Bill Corbett of MST3K fame has a tweet that illustrates something I have come to find baffling (Incidentally, the tweet that follows this thread is pretty funny).

What’s a movie you’ve never seen that seems to make people ANGRY when they hear you haven’t seen it? If any?

Me: The Shawshank Redemption

sorry in advance!

— Bill Corbett (@BillCorbett) April 10, 2018

I suppose, given that certain works are considered era-defining, classics if you will, that people will express surprise and dismay to anyone who slips through the gill-nets of pop culture. But the level of emotion people express, it almost evokes blasphemy or heresy. You have failed to become one of the tribe. I have made a very strict effort to not do it, when someone says they haven’t seen something I regard as worth watching. I just say “I really like that, myself. It’s pretty good, but whatever,” or words to that effect.

Even if someone hasn’t seen Star Wars? Especially then. Because being a Grand Inquisitor about Star Wars hurts my heart.

The movie I haven’t seen that bugs people is Neverending Story, and for a while, my adamant refusal to read a Harry Potter book (I still haven’t read one, but Potterheads have learned to behave themselves, and I’m way less obnoxious about it).