| Because most people dislike snobs. |
*kappa* |
| What I don't like are the people who will watch/read a few seinen (such as berserk or monster) and then act like everything else is that isn't "serious anime" is garbage. In many cases these people also have less than 100 anime watched so they're making these judgements while only having seen the very tip of the iceberg. |
IdeDial said: On the other hand, "elitist" is mainly a title flung at people who seem to have well-founded problems with popular anime or shounen, ecchi, and moe anime. If that's what elitism is in practice, then why is it a bad thing? It's really just the way they present their thoughts/criticisms. If they're unnecessarily rude not just towards those genres, but also towards the people who love watching them, they're literally jerks. Elitism is fine if kept to oneself, but acting pompous about it while looking down on others is not. |
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| Realistically, because that's not elitism in practice. I'd say primarily, elitism shows itself with two camps of individuals: the general "only consumes peak" type, in which their top ten are easily identified in the MAL top 50, with very little depth that they can extrude from their favorites. It's a shallow, and oftentimes haughty, approach to the consumption and engagement with the medium of animanga. These are the usual anitwitter elitists or seinenbros who have very little care or love for the works, and don't meaningfully engage with the medium. It's a rather vapid form of elitism, as it doesn't even have the decency to engage with discussion any further than liking Vagabond or Vinland saga because their suffer-merchant becomes enlightenment slop before they go back to meat riding Boruto. (side note, i'm not dissing either of the actual good works as listed above) The second encampment are of the more egotistical variety, these are the people i'd say you find more consistently as "actual elitists" and it primarily stems from the attitudes they have towards others, towards their own favorites, and how they interact with others on this (and other) forum type websites. These individuals are terribly snobbish, outwardly rude, and believe themselves to be the center point of artistic experience, that only through their eyes can the most vivid, profound, and important comprehension of art can exist (or at the very least, some simulacrum of that generalized behavior). Primarily, the reason elitism is often frowned upon is because of the overly snobbish and haughty attitudes it carries with them. There's no respect towards others, if you disagree with them you are simply intellectually stunted and no more than a layperson, and even if you agree with them your individual experience and weight is devalued fundamentally because you are not them. Mind you, i think there is some validity (to a degree) of having a dash of elitism. Believing you have good taste, and that oftentimes your taste may be "better" (in some capacity) than another's isn't totally disdainful. However, when you veer into the realm of senseless pedantry and overly-scrupulous contempt of the medium, and the people who enjoy it then you have veered toward a bitter cynicism. The tl'dr, being a little bit of an elitist and having issues with others or works isn't problematic by any means. The problem stems from attitudinal and behavioral cynicism and patterns that go on to come off as exceptionally childish and juvenile. Also, the term does often lose its meaning due it's overuse in order to chide and belittle people without having any actual depth to the criticism. It's become a rather valueless statement to call someone elitist when, by no means, they are actually portraying or displaying elitism. Anyways, those are my overworded two cents. //All Light Will End!!! |
Sukamii said: Mind you, i think there is some validity (to a degree) of having a dash of elitism. Believing you have good taste, and that oftentimes your taste may be "better" (in some capacity) than another's isn't totally disdainful. However, when you veer into the realm of senseless pedantry and overly-scrupulous contempt of the medium, and the people who enjoy it then you have veered toward a bitter cynicism. Well said. We need more elitists with good taste and sense to spread their wisdom and offer genuine insights and anime recs. I'm not being sarcastic either. I'm not a fan of gundam, well early gundam, but in a discussion here on the forums with a big fan, they changed my mind on some aspects (Char) and opened my eyes to facets I'd overlooked. I would've called that person a mecha elitist, and I was glad for their input that day. I'm always willing to learn and change my opinion. What we don't need is snobs or looking down on others. Taste is subjective, but someone who has watched a lot with broad exposure to the medium in all it's genres and forms, and knows good from bad, and can explain why, will, be and large have better taste than someone who has just begin watching anime. For example, I think my taste in anime now is more refined than say 5 or 10 years ago, when I was still new to anime. |
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| I like deep psychological stuff and horror. But I'm not above digging in to some trash I'll forget about an hour after I watch it. I think the elitism issue is blown way out of proportion. There's always going to be that hoity toity schmuck that thinks they're better than everyone in every hobby. I think some people just equate differing tastes as "elitism" due to their own insecurities. "What, you don't like this anime that I love? You think you're better than me? You're an elitist jerk." So on, and so forth. |
| The stereotypical elitists are the ones who insult everyone because of their inferior taste in anime, that's why people don't like them. Before someone says that battle shounen fans are the ones who go around insulting everyone, I need to point out that battle shounen are the most popular anime in the world so by definition their fans can't feel part of an elite: if some battle shounen fans are arrogant we can just call them arrogant pricks, not elitists. IdeDial said: On the other hand, "elitist" is mainly a title flung at people who seem to have well-founded problems with popular anime or shounen, ecchi, and moe anime. If that's what elitism is in practice, then why is it a bad thing? A 3x3 that includes anime of varying levels of popularity and a wide variety of genres is way more intesting than one entirely made of elitist starter pack anime, even if the former might include some shounen, ecchi or moe anime. |
IdeDial said: On the one hand, I get that it's pretty pathetic to call yourself smart for liking some anime that uses high school level interpretations of politics or philosophy. On the other hand, "elitist" is mainly a title flung at people who seem to have well-founded problems with popular anime or shounen, ecchi, and moe anime. If that's what elitism is in practice, then why is it a bad thing? LMFAO... Basically every fucking thing is frowned upon. People will fucking hate shit for literally existing with the “wrong settings enabled”.
