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It's Popular, Now It Sucks: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:nydncartoon.jpg|link=Star Trek (Film)|
{{quote|''"Poseurs! I hated Zoidberg before it was cool."''|'''Bender''', ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]''}}
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You'd think that your favorite artist making it big would be something to celebrate. To a large segment of modern youth, and to the eternal critic, however, a wide fanbase does not mean the media in question appeals to a lot of people, but rather that it is [[Lowest Common Denominator|low-IQ trash with No Soul]] that has "Become Commercial" and "Sold Out", possibly to the Marketing Machine or even [[Satan]] Himself. This results in a subsection of [[Fan Dumb]] and an extreme form of the [[Unpleasable Fanbase]].
In some cases, it's not an unreasonable complaint if the quality of the work begins to suffer as a result of the artist's popularity. If the artist begins to squander their talent or water down what made it interesting to make it acceptable to the [[Lowest Common Denominator]], or [[Pandering to The Base]] rather than expanding themselves as artists in the process, then it's not unreasonable that the fans might start crying foul. Likewise, if the artist becomes a [[Small Name, Big Ego|raging egomaniacal tool]] who believes that they can [[Fan Disillusionment|treat their fans like dirt]] and [[Protection From Editors|don't need to listen to their editors]], things might go downhill fast. Perhaps their fame will rise [[Artist Disillusionment|beyond a level they can cope with]]. On another, more subjective note, the popularity and acclaim of an actually solid artist or work may rise to hyperbolic, unwarranted heights, which can have a negative effect if [[Hype Backlash|the hype cannot possibly match the reality]]. Where live performances are involved, larger, less intimate venues will generally be required - perhaps a situation in which the performers don’t come across so well -- and audience demographics may change, the newcomers behaving differently to the older fans, causing an overall change in atmosphere. And finally, some things ''are'' better in small doses, in which case the last thing you want is to be over-exposed to it.
However, in too many cases, the cry of "It's Popular, Now It Sucks!" is more about snobbery than anything else. When the artist was a small name or a cult favorite, being one of their fans felt like being in an exclusive little club, but now membership has been opened up to the 'sheep', the original fans may feel a lot less special. Alternatively, some critics seem to enjoy the attention that comes from criticizing something popular, or feeling more intelligent and superior about being the only ones capable of possessing the high standards not to "follow the herd". Some also seem to believe that artists should work and create art [[Doing It for The Art|solely for the sake of art]], without consideration of anything so uncouth as critical, popular or especially [[Money, Dear Boy|financial reward -- forgetting (or perhaps not even realizing) artists still need to put food on the table and pay rent]]. In these cases, it might be more accurate to say that when these fans say the creator should create art
In either case, this elitist tendency essentially turns [[Fandom]] into a speculations market -- if you like it before it's popular, or if you hate something because it's popular, only then does your profit margin in coolness points amount to anything when you fling away your shares in the fandom in horror of the masses. (Incidentally, note the jargon here. "Speculations market". "Profit margin". "Shares". [[Not So Different|Ironic, no?]]) Of course, if it never Sells Out, no one will get the name recognition when you say "I liked X before it was popular." Ironically, fandoms of little-known works almost always expand by word of mouth -- ''the very reason it became popular'' is that these people kept talking about how cool it was, and enjoying acclaim from being the one "in the know" about a good work before anyone else. (Which they lose when it becomes popular.) For further irony value, these snobs often claim to be X's [[Fan Dumb|original and/]][[Logic Bomb|or true fans]] -- but, in dropping X like a hot potato after X becomes popular, they actually reveal themselves to be fair weather fans (or, if you prefer, foul weather fans), since if they truly were a fan of X, then they would be supportive of X becoming popular.
As you can see on the quote, sometimes people only just trash something that's popular because they want to be accepted by their peers -- you'd be surprised how many people actually ''do'' trash stuff that's popular may have [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|only read an opinion leader's review no matter how flawed and]] marred with [[Hate Dumb]].
A variant of this trope is the cry that "It's Popular, '''so''' it Sucks". To these people, the only way a work can become popular is by being [[Lowest Common Denominator|dumb, "safe" and middle-of-the-road]], and therefore mediocre. (Sometimes however, lesser known works are prone to criticism for some people simply by virtue of obscurity, believing that anything that isn't mainstream is "too weird". [[Quality By Popular Vote|However that's another story entirely]].)
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Many of these works that get this tend to get subjected to the fallacy that "the more mainstream something is, the more critical people are of it." High profile works in particular are prone to getting picked apart, while lesser known works are looked on much more favorably, with their flaws mostly overlooked, or perhaps even [[Complaining About People Not Liking the Show|granted immunity to]] [[Unacceptable Targets|any form of criticism]] [[Sacred Cow|in any way]].
Related to [[Newbie Boom]] and [[Lowest Common Denominator]]. A subtrope of [[Fan Dumb]] and [[Hate Dumb]]. Often overlaps with [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]], [[Ruined FOREVER (Darth Wiki)|Ruined FOREVER]], and [[Hype Backlash]]. Compare with [[Three Chords and The Truth]] and [[Opinion Myopia]]. Contrast with [[Quality By Popular Vote]]. If this backlash is due to actual deterioration after hitting it big rather than pretentiousness, see [[Protection From Editors]]. [[Japandering]] is sometimes done when the artist is specifically trying to avoid this. When musicians hold this opinion for one of their own songs, it's a [[Black Sheep Hit]]. Differs from [[Hype Aversion]] in that it's not so much fear of crazy fans as it is scorn for the proles.
Don't worry, though, because [[The Man Is Sticking It to The Man]]. And let's not forget that [[Fan Dumb|according to these folks]], Popular Art is not "[[True Art]]".
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