Sunday Thoughts: Mainstream

Sometimes I wonder if the things I like will ever be accepted in the mainstream. Let me clarify. My favourite musician is Bob Dylan, my favourite film is The Empire Strikes Back. My favourite authors are all dead Americans who wrote about passion and drugs and freedom. I like comic book culture and video games.

None of these things would be seen as anything but niche or even geeky by the general public. But maybe that’s a misconception. Perhaps we’re listening to an ignorant minority simply because they shout loudest.

I like Bob Dylan. One of the world’s most critically successful recording artists, had a bit of a rough patch when he found Jesus but recently he’s been better than ever. His songs have been covered by Guns n’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix and Rage Against the Machine as well as countless others. He is an industry legend and regularly name-checked as one of the biggest influences on most of the top musical artists since the 60s. That feels mainstream to me and yet many people still say “Who?” when I mention him.

My favourite film is The Empire Strikes Back. This is somewhat of a cliché now. A lot of people say this is one of their favourite films simply because it was fashionable to like it, in an underground kind of way. It is acclaimed by most critics to be the best of the Star Wars trilogy which was, until the recent trilogy of films sullied the name slightly (although I like those too), a stand-out franchise in the history of movies. But talk about the disgrace of making Greedo shoot first while you’re at a family party and see how quickly people change the subject.

I love American literature by authors like Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski. While the rest of the world only has room in their hearts for religious conspiracies, teenage wizards and angst-ridden sparkly vampires I draw confused looks by trying to shift the conversation towards Hunter’s coverage of the 1972 US Presidential Election. But Johnny Depp has just made another of Thompson’s books into a film and it will be fashionable again.

I like comic book culture; I’ve always been a massive fan of Batman. When I was young I loved Spiderman and Superman too. In my teens I loved Judge Dredd (and much of the rest of 2000AD) and Tank Girl. Although my interest in comic books was long forgotten during my early-to-mid twenties it has recently been reignited.

My love for graphic novels and the surrounding culture often draws amused smirks among my extended family but they weren’t smirking when Dark Knight broke box office records. They were laughing hard at Kick Ass and, no doubt, they will think Scott Pilgrim is funny in a kooky kind of way. Even Twilight, the terrible – but terribly popular – book and movie series has a graphic novel version now.

Ah, we’ve got to the part about video games. I love video games and I always have. I am confident now that there’s nothing wrong with my love for them but that wasn’t always the case. I remember feeling slightly awkward about looking in games retailers when I was shopping with a new girlfriend. I remember switching off my PlayStation (the first one!) before old friends came round. Or replacing Final Fantasy VII with International Superstar Soccer.

Now I regularly get phone calls from family and friends asking me when something is released or what Wii game they should buy next. My hobby has become the world’s largest grossing entertainment medium and is developing into much more than a simple hobby for me at a time when my mainstream, acceptable skills have let me down.

So what is mainstream? What is socially acceptable in this disposable age? Recent (retracted) comments from a widely-read tabloid and as-yet-unrepentant comments from the journalist that wrote them still paint gamers as socially inept and culturally bereft. Those same sources will probably pay to see a movie based on a video game in the next twelve months. They have already, perhaps unwittingly, enjoyed countless references to video games and they’re probably too ignorant of the culture to realise it.

I would argue that we’re now in the majority. It’s time for us to stop sighing loudly and moaning when some ignorant, outdated fool vomits their pathetically lazy opinion on us. We’re the mainstream. We don’t have to justify ourselves any more. The ignorant – but loud – minority will continue to spill their stupidity in public but why should we give it the credence it is so plainly undeserving of? They’re only embarrassing themselves. Surely it’s time to start giving this opinion the recognition it deserves – none.