Society will even judge those for fucking breathing wrong. There’s surely someone out there angry that someone inhaled at 0.4 seconds instead of 0.3 like a fucking “normal human”. lol People frown on the fucking guy who works out with a solid six pack, the guy who doesn’t work out with boobs bigger than some anime waifu, the guy who owns a cat, the guy who is allergic to cats, the guy who once looked at a cat, and the guy who the cat unironically likes more than its fucking owner, etc... So yeah, elitism is frowned upon for the same shit everything else is frowned upon... Because humans treat shit like Pokemon cards and get personally offended that someone else collected a different fucking starter pack. You could tell a crowd, “I like apples”, and instantly someone could reply, “Ugh, typical shitty apple elitist behavior. Imagine not liking mangoes, you uncultured fucking fruit goblin”. People don’t actually hate “elitism” as a concept. They just hate the vibe of some peoples enjoyment or even attitude that fucking threatens their personal headcanon about the universe. lol Elitist? Hated. Anti-elitist? Hated. Neutral guy eating a sandwich? Somehow hated too. lol The real reason people frown on elitism is simple... Nobody likes being told their favorite fucking anime is the intellectual equivalent of eating chalk dipped shit in Mountain Dew. But ironically, the moment someone dislikes an elitist, they themselves become elitist about not being elitist. It’s like an Ouroboros eating its own ass in 4K HDR. lol That’s why elitism is frowned upon. Not because it’s uniquely bad, but because existing in any form whatsoever is always going to be bannable offense in someone’s mental rulebook. Even I frown on certain forms of elitism. lol |
ColourWheelDec 12, 9:11 AM
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Reply to IdeDial
@SenaBestGirl Not to mention that many seinen, such as Berserk, are very juvenile and unserious. I get it, animated gore can be cool at times, but truly mature storytelling doesn't rely on gore and shock value to make a point. But you could be called an elitist no matter where you stand on this issue.
Question: Does finding depth in, say, Elfen Lied make you an elitist or a pleb?
Question: Does finding depth in, say, Elfen Lied make you an elitist or a pleb?
| @IdeDial change "elitist" to "asshole" and everything gets clear. It's okay to see some depth etc in something. It gets annoying only if you think other people who dislike things you liked are dumb and/or immature etc, if you think one's taste should be "objective" and so on. Also, you can see/appreciate something about anime and at the same time recognize it's bad overall. Unrelated but recently I've finished Elfen Lied and did read posts on Reddit which argue this show is more mature and serious than people think and now I see you talking about finding depth in this show. Funny coincidence. |
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| okay listen, Alternatively, people who act like elites can just be miserable twats who seek the thrill of getting a cheap dopamine hit by denigrating and belittling others in order to appear intellectually and culturally superior in which case fuck those guys. And gals, you'll never see me discriminating. |
| Elitism don't wanna taste cheap meals. They're like homeless people who suddenly get a jackpot and then wanna buy a piece of meat from a five-star restaurant. idiosyncrasy. I see you have good taste 👍 |
Reply to IdeDial
@SenaBestGirl Not to mention that many seinen, such as Berserk, are very juvenile and unserious. I get it, animated gore can be cool at times, but truly mature storytelling doesn't rely on gore and shock value to make a point. But you could be called an elitist no matter where you stand on this issue.
Question: Does finding depth in, say, Elfen Lied make you an elitist or a pleb?
