Which is better? Mainstream quality or underrated quality?

[D4isuke]

I want to ask, but for my answer, I think it's either of them.... if only the quality of the story is good.... I considered some (or most) popular shows are greatly suck at giving some meaning. It's like... it's just for the sake of hype only. Personally, when you analyze the story well, it'll be great for most readers or viewers to give the comprehension within the character or the plot. For example, watching Maquia (which is the underrated yet the best movie for me) tells you not just be a mother who watches her son to be rotten by age while having a longer life span than him, but it tells you, "If you fall in love, you will truly become alone.". It means to the fact that love can sometimes kill or try to kill a person with inadvertent methods that even every person haven't notice closely. Even dating a girl is sometimes a time-torturing yet gives meaning or harms your soul to the fact that in the first place, he/she isn't into you at all. Although comparing to the mainstream shows or movies (that has suck storytelling like Solo-Leveling, Bleach, Naruto, Fairytail, some Star Wars, some Harry Potter), it feels mild for me that you're just watching or reading it for the sake of your dazzling hype that you wanna get wet to. I know there's some story arcs that are worth masterpiece, but the goal of the story is just okay as it is, but the reality just slack it off for a bit like it tells you that it's kinda impossible, and I understand that these hype-worth stories are just boosters to get you alive, but for me, it's like preaching a gospel with absurd mentality that most teens and adults will gain their "middle-age syndrome"— only I'm referring to the stupid cliches and scenes that are over and over and over and over again!!!

Some mainstream shows like Konosuba, Re: Zero, and Dr. Stone (the educational and plot part of Dr. Stone is totally fine for me) are mostly what I appreciated, but I think most people especially those who hooks into mainstream media mostly needs to dig down into the deepest core of philosophy rather than "THIS SHOW IS TRASH!!"... I mean, who made these closed-minded people? Is this how marketing of the production resulted to? I rather get my mind getting blown up other than just getting my nerves hype for the sake of my self-orgasm. What they think that is very clever is the trying to outwit through power scale, but what most people think that is truly clever is outwitting through expandable knowledge.

So...

What's the point of getting hype at the story that is so dense and simple?

 

[gaylolis]

well, i don't really give a damn about the mainstream anymore. i will just pick what i'm interested in.

the only difference is the amount of seeders i can get at piratebay or nyaa.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

It depends on your motivations for writing in the first place. If you're doing it for money, getting all the hype you can makes sense. If you're doing it to make a statement about a topic, you might throw in a few hooks to keep people interested, but the core of the story needs to remain strong.

"We are not merely participants in culture but creators of it." - Kari Rakitan

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I want to ask, but for my answer, I think it's either of them.... if only the quality of the story is good.... I considered some (or most) popular shows are greatly suck at giving some meaning. It's like... it's just for the sake of hype only. Personally, when you analyze the story well, it'll be great for most readers or viewers to give the comprehension within the character or the plot. For example, watching Maquia (which is the underrated yet the best movie for me) tells you not just be a mother who watches her son to be rotten by age while having a longer life span than him, but it tells you, "If you fall in love, you will truly become alone.". It means to the fact that love can sometimes kill or try to kill a person with inadvertent methods that even every person haven't notice closely. Even dating a girl is sometimes a time-torturing yet gives meaning or harms your soul to the fact that in the first place, he/she isn't into you at all. Although comparing to the mainstream shows or movies (that has suck storytelling like Solo-Leveling, Bleach, Naruto, Fairytail, some Star Wars, some Harry Potter), it feels mild for me that you're just watching or reading it for the sake of your dazzling hype that you wanna get wet to. I know there's some story arcs that are worth masterpiece, but the goal of the story is just okay as it is, but the reality just slack it off for a bit like it tells you that it's kinda impossible, and I understand that these hype-worth stories are just boosters to get you alive, but for me, it's like preaching a gospel with absurd mentality that most teens and adults will gain their "middle-age syndrome"— only I'm referring to the stupid cliches and scenes that are over and over and over and over again!!!

Some mainstream shows like Konosuba, Re: Zero, and Dr. Stone (the educational and plot part of Dr. Stone is totally fine for me) are mostly what I appreciated, but I think most people especially those who hooks into mainstream media mostly needs to dig down into the deepest core of philosophy rather than "THIS SHOW IS TRASH!!"... I mean, who made these closed-minded people? Is this how marketing of the production resulted to? I rather get my mind getting blown up other than just getting my nerves hype for the sake of my self-orgasm. What they think that is very clever is the trying to outwit through power scale, but what most people think that is truly clever is outwitting through expandable knowledge.

So...

What's the point of getting hype at the story that is so dense and simple?

Nah mate you dont get it the only REAL defining characteristic of what is mainstream is popularity. Doesnt matter how weird or whatever a story is, once it gets popular enough its pretty mainstream.

Shit that gains traction is all that defines what becomes the new normal, the new mainstream.

As for that last sentence...whats wrong with liking simple and demse stories? Why cant people get excited for them? They like those stories. They wouldnt be so damn mainstream and overused if people didnt like them.

In the end all that matters is the entertainment value


Philosophy? Deep and intricate character design? Compelling narrative, a fleshed out world and lessons about life or other teachings the story may be trying to convey?

Secondary. Always. No contest. What matters to people is if they are being entertained or if the story can hold their interest.

No matter how simple, dense or overused that story is, if there are enough people interested in it that story will become known throughout the ages.

Have you ever even READ the Bible, for example? Bruh. Craziest shit ever but it got so popular its inspired zealots for hundreds of years.

