At the height of Emily in Paris season one fever, when people were buying camera-shaped phone cases and debating whether the city in the show’s title was pronounced ‘Paris’ or ‘Paree’, I saw a tweet that offended me to my very core: “Yeah, I hate-watched that show.” The tweeter went on to discuss a plot point … from the finale. Respectfully, just no. You can’t claim to despise something, but then have an in-depth opinion on its last 10 minutes.
Now, I’ll admit I’ve fallen into this trap, too—I used to talk about my Love Island obsession by prefacing it with, “It’s so trashy, but …” And we all have that friend who claims they can’t stand Grey’s Anatomy, but then can passionately debate whether the show is better or worse after McDreamy’s death. (It’s better. He sucked.) Most of us probably also throw in the term ’guilty pleasure’.
But let’s just step back to examine the types of entertainment we feel the need to publicly loathe and justify. Like, say, reality shows that women often love (hi, Love is Blind). Or period pieces that focus on sex and female pleasure (hello, Bridgerton). Or, honestly, a lot of other series that star or are centred around women. Think about it: no one ever feels the need to say they hate-watched Succession, a soapy drama about mostly rich white men.
"Female-centric entertainment tends to get less respect, so someone who enjoys it will often feel the need to criticise it more vocally in front of others"
“Female-centric entertainment tends to get less respect, so someone who enjoys it will often feel the need to criticise it more vocally in front of others,” explains Barna Donovan, who researches fandom of pop culture. “But people who enjoy a Fast & Furious movie, a masculine form of entertainment, won’t be forced to justify their fandom or disown their pleasure.”
So, it’s not that we actually hate—or even love-hate —our ‘hate-watch’ shows, it’s that we feel pressured to say we do. And that creates a landscape in which people think that they’re better than certain entertainment because it’s meant for a ‘less sophisticated’ viewer.
Hear me now: no one is ‘above’ any kind of show. The point of pop culture is that it’s supposed to be for everyone to enjoy. And we should damn well be able to admit to loving what we choose to binge. Especially if we’re streaming it from a camera-case covered phone.
This article originally appeared in Issue 02 of Cosmopolitan Australia. Get your copy and subscribe to future issues here.
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