Is This a Bandwagon Worth Jumping Onto?

Some movies or TV shows or books become inescapable; they suddenly explode in popularity and no matter where you go, you’re surrounded by this pop culture phenomenon. It then seems like everyone is talking about the story or the characters with a fiery passion and you’re suddenly an outsider that has no idea what they’re all talking about. But they want you to understand and they do their best to convince you that it’s quite fantastic and you must watch/read it.

Sometimes I’ll instantaneously balk at whatever’s captured the public’s interest and avoid it as much as humanly possible until its moment in the sun eventually passes. While other times I’ll be curious enough to the join the majority in experiencing this mainstream phenomenon. It tends to be a mixed bag; sometimes I’ll discover something wonderful while other times I’ll sit in wonderment of why it’s popular at all. But hopefully I avoid the worst of the bad mainstream movies, TV shows and books; it all comes down to the crucial decision moment of whether or not I’ll give something a chance.

I can’t watch or read everything that becomes popular (and nor do I want to). While it’s nice to be in the pop culture loop (especially to understand when it’s being alluded to or parodied), I can’t care about everything. I won’t just blindingly throw myself into a story merely because it’s popular; I have to weigh my knowledge of the topic at hand and think if it’s worthy of my time and consider how interested am I in it really. Knowing which bandwagons to jump onto and which to avoid saves much time and annoyance. So I always ask myself if this bandwagon is worth jumping onto, because there are some that just aren’t worth it…at all. If the current bandwagon doesn't appeal to me, I can just wait for the next one, because if I'm going to jump on a bandwagon, I'd like it to be a good one.