What is a guilty pleasure? Usually it is some form of entertainment we like that is so embarrassing to us that we only tell our closest friends.
Yet what makes a pleasure guilty? The quality of it? The overall content and message of the work? Or the stigma that comes from liking that certain thing?
I wonder if it is healthy to keep these things secret though? For example, I love professional wrestling, and up until about 3 years ago kept it secret from everyone I knew except the one or two friends that liked it.
Pro-wrestling has always had a stigma of low-class trashiness to it that I didn’t want to be associated with. “You know it’s fake, right,” would be the only comments I’d hear about it, and made me ashamed to like it.
I’d buy t-shirts that I’d never wear, and make Facebook posts or Tweets about it that would end up getting deleted before they were published.
I only had one friend who liked wrestling all throughout high school, and he didn’t fit the traditional wrestling stereotype. Thankfully through my various experiences through jobs and college, I found that there are plenty of great, nice, and normal people who enjoy wrestling. They’re some of the smartest people I know and they’ve become some of my best friends.
Now I wear my shirts with pride and have enough confidence to write an article about it, but it took a long time to get to that point because I felt so guilty about liking something.
Now, I’m not saying you should profess your love of vulgar or needlessly offensive things that alienate a certain group of people. I’m talking about things in the entertainment world that have a niche interest you like but feel ashamed of.
Movies, TV shows, music and any other form of entertainment that is kind of “out there” would qualify. Things that have a cult following are also good examples.
All of these things probably have a club or group dedicated to it. It’s easier now than ever before to communicate with people who share a common interest with you through social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr or Reddit.
It’s usually shocking to find someone who likes that same obscure/niche thing you like, and the only way to find those people is to be open about your guilty pleasures.
So wear that John Cena t-shirt, bring your favorite animes to class to read and if you wholeheartedly believe “The Room” should’ve won the Oscar in 2003, proclaim it with pride.
You never know who might like it as well, and the unlikely friendships that can form over that bond.
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor