Gin Soaked

I have so many mixed feelings about the Walking Dead as a tv show. Most of the time the writing irritates me, and yet I keep watching anyway. I can’t wait for this finale.

I have this friend, who is a pretty great guy. He’s nice, funny, and we’ve known each other for years now. But he puts a lot of personal stock on what other people like and don’t like. I know this is a natural thing people do, especially on the internet. We find people who like the same things as us and we befriend them. I get that. He puts so much importance on it, though. When you like the same tv show or movie as him, your personal stock with him goes up. When you don’t like the same tv show or movie as him, your value as a friend goes down.

The particular instance that sparked this realization for me came last night, when I caught up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead. This is a show that, in general, infuriates me. When they get it right, it’s GOOOOOD. When they get it wrong, I want to Hulk smash everything in sight. My personal feeling is that they’ve been getting it wrong more than right recently. The episode in question was particularly infuriating because it involved the main character and the villain sitting down in a barn and holding a negotiation - an entirely pointless negotiation that had nowhere to go and only happened to set up the events of the next few episodes. This was basically their space filler, dragging out the season until the really explosive season finale.

I expressed my frustration with the episode on facebook, and my friend, who is a Walking Dead apologist, was very clearly pissed off by my reaction. I know that my personal stock with him went down and that he likes me less now, and that’s really upsetting to me.

I go to film school (he doesn’t), and I’m really used to critique. We critique movies old and new, we critique each others work, and we all walk away amicably knowing that all of this is subjective, and we’re not all going to like the same things or form the same opinions. I can viciously tear down the plot of a movie and debate with a person who feels the exact opposite, and we can still be friends. That person won’t like me less.

We’ve all said things like, “If you like___ we can’t be friends.” I know I’ve said that plenty of times, but for me it’s always been hyperbole. I don’t actually CARE so much about your likes and dislikes that I’ll like you less if we don’t agree.

I guess in the age of internet profiles, these things have become more and more important to people. Your likes and dislikes have come to represent you as a whole and not just a part of you. :(

why am i so unmotivated, like, 100% of the time