History Main / CriticalDissonance

** Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. Crowds have always been crazy about Goldberg (aside from a few incidents in his WWE runs) due to his intensity and devastating s
Spear and Jackhammer finisher. However, his reception among smart marks has never been great. He's often accused by smarks of being incredibly limited in the ring (especially during his second WWE run, largely due to his age), an unsafe worker (a botched superkick from Goldberg to Wrestling/BretHart ended Bret's wrestling career and neither smarks nor Bret have forgiven Goldberg for this) and a jerk who doesn't care about wrestling and [[MoneyDearBoy is only involved in wrestling for the paycheck]] (He did watch some wrestling as a kid, but was never a huge fan of it and only pursued a wrestling career because his NFL career was a bust. Smarks tend to dislike wrestlers who didn't have a wrestling background nor were fans of wrestling growing up).

* The WWE often uses this as a justification for pushing [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base Breaking Wrestlers]] or [[CreatorsPet Creator's Pets]] like Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/RomanReigns, claiming that only a handful of "internet fans" dislike them[[note]]Some have noticed that these "[[SmartMark internet fans]]" seem to make up the majority of the wrestling fanbase. While Vince was slow to pick up on this, Wrestling/TripleH's booking seems to be more catered to the "smart" fan, and Wrestling/{{AEW}} exclusively targets that market[[/note]], even when they are booed building and ratings continue to fall. What defines an "internet fan" vs. a "casual fan" is often [[NoTrueScotsman whatever the WWE wants to define it as.]] While it has been said that Roman Reigns is a top merch-seller, this claim has never been verified beyond hearsay. Roman Reigns in particular had XPacHeat so bad that Website/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_and_reception_of_Roman_Reigns has an article on the matter]]. It took the WWE pulling back Cena's CreatorsPet status and giving Roman Reigns a FaceHeelTurn (which they had claimed for years that "only a few 'internet fans' want") for either man to start getting respected for their genuine talent.

** Sid's polar opposite would probably be Wrestling/DeanMalenko. Considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world (if not ''the'' best) by smarks and ragsheets, to the point that he was #1 in the 1997 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' "PWI 500" when no one really did well enough in kayfabe to earn the top spot[[note]]The WWF title was a bit of a mess during the grading period (in this case from August 1996 to July 1997) due to injuries, "[[Main/TroubledProduction injuries]]", titles being relinquished, and contract holdouts. Wrestling/SteveAustin was the highest ranked WWF wrestler at #3 despite never even holding the title, on the other channel Wrestling/HulkHogan held the WCW title for nearly that entire year but because he was on the Wrestling/BrockLesnar schedule he fell to ''55th'' because his output was so low, and because the few matches he did have almost always involved a fuck finish. Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa of Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling was #2 for those curious, and Wrestling/{{Tazz}} was the top ranked Wrestling/{{ECW}} wrestler at #11[[/note]] and ''PWI'' awarded it to who they called the best wrestler. Outside of one program with Wrestling/ChrisJericho (which can be credited to Jericho's usual stellar work as a heel), crowds never really gave a shit about Dean unless the rest of the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen were standing next to him. Wrestling/KevinNash got torn apart for calling The Radicals (Malenko, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) "vanilla midgets" after they fled [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} up north]], but with Dean he might have had a point; Dean was never the best talker and even many people who are fans of his will admit that he had the charisma of a brick.

Spear and Jackhammer finisher. However, his reception among smart marks has never been great. He's often accused by smarks of being incredibly limited in the ring (especially during his second WWE run), an unsafe worker (a botched superkick from Goldberg to Wrestling/BretHart ended Bret's wrestling career and neither smarks nor Bret have forgiven Goldberg for this) and a jerk who doesn't care about wrestling and [[MoneyDearBoy is only involved in wrestling for the paycheck]].

** Wrestling/RandyOrton. Casual fans like him, but he's a BaseBreakingCharacter among critics and smarks.

** Sid's polar opposite would probably be Wrestling/DeanMalenko. Considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world (if not ''the'' best) by smarks and ragsheets, to the point that he was #1 in the 1997 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' "PWI 500" when no one really did well enough in kayfabe to earn the top spot[[note]]The WWF title was a bit of a mess during the grading period (in this case from August 1996 to July 1997) due to injuries, "[[Main/TroubledProduction injuries]]", titles being relinquished, and contract holdouts. Wrestling/SteveAustin was the highest ranked WWF wrestler at #3 despite never even holding the title, on the other channel Wrestling/HulkHogan held the WCW title for nearly that entire year but because he was on the Wrestling/BrockLesnar schedule he fell to ''55th'' because his output was so low, and because the few matches he did have almost always involved a fuck finish. Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa of Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling was #2 for those curious, and Wrestling/{{Tazz}} was the top ranked Wrestling/{{ECW}} wrestler at #11[[/note]] and ''PWI'' awarded it to who they called the best wrestler. Outside of one program with Wrestling/ChrisJericho (which can be credited to Jericho's usual stellar work as a heel), crowds never really gave a shit about Dean unless the rest of the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen were standing next to him. Wrestling/KevinNash got torn apart for calling The Radicals (Malenko, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) "vanilla midgets" after they fled [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} up north]], but with Dean he might have had a point.
** There's also Wrestling/SheltonBenjamin. Like Malenko he's brilliant in-ring worker with a strong pedigree (he was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and was college roommates with Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and came from the same training program that gave us Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Lesnar, and basically every other major and minor homegrown star of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra) who everyone can agree puts on great matches, but like Malenko he's not particularly charismatic, can't cut a decent promo to save his life, and has never really connected with the crowd. He's spent most of his career in a tag team or as part of a stable and has never really received a serious singles push.
** Wrestling/{{Melina}} became massively over in 2008 after a HeelFaceTurn and was praised for being one of the better workers of that era. However, she's a BaseBreakingCharacter within the wrestling community, mostly stemming from her reputation for being obnoxious in the locker room during her early years in the company, as well as cuckolding her longtime partner Wrestling/JohnMorrison.

