My favourite film is in black and white. I read The Wire magazine. I read a lot of philosophy. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of albums released on the Raster-Noton music label. I think motor racing is dreadful. I can’t stand The Presets.
Does this make me pretentious? Short answer: no.
But a lot of people think I am.
Sure, by the generally believed colloquial definition of pretension, I might be. But, in an attempt to not sound pretentious, let’s ignore the fact that anyone who thinks I am is completely wrong.
To truly be pretentious in the colloquial meaning is difficult. One has to completely live in a tiny little world where anything that might be seen as popular is instantly hated. They’d have to only like things that are seen as highly cultured. They’d have to only read experimental or arty texts and ignore anything that might be mainstream, now or in the future.
My problem is that my interests tend to be left-field, and “different” from what a “normal” male of my age and from my socio-economic background should be interested in. I can’t stand The Presets, but I also have a genuine reason. Why should I be interested in a band making music no different (and, in my opinion, vastly inferior) to what Daft Punk were doing 12 years ago on Homework?
And by the technical definition of pretentious, that’s not a “pretentious” view, as I can back it up. I give greater importance to something that is actually seen to be of a higher merit.
So, no, despite the naysayers, I am not pretentious. Far from it. My favourite film may be black and white, but it’s Clerks. I listen to a lot of experimental and ambient music, but two of my favourite bands of all time are Tool and Metallica. I read philosophy, yet I utterly love the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
People think I’m pretentious. But that’s only through spending a little bit of time talking to me, and totally ignoring my “popular” interests. There’s no point ignoring bits of information to suit your impression of someone, as it doesn’t give you the full picture.
I think you’ve misunderstood the meaning of “pretentious”. It has nothing to do with hating popular culture. It’s to do with pretending to be something you’re not. If you pretended to like black and white films and philosophy when you really didn’t, that would make you pretentious.
pretentious
• adjective: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed.
That to some extent was the point of the article. I was referring to the fact that a lot of people misunderstand the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, colloquially “pretentious” has come to mean someone who looks down on what they see as “low” culture. If anything, people seem to use the word in replacement of “elitist”.
In my original draft of that article, I made great pains to note when I was referring to the actual meaning of the word, and when I was referring to the misunderstood meaning.
But, ironically, it made me sound elitist, so I changed it.
Mmm … ok, but in that case I don’t really know why you’d bother creating an argument to refute the opinions of people so dense that they label you with an appellant they don’t even understand the meaning of. Do these people need your help to look like idiots, or is that something they can accomplish on their own?
My intention wasn’t to make people who misunderstand the meaning of the word to look like idiots. It’s all about education. Hopefully, someone who has misunderstood the meaning of the word pretension may read this post, and from then on use it correctly.
But you didn’t explain the actual meaning of “pretension” at all; you just talked about how your interests are not mainstream. If anything you enforced the misunderstood meaning of the word by refuting it as though the misunderstood meaning were correct.