The hipster's mantra. There's only one thing worse than people not watching your favorite show: people actually watching your favorite show.
You'd think that your favorite artist making it big would be something to celebrate. To certain segments of the fandom, however, a wide fanbase only means that the media in question has “gone commercial” and “sold out.” This results in a subsection of both Fan Dumb and Unpleasable Fanbase.
Sometimes a valid complaint- fans might call foul when a previously creative artist starts Pandering to the Base or watering down their work to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator. Fame can also have a bad effect on the artist’s attitude- if they don’t become a complete egomaniac who treats fans like dirt, they might become disillusioned by fame. On a practical level, more popular live shows may require bigger, less intimate venues- shows known for energy and spontaneity may move towards a heavily produced and choreographed live show. Low budget works known for cheesy effects and bizarre plots might switch to a slicker, more commercial style and “safer” plots- see also They Changed It, Now It Sucks!.
Big fandoms also attract Misaimed Fans, and bring along a lot of Fan Dumb. Sometimes these newer fans are rabidly devoted, even starting fights with older fans or people who don’t like the work “enough”. Tensions also rise when the new fans represent a demographic shift in the fandom. More subjectively, popular fandoms are more likely to be subject Hype Backlash if reality cannot possibly match the hype. See also Wolverine Publicity- when a fandom is just plain overexposed.
Of course, a lot of the tension is just snobbery- original members of a small fandom feel less special when their exclusive club is open to the masses. Some also seem to believe that artists should work and create art solely for the sake of art, with no consideration for things like paying rent. The fandom itself becomes what economists call a “positional good”
- and like a speculation market, your coolness increases if you get in before it’s popular, and fling it away when it hits it big.
A variant of that is “It’s Popular, so it Sucks”- when people deliberately get into obscure or impenetrable things ‘’because’’ they are obscure or impenetrable, because nothing mainstream can ever be cool. In some ways the inverse of Quality by Popular Vote.
Sometimes this perception can be a bit of a fallacy- high profile works are more prone to being picked apart by critics, while small creators are looked on more favorably or even immune to criticism.
Compare Periphery Hatedom, who never liked it in the first place. See also Ruined FOREVER and Popularity Cycle. Contrast Complaining About People Not Liking the Show. When musicians hold this opinion for one of their own songs, it's a Black Sheep Hit.
