As someone who considers themselves a full-fledged “nerd” in every sense of the word, I have had my fair share of discourse experience. Discourse refers to discussions of plot, characters, and otherwise crucial details to a story’s unique fingerprint. Discourse does NOT refer to your opinion on whether or not the new Star Wars movie cast is good at their jobs. It also does not refer to categorizing popular franchises and media as “too mainstream to like” or “too politically correct”.
I’m a passionate person. Everything I find genuinely interesting from books to movies to classes to debates all get 110% of my brainpower and emotional viewership. For example, I cried at the end of Infinity War. Sue me. There were quite a few people in that theater who were in the same boat as me, but the person who I went with that second time around made fun of me for almost the entire ride home for doing so.
To this day, I still don’t fully understand why people feel it’s necessary to make fun of people who get passionate about their interests. It’s ridiculous to even think about: you’re literally making fun of someone for being happy and invested in something for making them feel emotional. Imagine if you told your 10 year old little brother that it was stupid for them to get invested in his favorite hockey team because it’s “too mainstream”. Obviously that would be ridiculous and cruel. People deserve that same respect and treatment in all forms.
I’ve said it 1000 times before and I’ll say it again- let your friends and family be invested in popular culture. “Cringy” fanfictions are how I found my love of writing. Drawings of anime characters turned my best friend from middle school into an animation and graphic design student who loves everything she makes. There is never an inkling of a reason as to why you should stifle someone’s creativity just because you see it in the media more than your favorite indie movie.