Why do people pay attention to the hype at all?

DonZabu

Here's a conundrum:

I don't pay attention to hype. I don't watch trailers, I don't follow E3, and I certainly don't pay attention to any sort of media buzz surrounding anything new. Most of the stuff I partake in is stuff I partake in several months after the fact. It's barely even been a force of will on my part; it just comes naturally.

All hype seems to do is ruin people's experiences because the pre-conceived notions they have color their perceptions. And yet from what I've seen, the basis of a lot of people's opinions on a lot of things, positive opinion or negative opinion, is rooted in that hype. My question, therefore, is thus: if it's so easy for me to not pay attention to hype, why doesn't it seem easy for anybody else?

This came to a head after I'd seen Inception. I'd barely heard anything about it beforehand, and I thought it was awesome. Most of the negative reviews I read of it seemed to boil down to "it's not as mind-screwy as everyone says it is, therefore it's bad" or "it's not as intelligent and complicated as people make it out to be, therefore it's bad" (please don't take this as an "anybody who didn't like X is a moron" thing, that's not what I'm shooting for). It would seem to me that the most prudent solution would be to not pay attention to what everybody else says it is, or at least try not to. And yet they let that happen. I don't understand it. 

And Inception is nowhere near the only place I've noticed this sort of thing.

TL;DR: DonZabu doesn't get why people seem to willingly embrace/seek out Hype Backlash/Hype Aversion.

arks

I think it's like this. You can't experience everything, so you need a filter. Hype can work as one of the filters. If something is being talked about a lot. You know of its existence. You hear about it all the time. You get curious.

Noimporta

Pretty much, besides, hype is what media lives on. Watching a show years after it was made, for example, will rarely result in a benefit for its makers.

Longfellow

I don't watch trailers

Gene Siskel refused to watch trailers, standing outside the theater when they were on or, if he couldn't do that, closing his eyes and ears in the showing room itself. That's commitment.

I think the dangerous thing is for hype to swell before the movie (or game, or whatever) comes out. After the movie's released and the critics have had at it? Maybe there's a kernel of truth in the reaction. But it has to be a reaction, not a preaction.

My way to avoid hype is to consume old media. Last movies I saw were Back to the Future, Dr. Strangelove, and Some Like It Hot. All great movies. I don't need my finger on the modern pulse to entertain myself.

arks

Gene Siskel was in a unique position in that it's his job to watch every major movie that comes out.

mathias

Old movies can be just as hyped as new movies, although in a different way. They can be touted so much as classics that some people might indeed feel like they have been hyped and they will be dissapointed when they see them. Of course Dr. Strangelove not only lives up to it's hype, it supercedes it in every way and is one of my all-time favourite movies. I love that movie.

Anyways, yes ideally one shouldn't be affected by hype. In practice I think a lot of people are and it's pretty hard to go into an extremely popular or critically acclaimed movie without any preconceptions. I think I have become pretty good at severing my enjoyment of something from the hype as I have grown older, though I still call certain things out on being overrated or overhyped. When I was a young child, I was rather childish (not surprising really) and had a very "it's popular, so it must suck" mindset though.

thatguythere47

I follow games before they come out, getting a sense of how it works and the plot is always enjoyable. I got really into the GTA 4 launch, the super forum was crazy. 20 minutes after a trailer was released someone would have broken it down to the frames and people would be going over it for anything new. Fun times. 

Khwarizmi

So what you're saying is, don't believe the hype? :P

I usually read up on things before I consider seeing/buying them, which can actually be a problem because I'm also ridiculously spoiler-averse.

But I don't think hype is really necessary, not always.  I mean, I went to see Inception because my friends were going.  Didn't have a clue what it was about, who was in it, what genre it was, anything.  Loved it.  Similar thing with District 9, although I had at least heard of that one before, so I had a vague idea what to expect.

thatguythere47

Remain at a healthy distance from it at least, lest you fall into the fable trap. 

Longfellow

Old movies can be just as hyped as new movies, although in a different way. They can be touted so much as classics that some people might indeed feel like they have been hyped and they will be dissapointed when they see them. Of course Dr. Strangelove not only lives up to it's hype, it supercedes it in every way and is one of my all-time favourite movies. I love that movie.

Yes, and I do choose old movies largely on whether they are classics. That said, I think that kind of hype is more appropriate than hype that comes before a movie's even released, the kind of hype that gets people waiting for hours in line to see Big Movie Franchise 2 or to watch a movie because it's been overplayed in trailers.

Obscure1

What are you defining hype as? I think my definition would be be narrower than yours.
I'd include advertisements, quick reviews etc as hype and agree that it should be ignored. But reccomendations from friends or the movie having become known as a classic through pop cultural osmosis are often good indications if the film will interest me. Of course films that are being touted as classics for a anniversary DVD or to promote an actor or director still count as hype of course.