I can't believe you don't like...

Like any normal person, I likes what I like. I have opinions about everything from movies to yogurt flavors. I understand that my opinions aren't shared by everybody and that's ok. In fact, that's a very good thing. Life would be no fun if everybody liked and disliked the same exact things (just look at Quebec).







Apparently, there are certain things that no one is allowed to dislike. You know what I'm talking about. "I can't believe you don't like [insert hyped up reference here]!" We've all been victims of this and most of us have probably been guilty of it. Well, it pisses me off! What, am I some kind of freak because I found Gone With the Wind boring? I'm not a true Vermonter because I hate skiing? Screw that. This is America and I can feel what I want to do! (Italics indicate angry and indignant hick twang). __________ (frankly, I really don't give a damn!)







The most recent example of this that I've encountered is The Dark Knight. Personally, I loved this movie. I plan on writing an actual review on it later (maybe). There's a website I visit where four reviews gave their opinions on the movie. Two reviewers gave it 5 (out of 5) bullets, one gave it 4.5 bullets, and one gave it 2 bullets. The reaction to the 2 bullets is what sparked this little rant. "How could you not like this movie??" "This was the best comic book movie ever!!" The guy wrote his reasons for not liking the movie and he supported his reasoning. Enough said.







This brings me to another point, not being allowed to dislike dead people. Now, I'm not promoting speaking ill of the dead by any means. I appreciate having respect for the deceased. That being said, if a jerk dies, he was still a jerk when he was alive. If a bad actor dies, he was still a bad actor when he was alive. As for Heath Ledger, I thought he was a fantastic actor and I've thought so since 10 Things I Hate About You. I was genuinely upset when he died because he was one young actor that I really had high hopes for. For the record, I thought he was fantastic Joker and he really made that movie for me. He was a much better Joker than Jack Nicholson ("How can you say that?? Jack was the original!!") As much as I loved his performance, I'm not going to crucify you for not liking it. Furthermore, I find it very hard to believe that there would be Oscar talk if Heath were still alive. But there is. And maybe it's deserved, I don't know, I'm not in the "academy". Has an actor or actress in a comic book movie ever been nominated for an Oscar? That's a genuine question, I'm too lazy to look it up.





I did not intend to turn this into a post about Heath Ledger. This is a post about the freedom of opinion. Unfortunately I share the general "hyped-up" opinion about The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's performance, so my point may fall flat, but if you do not share that opinion, feel free to say so and you will not get any grief from me.





Well, original plan was to make a list of things that generally get a "I can't believe you didn't like..." reaction in the face of criticism. Unfortunately, I can't really think of a lot of examples right now so I'm going to make a tentative list that can be added to in the future. Feel free to give me some input. This is not a list of things I don't like. In fact I'm a fan of most of this stuff. But if I wasn't, what's it to you?





I Can't Believe You Don't Like...

• Gone With the Wind (see above)
• James Bond
• Elvis
• The Simpsons
• Lord of the Rings (book and movie)
• Harry Potter (books)
• The Beatles
• Mother Theresa
• Christmas
• Nirvana
• Mr. Willis
• Oreos
• Watchmen (comic)
• Michael Keaton as Batman
• Tom Hanks
• Bob Marley (thanks Emma)