Praising Shows You Don't Watch: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Definition of a classic — something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.''|'''[[Mark Twain]]'''}}

The Inverse of [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]], in which these people somehow know ''exactly'' how good something is, without having ever actually ''seen'' it. Maybe they saw so much praise they feel like they can account for having actually watched it for themselves, or maybe they're just carbon-copying someone's opinions to fit into the group. Or they have seen a fragment of the work, liked it, and assumed the rest is equally good. Who knows? Similar to [[NeverComplaining WatchedAbout ItShows You Don't Watch|somehow knowing a show is utter crap without having seen an episode]], it's one of the greatest mysteries of human culture, and has only been [[GIFT|exacerbated]] by the Age of the Internet.

== [[Anime]]/ and [[Manga]] ==

* In the 1990s, the success of the movies of ''[[Akira]]'' and ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' meant that many in the West professed to be 'into manga', in many cases without ever seeing any more examples of the form than those two films. Or appreciating the difference between manga and anime. Or that there's a ''lot'' of different genres within the anime/ and manga world, besides [[dystopia]]n sci-fi.

* Happens a ''lot'' with movies—moviesfilms—films known for being good, but unseen by many of the people who praise them. Many of these nevertheless become used as benchmarks, which terrible movies will often (according to many a review and rant) be described as "making merely [[So Okay It's Average|mediocre movies]] look like...".

* In Islam, it is very important to learn about the[[The KoranQur'an]]. It's not limited to just reading it either. Memorization of Al-Fatiha is important, as it is needed for prayer. Indeed, there are many people all around the world who have memorized the KoranQur'an by heart. Unfortunately, like with [[The Bible]], there are many who praise the KoranQur'an yet rarely ever read it.

* William Shirer characterized ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' as the bestselling book in Germany between 1934-1944 that was never read by most Germans who bought it.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' gets this, too. Mostly for people who haven't exactly read it, but praise it more for what they accomplished.

** That's debatable, as most people can only repeat the concept of Big Brother and think of it as an extreme form of totalitarianism that sees everything and controls everything. Anyone who has actually read 1984''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' knows that the vast majority of the population (the proles) doesn't need to be closely watched and it's only the Party itself that must be controlled. The repression in 1984 then is less caused by strong governmental control as most people imply when they try to make analogies about 1984, and instead it's an internalized repression that people enter almost willingly. The big concept in 1984''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' is not Big Brother; it's toughtcrimethoughtcrime.

* [[Mark Twain]] would be displeased to learn that ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]'' now meets his definition of "classic." When most people discuss the book, they refer to one scene—Tomscene — Tom tricking his friends into whitewashing a fence for him. This occurs in Chapter 2. Either that is an incredibly awesome scene, or it's got 'most quoted' status in school textbooks, or most people stop reading around page twenty. You can tell that someone has actually read the whole thing when they refer to other memorable scenes, like getting lost in the caves, and Tom and Huck attending their own funeral.

* [[Richard Feynman]] mentioned in his autobiography a case when one publisher sent a schoolbook to the California State Curriculum Commission, but it wasn't ready for print, so it had ''empty pages''. Six out of the ten members of the commission ''still'' rated the book favorably—literallyfavorably — literally judging it by the cover! Ironically, it was one of the highest rated books, and according to Feynman's autobiographical account, none of the other members understood why he hadn't rated the textbook.

* Many works of mythology, such as ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', [[King Arthur]] and various other texts of [[Classical Mythology]] and other myths. Although many are well-respected as inspirations for modern fantasy and great storylines by themselves, probably few people have probably actually read them.

* ''[[A Brief History of Time}]]'' and ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach|Godel Escher and Bach]]'' are both well-known for this, the former having been described as "the most unread book ever written". These tend to be the sort of books that people leave on their bookshelves or coffee tables to look sophisticated, but because the books are quite challenging to read, only a handful of people who own them have ever finished them.

** Parodied by this ''[[Funny Or Die]]'' vid: "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131023230514/http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/662c3c3a0b/take-off-your-tshirt-if-you-cant-name-a-song-by-the-band-thats-on-it-from-watt-white Take Off Your T-Shirt If You Can't Name A Song By The Band That's On It]".