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The majority of humans feel the need to try to rationalize
everything. This holds especially true for one's favored book/TV series/film. But what if there are parts to it that are not very popular or socially acceptable? Well, you
could stand alone against the world and declare your love for the
series — if you're willing to be
ridiculed for it. There has to be a better way...
I Read It For The Articles is the practice of Tai Chi-ing away any flak over liking a particular media product, while still allowing you to watch or read it — after all, you don't actually
like it, you know. You're just reading it for that
one character, or that particular writing style or the special effects, or maybe because of the
beautiful scenery... right? Some have actually said "I watch it ironically" unironically.
This is a very common phrase, one of the more common uses — now more parodied than actually used straight — being the
Playboy magazine, which an incredible number of people only read for the articles, of course.
Note that this is
not a
Freudian excuse for liking a media product — after all, to do that would be to admit that you actually like it. This is completely redirecting attention from or trivializing an unfavored aspect of the series (or in extreme cases, the series itself). Often played straight, and just as often
Played For Laughs.
Compare
Just Here For Godzilla,
Watch It For The Meme,
Come For The X Stay For The Y,
Or So I Heard.
Examples:
Anime
- Spice And Wolf: Due to the fact that the first episode prominently features the female lead stark naked. She's not human, but that can lead people to the wrong conclusions easily enough. Ironically after that you don't really need an excuse to enjoy Spice And Wolf as it's an extremely well-written and well-animated series, although Your Mileage May Vary if you find it a bit too talky.
- People who say they watch Ikkitousen for the characters. There are some pretty good characters and an intriguing story, to the point that some people get annoyed by all of the Panty Shots and Fanservice.
- Watching Naruto, Bleach, and almost every, if not all other popular shounen series almost require this. When they come up in discussion in larger IRC channels, there's so much flak-deflection going on that it's like watching one of those 200-participant Tai Chi exercise movements.
- Or if you're from /a/ so you can rage about it.
- Watching Kamen No Maid Guy for Kogarashi and his 37 senses.
- Despite the large Lolicon fandom, a good number of people watch Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha for the characters, story, battles, and Humongous Mecha anime references and try to distance themselves from the loli-lovers as much as possible.
- Given the third season de-lolifies the leads, one might suspect the creators of the show wanted some distance too.
- Axis Powers Hetalia is about international relations. If You Know What I Mean.
- Kodomo No Jikan: Watch it to understand Real Life issues that often gets sweeped under the carpet. Situations may be flanderized, but this troper honestly felt a chill as he reads through the issues the kids face (and let's not even begin with the adults).
- This needs much more emphasis: we are talking about a deeply sociological and psychological work, with romance so tender it makes you forget how incredibly sad everything else is. It's also filled with disturbingly explicit lolicon fanservice.
- And all that lolicon fanservice takes a distinctly dark turn when you realize just how psychologically fucked up some of the children are. When this trooper reached the point where one of the kids was avoiding gym class because her guardian gave her hickeys on her neck it left him with feelings of dread to even continue.
Literature
- For a surprising number of people, the Harry Potter novels seem to require some rationalization for reading (let alone enjoying) them.
- The non-fan Twilight readers who do it for either A.) Jacob, B.) all the unintentional comedy or C.) Bile Fascination.
- D.) So that they can point out all of it's negative aspects to its rabid fans; from Bella the Mary Sue to love means emotional abuse. Oh, and Sparkle Vampires. Sparkle, sparkle!
◊
- This troper read it for E.) To see what the god damn hype was for.
- People read Kushiel's Legacy novels for the politics, religion and epic questing, not the numerous extended BDSM sex scenes.
- This troper read The Brothers Karamazov only to find out what the Xanatos Gambit was (I found out there was one from TV Tropes).
Live Action TV
Film
- Come on, who hasn't watched some piece of crap because an actor you liked was in it? Although the poor, tortured Kate Hudson fans have to take the cake on this one. Sympathy hugs, you little troopers.
- On that note, it's perfectly acceptable to watch the prequel trilogy for Ian "Palpatine" McDiarmid, and you damn well know it.
- As this troper puts it, "Ian McKellan is in The Da Vinci Code? Crap, now I have to watch The Da Vinci Code."
- I had to sit through the third X-Men film simply for the few minutes Ellen Page was on screen. It was a labour of love.
Video Games
Western Animation
- In Justice League, when Flash says that he knows who the Hugh Hefner expy is, Wonder Woman asks "So you're familiar with his work?" To which Flash responds "I just read it for the articles." As always, this bit of Getting Crap Past The Radar brought to you by Justice League.
- Homer tries to use this excuse on Marge in an episode of The Simpsons, so she calls his bluff and cuts out all of the naked women. Homer sadly throws the Playboy in the garbage where Bart finds it, and apparently not realizing that something is missing, assumes the articles are what the big deal is about.
Real Life
- No doubt you've heard this a thousand times: "I read Playboy for the articles."
- And many of those people have openly switched to more socially acceptable (read: can read it in public) "Lad Mags" like Maxim and FHM.
- Amusingly, for a long time Playboy paid better per word than almost any other magazine, and so it attracted some serious writing talent. That Other Wiki points out that along with interviews with all sorts of famous people, Playboy has featured short stories by Arthur C Clarke, Ian Fleming, and Margaret Atwood. One issue even has article written by Elliott Gould - look it up - in it he tells of his recent trip to Disneyland... on acid.
- I.Z.E.T.I.T. once analyzed the contents of a Playboy. Vehicles: 12 g and 0,2115 m^2, Girls 36 g and 0,415 m^2, Articles and other interesting content (the entire rest?): 274 g
- "I only go to Hooters because the wings are so good."
- This troper and his dad each have a shirt that says The Constitution: I Read It for the Articles.
