So, this thread is mostly brought on by people's current thoughts on World of Warcraft, but you'll notice that I put this in General Off-topic. The main reason for this is that Wow is barely going to be talked about in this thread. The two main subjects of my discussion here are going to be between two YouTube channels (I won't link them for obvious reasons, but if you want to know what channels I am talking about, I'll be naming them).

To start, I first want to say this; If you genuinely dislike something, that is fine. Not everything can live up to expectation. Maybe the Burger you heard about isn't as tasty when you experienced it. That's fine. The point of this thread isn't to say that you're wrong for disliking it. The point of this thread is to hopefully try and change people's mind about a hyperbolic reaction to the content they take in, regardless of what that content is.

With the prefaces out of the way, let's begin. Liking things vs Hating things. We're all familiar with it, but I've been noticing for a long while, and more so recently, the voices of hating things gaining more wind, and flat out stating that "You're not allowed to like this", which I find a bit silly. When I read into why someone dislikes something (when it's well explained), I usually find the reason to be... Quite odd. With Wow, I can understand some of it, but not a lot of it. I genuinely like the game in it's current state. But I also can admit that there are some obvious flaws with the product right now. But I won't go into that.

The two comparisons to help serve my point I'll be making are two YouTube channels with polar opposite approaches to the same kind of concept. But first, let me further explain myself. I genuinely feel that every game is worth playing, and holds (usually) some merit to it. Every movie (usually) is worth watching. People might hate Shrek the Third, and say that it's a Movie that shouldn't of been made, but I feel that it brings enough to the table, and I'm glad to have watched it. Is it my favorite? No, but that's not the bar by which I gauge things. Did I enjoy it? Oh yeah, I definitely did. And that's how I gauge it. Not everything has to top what came before it, be it in a series, or just by what it gets compared to. Despicable me vs Megamind? I prefer Megamind, but I'm glad that Despicable Me came out, I've yet to see it personally, but I want to watch it. Will it beat Megamind? Likely not, but I look forward to the experience that I'll have with it.

So with the context of how I feel out of the way, let me move onto the two comparisons I want to make. Note, that I'm not going to be discussing any of these channel's shortcomings, flaws, or things like that. I'm not going to critique them, review them, or things like that. I just want to take their base concepts, and compare them, and share with you why I enjoy one way over the other, and what lessons from that we should all strive to apply to how we view content we consume.

CinemaSins vs CinemaWins.

CinemaSins


Oh what a channel, their slogan is "No movie is without sin", and their approach to their channel content, in a broad sense, is to take a movie, analyze it, and point out every single nitpick they can think of. Be it a plot problem they find, or just a filming error. Their content at first started at around 5 minutes or less, but as the channel moved along, it started reaching 20 minutes or more on average. Their approach to film critique is to be over-analytical to the point of insanity, everything the characters in the movies they analyze is up for review, and if they find problem with it, they'll let you know. They're the over expecting, high bar kind of people (I know this channel is meant as satire, but I'm just giving a blanket synopsis here). To put it simply, the channel criticizes to an absurd degree, but NEVER points out the positive.

CinemaWins


Another movie review channel, but on the complete opposite spectrum. They take a movie, and talk about all what is good about the movie. From character points, plot points, reveals, twists, music choice, camera work, animation, detail, anything film related is up for review as well, but they generally talk about the positives. Occasionally they admit some things aren't great, and take a point off, but this is more rare then you would expect. They talk about the worth of a movie, and to further separate themselves from their counterpart, after they're done going through the movie, they talk about their own feelings, experiences, and thoughts on the movie at hand, sometimes comparing it to other works they've seen. A great example of them doing this is with the Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi. The vast popular opinion is that The Last Jedi is a mistake, and should go down as the worst movie in history. (I have not seen the Rise of Skywalker yet, nor has he done a video on it yet.) CinemaWins goes through the movie, admitting when things are bad, but for the most part, focuses on what's good about it, and convinced me to watch it, and give it a fair shake, and I'm not afraid to admit that I enjoyed the movie. I see the problems, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment.


It's not too hard to see which channel I prefer. CinemaWins exudes so much positivity that I could watch any movie they suggest and find enjoyment in it. Of course, I don't usually let reviews persuade me on what I should watch, or enjoy. Public opinion is important to a degree, but it shouldn't factor into your own personal feelings. CinemaWins' channel slogan is "Because liking things is more fun then not liking things" and I can't agree any more then I currently do.

You're allowed to dislike something. But let it be genuine dislike. Let it be because the product was unabashadly bad. But if there were just a few bad things in something you otherwise enjoy, don't be afraid to say that you liked it. Sure, that banana had a brown spot on it, but you still ate the whole banana, and on a whole, enjoyed that banana.

Don't let the need to be negative cloud your judgment on what is good, or what is bad. Be it movies, games, anything that warrants a review... Don't let the negative outweigh the good. Expectations can be a dangerous balance on a sharp knife. If you set the expectations high, then you add more weight as you balance on that knife's edge, and you're more likely to get cut as a result. We can all expect things, have high hopes, but if a movie, game, or otherwise fails to meet those expectations, it can easily lead to a sense of let down, betrayal, or more. Go into the content you consume not with the expectation for it to replace your #1 movie or game, but for you to enjoy your time with it. If you measure it by it's own worth, then you'll find that you enjoy it all the more.

It's easy to hate... But it's better to love.