Question: Does finding depth in, say, Elfen Lied make you an elitist or a pleb?
| @IdeDial If you dig hard enough you could probably find some kind of depth in almost anything, even in cases where the creator did not intend for it, but I felt like Elfen Lied was more in the shock value category (which does give it its own charm in a way). At the very least, the message they were trying to tell did not feel "deep" or profound to me. |
IdeDial said: I'd consider anyone who thinks anyone who thinks an anime has some sort of deep meaning to be a pretentious elitist. Huh?? So there's exactly zero anime out there that you or any other person can legitimately think is "deep" without being pretentious? |
| @Stanis150 also true, one of the peculiarities of our cursed timeline is that any word can now mean anything and as such ends up meaning nothing, so what matters in an argument the most is defining yourself into being correct. |
| Elitism gets crap not because of the opinions, but because of the posturing that usually comes with them. Taste isn’t the problem. The attitude is. I don’t actually care if people think shounen is shallow or moe is brain-rot. What I dislike is when someone treats their preferences like a measuring stick for intelligence or maturity. The moment your critique turns into a flex, you’ve crossed into elitist territory. I can identify one the moment their argument shifts from “Here’s what I think about the show” to “Here’s what my opinion says about me as a person, and by extension, about you.” It's the unspoken “I'm smarter than you” that flips the switch. |
| Don't know not really that bothered |
| I am a Completionist. All Anime/Manga will be watched/read. All FILLERS will be enjoyed :) Join my discord - https://discord.gg/CwhqqfGmHw :) |
| Usually elitists are pricks, simple as that Act nicely cause people don't like mean people |
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| People just over use the word. Elitism is bad because if you want to have a discussion about why something is good or bad and you come into the conversation closeminded and already acting superior then you've already terminated the discussion. Having an opinion is not elitist, assuming other people are less intelligent than you or lesser in some other way because they don't agree with your opinion is elitist and that's the problem. |
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| because it reminds them that their taste is shit |
IdeDial said: That isn't what "elitism" is in practice. Elitism is where you attack one's character for liking certain art or media. If you just point out issues you have with battle shonen trends, that isn't elitism. If you say someone is inherently stupid for liking them, that is elitism. That is how you are posturing yourself as the elite. "I am smarter for liking this art". That is the difference. One is personal form of critique, the other isn't. Personal insults don't lead to productive conversation and the people flinging them usually aren't that intelligent. If that's what elitism is in practice, then why is it a bad thing? Most "elitists" I actually find in communities of highly popular action works like Attack on Titan more so than older or more "snobbish" communities, because they like to engage in this fandom war nonsense. Still you find people that need to stroke their ego because they like one kind of Japanese cartoon over another. |
BilboBaggins365Dec 12, 2:31 PM
| The primary reason is that they are the ones being excluded. And when it comes to anime, you really just have to watch shows for your own entertainment, the bar to entry is so low... |
| Question: Am I considered an elitist? |
| Elitists tend to be highbrow, snobby people who only watch "artistic" or "political" anime, because they consider it "high art". They look down on everybody else, and think the only smart people are ones who use big words and view highbrow entertainment. Many times, they are idiots who pretend to be smart. IdeDial said: They only use middle school levels of philosophy (on the high end), but with big words.it's pretty pathetic to call yourself smart for liking some anime that uses high school level interpretations of politics or philosophy |
Reply to thewiru
Question: Am I considered an elitist?
| @thewiru I think around 800-1k completed anime is when you can start calling yourself an elitist |
| No offense, but anime lacks in serious intellectual content. People watch it for the spicy action scenes rather than for the "plot"....... |
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| Elitists are the people on here who constantly make threads about how you're not a real anime fan unless you watch fansubs. |
I think it is a given that no one likes people who act like they are superior just because of their taste. |
 (っ◔◡◔)っ 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓭𝓪𝔂 ♥ |
Reply to SuperAdventure
Elitists are the people on here who constantly make threads about how you're not a real anime fan unless you watch fansubs.
| @SuperAdventure They're right. Dubs stray too far to remain being anime and dubtitles will deprive you of jokes and depth. Making your starting point a shitty set of subs the niblets of language you "learn" are going to be inconsistently mistaken. Good fansubs are the foundation for understanding anime, its humor, and even the culture within. Foregoing fansubs is like missing an all important parent series by going straight to sequels and parodies. |
Reply to plebrepel
@SuperAdventure They're right. Dubs stray too far to remain being anime and dubtitles will deprive you of jokes and depth.
Making your starting point a shitty set of subs the niblets of language you "learn" are going to be inconsistently mistaken. Good fansubs are the foundation for understanding anime, its humor, and even the culture within.
Foregoing fansubs is like missing an all important parent series by going straight to sequels and parodies.
Making your starting point a shitty set of subs the niblets of language you "learn" are going to be inconsistently mistaken. Good fansubs are the foundation for understanding anime, its humor, and even the culture within.
