Over the years I have often found myself reacting negatively to works of fiction which have been hyped as "the best thing evarrr", multiple times before I've taken a closer look. It reaches a point where you can start resenting a movie or a book without having seen it, maybe at worst deciding not to see it at all. On principle I try not to actively avoid something and I won't talk poorly about it without a good reason, so I try to to stay open-minded and see if I can ignore the millions of fans frothing at the mouth and enjoy something on its own merits. Sometimes I'm positively surprised and do become a fan myself, as happened with the Harry Potter-series. I had heard so much about the books and the first few movies that I was sick of hearing about it, but when I got the first two books for my birthday I felt obligated to at least glance at them. I was immediately hooked and read through both books in a few days, and remained a fan until I became too old to enjoy the series anymore for its own worth. (Realizing how ridiculous it looked that all the magic was done by waving tiny little sticks didn't help either.) Anyhow, that was a positive example of when the hype makes me initially hesitant, but the work itself manages to win me over. It doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like and there are three instances in particular when the hype has reached such an annoying level that I check something out just to shut people up.

"300", based on Frank Miller's graphic novel was touted by both the media and many of my friend as a testosterone-laden action extravaganza and the "manliest movie you will ever see!!", but when I finally got around to seeing it I found it rather wimpy instead. I can't stand Zach Snyder's style of film-making, with the ugly colour-saturation, the stupid jumping between slow-mo and fast-mo, and CGI up the wazoo. It was a really tedious movie and I found the action overly choreographed and boring. But 300 didn't lose my interest simply because it was boring, but because it reminded me of everything I dislike with action-flicks of the 2000's. When I think of entertaining ridiculously testosterone-laden, ultra-manly movies, I go for the action-movies of the 1980's. "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger is to me at least the finest movie of the genre, because it is constantly on the verge of being a parody of itself. Overall, 300 tried to be the ultimate tough and manly action-movie, but the end result was so lackluster that I just found it having the opposite effect.

I didn't really care for the build-up for "The Avengers". I had very much enjoyed the first "Iron Man", but then the sequel and each of the other Marvel-movies after that was mainly a glorified prequel to "The Avengers", with "Thor" as the worst offender. I was legitimately worried that "Captain America" (the only movie I was truly hyped for) would similarly be the same, or even worse be too modernized from its roots in the 40's. But to my great joy it turned out to be a great movie on its own, reminiscent of old-timey pulp adventure. Still, when it came to "The Avengers" I refused to see it in theatres, even though I had greatly enjoyed "Captain America". I had disliked all the other Marvel-movies leading up to it, and I am forever the dissenter when people claim Joss Whedon to be a "god amongst geeks", because beyond "Firefly" I really do not like his work. But the biggest reason I refused to see the movie was how almost everyone I know were telling me that I must see it. No, I still wouldn't budge. I did eventually end up seeing "The Avengers", and I thought it was a moderately fun romp worthy of a bowl of popcorn, but nothing more.

Then finally we have "Game of Thrones". I have not read any of George R. R. Martins books (and now I most definitely will not), so I wasn't a fan when the show arrived with so much fanfare. Because it was going to air on HBO I had a strong feeling that it would be a show that I would not really enjoy watching, as HBO tends to amp up gory violence and the sex scenes more than I'm comfortable with watching on a weekly basis. I did watch the online preview of the first episode, but I found it to not really be in my taste so I ignored the show. Over the next month or so the internet was flooded with references and memes, and people wouldn't leave me alone about the show, more or less demanding that I watch it. "You like fantasy, don't you? You've seen Game of Thrones, right? You love Game of Thrones, right?" and so on. I started watching the first season mainly to shut people up, but also thinking that maybe I might actually enjoy it? Nope. Unfortunately I found "Game of Thrones" to be unpleasant, depressing and mostly boring, so I quit after forcing myself through six episodes. I can see the charm, I can see why people would like the show, but it really is not my thing. But there wouldn't be a problem if people had just let me ignore the damn show and stopped pestering me about it. Apparently I'm the one person on the planet who doesn't appreciate the show, as when I was (constantly) asked about how much do I love it, people tended to react to my response as if I've just admitted to being a necrophiliac or worse. Then people usually tried to evaluate my psyche and understand what was wrong with me if I didn't enjoy the masterpiece. All I can say is that I don't enjoy the story, for the same reason I find "Berserk" to be too excessive for me to enjoy. But I am not claiming it's a bad show, because what little I managed to see through had generally good acting, plus some excellent sets and props. I just don't respond well to everybody going on about it constantly and even trying to make me doubt my own opinion about it.