Same with all these isekai and cultivation novels. They trash, but POPULAR trash. So they mainstream now.

They werent mainstream five to ten years ago.

EDIT
As for underrated stories that just bad marketing or timing. Like Titanfall 2. Called a great game by many now but it flopped in its initial release cuz it was overshadowed by two big name games that released around the same time. So the studio went under amd had to sell itself to...EA? I think.

Anyway yeah, underrated stuff isnt underrated. Not an underdog, not something people just ignored...they were just either unlucky or bad at advertising.

Treasure Planet had that same second problem. It revealed the whole plot in its trailers so few people watched it cuz they knew what was going on. Even revealed the villain. So it flopped too, only being popular and loved later on

 

[BenJepheneT]

As sad as it seems we're all but humans. Doesn't matter how high our psyche reaches or how deep our minds can think. We just want one thing: fulfillment.

This is our basest desires. It doesn't matter whether the theme is philosophical or that the characters could very well be your neighbor or your mother; if it doesn't fulfill at least some degree of fantasy, it's gonna get pushed to the wayside.

Of course, not everyone thinks that way. Maybe they're so desensitized by mainstream media that they get fulfillment from somewhere else. Either way, that's a minority. A majority just wanna punch something really bad really hard, and thus the mainstream is born.

You can't really fight against it. It's a formless entity. Unless you can inspire and convince the populace to enjoy something else, chances are things are gonna stay as what they are, regardless of how much you discuss it.

So be your own judge. One of the things I despise are people judging products solely based on scores media outlets give, or the popularity it has. "If it ain't mainstream, it ain't gud" type shit. I fucking hate it. Read what you want and make your own decisions. Don't be afraid to go against the popular opinion. My Hero Academia is one of the most default shounen boredom I've ever laid eyes upon and I'm not afraid to say it.

 

[Moctemma]

Clearly the answer is quality. Mainstream or not doesn't matter.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Clearly the answer is quality. Mainstream or not doesn't matter.

Quality is entirely subjective tho. There are standards but they aren't universal

 

[D4isuke]

Same with all these isekai and cultivation novels. They trash, but POPULAR trash. So they mainstream now.

Sadly agree to this, most writers, editors, and publishers inadvertently tend to make it and abuse it to trash like how kadokawa picked the novel from the particular Japanese webnovel site— when in fact they just wrote it for hobby. I mean, they only seek source material for marketing only. Like a particular issue when the editor wrote 200 pages other than writer itself since he got suck and somehow the story put only the credit to the editor only.... https://japantoday.com/category/fea...’t-write-aren’t-the-ones-creating-their-books

Secondary. Always. No contest. What matters to people is if they are being entertained or if the story can hold their interest.

I don't know why writing contest are existing, but that thing pisses me off for some reason

It depend on your motivations for writing in the first place. If you're doing it for money, getting all the hype you can makes sense. If you're doing it to make a statement about a topic, you might throw in a few hooks to keep people interested, but the core of the story needs to remain strong.

"We are not merely participants in culture but creators of it." - Kari Rakitan

Sadly most "participants" are abusing the creators through harsh or harmful criticism like "TRASH!". Also, I'm not doing it for money. I just want to express something within.

suck storytelling

I think it's kinda harsh and feel sorry for me to say that word, but mehh.... it's just my personal taste.

 

[Jemini]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV Series 2009–2010) ⭐ 9.1 | Animation, Action, Adventure

24m | TV-14

www.imdb.com

Nijuu Mensou no Musume

To the public, Nijuu Mensou is known for his flawlessly executed heists and the advance warnings he sends his victims. But the gentleman thief is no common criminal—he firmly opposes killing and primarily targets those he views as pigs. One job brings Nijuu Mensou to the Mikamo residence, where...

myanimelist.net

Enough said. (Watch the 1st couple episodes of both, you'll get what I mean.)

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Sadly most "participants" are abusing the creators through harsh or harmful criticism like "TRASH!". Also, I'm not doing it for money. I just want to express something within.

This is exactly why I decided to take pride in having one-star ratings. I don't have to know how many actual haters I have that way.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

This is exactly why I decided to take pride in having one-star ratings. I don't have to know how many actual haters I have that way.

I was bold enough to click on your banner and holy moly, your story hit a veritable hornet nest.

 

[Moctemma]

Quality is entirely subjective tho. There are standards but they aren't universal

I agree. The difference in plot structure between western media and east, is what comes to mind. But we can define quality based on mistakes and the impact they have.
For example, a novel skipping the most important part of the character arc of a secondary character will have better quality than a novel where the same happens, but with the MC.
So the less terrible mistakes, the quality increases. Though that doesn't mean it will perform better with the audience.

 

[Mephi]

I don't think that quality isn't entirely subjective. People always say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the truth is that there's some certain traits that are universal across all humans. Humans love symmetry. Especially in faces. Humans generally notice faces before anything else. Healthy appearances are also something that people tend to find attractive. After that, we start getting into wealth and power working into beauty standards, though that's a bit trickier.

Anyways, the point is that, at the end of the day, there's at least a minimum of quality you need before it starts getting into personal preferences. Anything goes as long as its above that bar.

 

[AliceShiki]

I'm not exactly sure what your point is, but uhn...

well, i don't really give a damn about the mainstream anymore. i will just pick what i'm interested in.

the only difference is the amount of seeders i can get at piratebay or nyaa.

Gaylolis nailed it. I care for what I like and only that~