Foregoing fansubs is like missing an all important parent series by going straight to sequels and parodies.
| @plebrepel An impressive pile of elitist dogshit indeed, well done. |
| Assholes are generally hated, and the majority of elitists are also assholes sooo |
"Nobody could laugh at someone who's trying their hardest" -Machio- |
| My definition of "elitism" is the mindset of "my subjective opinion is objectively superior to your subjective opinion". |
Some of you never watched Bakugan Battle Brawlers on TeleToon in 2008 and it shows. |
| People don't like being told, even implicitly, that they are inferior at something or don't know enough about it to have a meaningful opinion. And they especially don't like this when they know it's true |
| Elitism often isn’t about valuing intelligence or art—it’s about outsourcing self-worth to borrowed prestige. |
| "All truth is meaningless. In the end, 'meaning' comes from the mind of each individual human. Even when there is a single truth, it can mean different things to different individuals. The truth has no meaning in itself!" - Erika Furudo |
Reply to SuperAdventure
@plebrepel An impressive pile of elitist dogshit indeed, well done.
| Everybody hates the cool kids 'til they're personelly acquainted with 'em. |
| Elitism was a 20th century thing, we all have access and don't have to pay $20 per item anymore, elitism is long extinct. You can literally consume any media you want now. Norms are norms, you can't cry elitism when your taste is shit, that's on you. Shittastes simply need to evolve past the state of shittaste. |
Reply to SenaBestGirl
What I don't like are the people who will watch/read a few seinen (such as berserk or monster) and then act like everything else is that isn't "serious anime" is garbage. In many cases these people also have less than 100 anime watched so they're making these judgements while only having seen the very tip of the iceberg.
@SenaBestGirl We used to call those people dadime on gamefaq Anyways. Elitism is extremely necessary and important. Otherwise, you start getting anime boards where people only watch the main netflix tier anime and crunchyroll front page. Who is going to tell these people Apocalypse Hotel or Ninkoro are good anime? Or about older classics nobody knows about like Hale + Guu? And as someone who has been discussing anime for 20 years online, I've seen how badly the conversation has deteriorated. |
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| because nothing kills the vibe faster than someone acting like a gatekeeping librarian of the otaku underworld. Elitism turns out like a pretentious wine‑tasting event where Kogoro swirls a glass of supermarket wine and says,“Hmm yes, vintage Bordeaux |
| Bc it mainly prioritizes a person's opinion over others and the preferences of the anime that they watch. Anime shouldn't be watched to dictate others and what they want, they want to watch a series that isn't as known then fine. It doesn't matter as anime is entertainment at the end of the day. |
 "Hard work is worthless for those that don’t believe in themselves" - Naruto Uzumaki I rate by enjoyment |
| It's about their snobbish attitude - both towards modern (and mainstream) anime and other anime fans. I've seen elitists bash modern anime without even watching them first, and refuse to watch mainstream anime solely because of their popularity. I've also seen elitists think poorly of newer anime fans who - due to being new to anime - have only watched some mainstream entries. Likewise, I've also seen people who only watch mainstream anime get upset whenever a lesser known anime gets recognition over their own favorites. For example, I still remember the Crunchyroll Anime Awards from a few years ago when JJK lost in some categories. Certain people got upset about the "unworthy" candidates winning, even though these people didn't even recognize the winning anime's title. Frankly, I don't hold these kind of people in high regard. Of course everyone has different tastes in anime, and everyone has the right to have their own opinions of anime they like or dislike. But that's all that it is - an opinion. The snobbish "My taste is superior to everyone else's" attitude is so unappealing and unnecessary. (Just to clarify: no, I don't think people who have simply watched a lot of anime would be considered as "elitists". I would consider them as "anime veterans". To me, an elitist is a pompous snob who believes that their restrictive mindset is a doctrine that others must follow in order to "have good taste", or to be considered as "true anime fans".) TL;DR - because they're snobs |
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| Seems to be mainly about attitude, you can't use condescending language when talking about your taste but I think its good to have people who could be seen as 'elitist' in that they should be encouraging the mainstream anime fans to try watching things that aren't in the massively viewed currently airing titles. To try looking elsewhere especially to older shows. So much great content that can be missed. Those who sniff their own farts gushing on titles like Serial Experiments Lain though can be annoying yep. Not everything needs to have some deep meaning. |
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| i mean, is it really hard for these guys to mind their own business? people are different and liked what they liked, don't need to bash on others just because they liked a couple of popular shows, but that's what elitist tend to do to feel superior and smart |
"JJK and CSM fan that loves watching movies"  |
Reply to Ymir_The_Viking
i mean, is it really hard for these guys to mind their own business?
people are different and liked what they liked, don't need to bash on others just because they liked a couple of popular shows, but that's what elitist tend to do to feel superior and smart
people are different and liked what they liked, don't need to bash on others just because they liked a couple of popular shows, but that's what elitist tend to do to feel superior and smart
| @Ymir_The_Viking I don't think elitists are attacking people for liking things but more to the fact many people are calling generic shows masterpieces which dilutes the whole conversation. Assholes are needed in the world. :) |
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