it comes to pop culture and anything that might have a 'fandom'. 'What is this "Star Trek" of which you speak?'

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[–] Skavau (10336) 13 days ago

Oh. Well Farscape was pretty camp and absurd. Perhaps in a different way. With huge helpings of Jim Hensons puppetry.

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[–] capuchin (2748) 13 days ago

Oh, well, camp and Jim Henson puppetry isn't to be sneered at. Maybe I should then...

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[–] BlackChristmas (615) 13 days ago

A lot of people have their own random area of obsession. Some people who don't like Marvel will find it puzzling but these same people probably have their own hobbies/interests that many others don't understand.

Some people love sports to an unhealthy degree, I've known dudes who love cars, some peoples personalities are defined by their prefered genre of music (rap, metal, etc) or their fandom for a specific artist/band (Taylor Swift).

With movie obsession you get a few different types, the cinephile crew who are really into artistic and retro cinema, the massive family friendly franchise lovers (Marvel, Star Wars), also people who have a major preference for a specific genre, horror being a great example. For many people being a horror fan is a big part of their personality. I've seen people online who have ghostface mask collections and the likes.

As for people who hate on it. A lot of that is just snobbiness from the 'Marvel isn't cinema' crowd also the fact they're so popular and successful, anything that popular is bound to attract attention and derision.

It's best to let people like the things they like, it's a free country and many hobbies and interests don't make sense to outsiders.

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[–] capuchin (2748) 13 days ago

A wise comment.

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[–] CaptBeefBlower (101) 13 days ago

They're a large part of the current Hollywood zeitgeist. Nine of the 25 highest-grossing films of the 21st century have been superhero movies (according to this list, anyway: https://imdb.com/list/ls059204437/). It's no surprise that people want to discuss them, whether they like them or not.

I've enjoyed some of them - the best of them certainly deliver in terms of spectacle and entertainment. However, it's not surprising that many adults want more variety and it's undeniable that the formula's been stale for a while. These films take up a lot of resources, screen time and discussion space. At the same time, there have never been so many reboots, sequels and adaptations - all of which also apply to superhero movies. Wanting original stories and more genre variety is reasonable, as is pointing the finger at superhero movies as part of the reason why we don't have these things. If they hadn't existed, it's hard to imagine a single other genre filling the gap.

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[–] moviechatterer (13755) 13 days ago

Amen brother fuck that capeshit ,
I get that people can watch what they want/like , and i can watch my stuff but : theres just soooooooooooooooooooo much of it!

doom about the plight of modern media. As if nothing else exists. In an age with so much stylistically diverse media
yeah that me , i just cant help feeling the men-in-tights are strangling cinema like a cancer , taking all the studio's time money resources and attention.
If they didnt have this cash cow they might put some more effort into the "original stories not remakes all the time" that people bang on about.

To be honest I'd be happy with remakes and unoriginal formulaic tired old shit if it came with less superheroes.

Thanks god it seems to be on the decline and theres a growing wave of resentment

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