The Great Divide

The Hunger Games movie comes out today, and with it the typical reactions that come from whatever the BIG thing of the time is. Whether that thing is an anticipated movie, book, sporting event, or website (Pinterest comes to mind) the reactions always seem to be the same. While there are plenty of people who are simply indifferent to the BIG thing of the time, there tends to be two groups that are most vocal about THE THING. Here's how I see the breakdown of the two groups:

1. The excited group: These people love the BIG thing. They post on their blogs about it, on Facebook, on Twitter, and they talk about it a lot. You can recognize them by their facepaint, costumes, online posts, t-shirts, and tear streaked faces on the night of the event. They exhaust their friends who have no interest in the BIG thing with nonstop countdowns, chatter, and squealing. They debate over who should have played so-and-so in the movie, then complain that the movie didn't do the book justice. They camp out for hours to get tickets. This is the thing that gets them through their mundane lives for the time being and they want everyone to know how awesome it is!

2. The above-it/exhausted crowd. This group is so above the BIG thing. They can't be bothered with the posts or mania. Their interests are more elevated. They're more sophisticated. They're busy being productive members of society and don't have time for this, thank you very much. They post things on the internet asking if they are alone in this. They pretend to be burdened by the idea that they might be alone. They see such cultural phenomena as the thing that divides the masses, and they're happy to find themselves among the elite, high above the rest of the plebeians. They are free thinkers; they don't do what society tells them to do, man.

At this point some of you might be thinking, "is she talking about me?" Well,  don't get all worked up because I'm probably not. In fact, I'm probably talking about me (in both groups). I'm also talking about lots of reactions I've seen over the years from others. And I should mention that a lot of people are in group 3: they just don't care. They're not above it or beneath it, they're just involved with other things. That group isn't as much fun to talk about.

I have found myself in all the groups, depending on the event. When it comes to The Hunger Games, I'm more in group 1. Though I have, at times, found myself annoyed with people within my own group. It happens. I consider myself a more mature, elite member of group 1. Some people in the group are acting very immature. I, however, consider the whole thing to be a fascinating study of literature and culture.* See, while I may be in group 1, I have a bit of group 2 in me.  (I'm both excited and pretentious.)

Here's which group I've landed in on some of the BIG events that come to mind:

Star Wars movies (all): 2, all the way.
Star Trek movie (most recent): 2, but I saw it and it was "ok" (mostly because of Chris Pine). I'm still above it though.
Harry Potter books: 1, completely. Book release party and all.
Harry Potter movies: Somewhere between a 1 and 2. More of a 1 though.
Baseball: 1
College football: 2
Pinterest: 1, as you well know.

Which group are you in?

*Lies. I liked the books and am looking forward to seeing the movie for pure entertainment purposes. I'm so not above it.