An Unnecessary Question and A False Premise

This is a very popular question and comes up regularly on social media. It is asked in terms of films, TV, actors, singers, writers and books. It is also based on a wholly false premise. There is no such thing as an overrated piece of popular culture. There is a piece of popular culture many people like and you do not. You are not in a position to declare it overrated because by doing so you are making a judgement on its quality and you cannot do that objectively. If you dislike it you may say that it is overrated, but what you actually mean is that it is not to your taste because you don’t understand its appeal to other people. No novel is perfect but no novel that is popular is devoid of quality, be that quality of writing, quality of plot or quality of characters. You may feel that it is poorly written or badly plotted or lacking in believable characters, but that is your opinion, not objective fact.

This question has often been asked by the type of person who wants to decide what is inherently good or bad. Throughout history, the people at the top of society have attempted to control what those underneath should and should not consume culturally speaking. High culture, meaning classical music, opera, ballet and serious novels were considered a source of education and improvement for those who partook in them. If a person consumed these sources of culture they were considered to be better than those around them. If, on the other hand, a person liked folk music, music halls, penny dreadfuls or pub culture then they were considered lower class and generally of lower intelligence. I have used the above examples because Victorian society was particularly engaged over the question of high and low culture, calling the latter popular culture. These days, liking for pop music, rom coms written or filmed, or what is seen by the people at the top as lowest common denominator film or TV would be the equivalent. We have a huge amount of culture and a huge range of voices to listen to and read, but we have kept to the old idea of high and low culture completely at odds with the situation where wider access is bringing new and sometimes uncomfortable voices to the fore.

Remember that the classic novels you are judging were the popular culture of the day. Dickens wrote in weekly installments in much the same way as any other writer of the time who needed to make money. It is only the powers that be which have told us that his novels are classic novels. We need to remove those notions from the discussions because to consider them means we are thinking about things in the way that is most acceptable to the people in charge. If you like a classic novel, Classical Music, ballet or a painting by Constable, all well and good, but if you don’t like it remember that it is only your opinion, an opinion that means as much as any other and certainly no more.