** There's also Wrestling/SheltonBenjamin. Like Malenko he's brilliant in-ring worker with a strong pedigree (he was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and was college roommates with Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and came from the same training program that gave us Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Lesnar, and basically every other major and minor homegrown star of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra) who everyone can agree puts on great matches, but like Malenko he's not particularly charismatic, can't cut a promo to save his life, and has never really connected with the crowd. He's spent most of his career in a tag team or as part of a stable and has never really received a serious singles push.

* The Wrestling/AttitudeEra is considered by many fans to be WWE's apex (considering that it's WWE's most profitable period, had the highest ratings ever and unquestionably saved them from Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s wrath, this opinion isn't unfounded). However, it's divisive to many other fans now because of the misogyny and match quality (which even at the time was pretty decisive), and there's a growing HypeBacklash towards the NostalgiaFilter of that era in favor of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra.

** ''The'' most despised wrestler among the smart mark crowd is bound to be Wrestling/HulkHogan, for most of the same reasons as Kevin Nash. He still had legions of Hulkamaniacs and got standing ovations whenever he appeared on TV...until he was caught on tape being racist and was publically called out by other wrestlers like The New Day. The WWE still trots him out on occasion but his appearances now are controversial.

* The Wrestling/AttitudeEra is considered by many fans to be WWE's apex (considering that it's WWE's most profitable period, had the highest ratings ever and unquestionably saved them from Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s wrath, this opinion isn't unfounded). However, it's divisive to many other fans now because of the misogyny and match quality, and there's a growing HypeBacklash towards the NostalgiaFilter of that era in favor of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra.

* Creator/DaveChappelle exemplifies this trope, his Netflix special ''Sticks & Stones'' scored 17% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but 99% from viewers there and 8.4 on iMDB. And [[HistoryRepeatsItself this would happen again]] and with even more controversy with his next special ''The Closer'' which got a 40% critic score and a 96% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. This is due to the special's content which talks about similarities between discrimination to the African-American Community and the LGBTQ community, including jokes that were seen as offensive by members of the transgender community, though Chappelle claims he is not transphobic and that's one of the points he makes during the special. This led to several LGBTQ groups call for its removal, an organized [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Netflix_walkout walkout]] and a data leak by a disgruntled transgender employee.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'''s later seasons hit rock bottoms at the ratings & Nickelodeon [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screwed over the final one]]. Audiences however liked it and wish Nick would've treated it better.
* ''WesternAnimation/ShurikenSchool'' did horribly with ratings when it hit Nickelodeon in the US. But audiences loved it making it an AcclaimedFlop.

** The majority of critical reception for the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E21FlandersLadder Flander's Ladder]]" was mixed to negative (though Screen Rant ''did'' call it the 29th season's best episode). Most notably, Dennis Perkins of ''The A.V. Club'' utterly hated the episode and described its ending scene as "a cheap gambit to close out a truly disappointing episode (and season) with unmerited weight." In contrast, audiences and fans ''loved'' the episode, calling it one of the best out of the entire series and with special praise being given to the ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' SeriesFinale parody at the end of the episode.

* The [[Anime/SailorMoon original anime adaptation]] of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' is one of the most iconic anime series of the '90s and among the most popular and recognized anime of all time, but if you asked some critics what they thought about it, they'd likely call it nothing more than formulaic MagicalGirl fare, likely because the series suffers a big case of OnceOriginalNowOverdone.

A major factor for this disparity is that critics tend to consume ''much'' more of whatever media they work with than those whose time to do so is limited by their day jobs. Critics' schooling and training can result in them having an entire ''vocabulary'' for interpreting their chosen artistic medium that a popular audience simply doesn't have. This can lead to something that seems fresh to viewers who aren't too familiar with similar works getting panned by critics [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny who've seen that kind of thing]] [[ClicheStorm a million times already]], or to critics appreciating something that actually ''is'' very innovative but is missing elements a general audience seeks and enjoys.

* The [[Anime/SailorMoon original anime adaptation]] of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' is one of the most iconic anime series of the '90s and among the most popular and recognized anime of all time, but if you asked some critics what they thought about it, they'd likely call it nothing more than formulaic MagicalGirl fare, likely because the series suffers a big case of SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

* ''Manga/LoveHina'' was adored by critics, but many audiences, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny especially over time]], dislike it for [[ClicheStorm using]] or [[TropeCodifier inventing]] some of the most hated cliches in harem manga and anime, most of the characters being [[JerkAss Jerk Asses]], or for constantly playing what looks like domestic abuse for laughs. To say nothing of the quality of the English, Latin American Spanish, and German dubs. This was Lampshaded by WebVideo/BennettTheSage in one of his reviews for the series, whenever there was a scene he found really absurd, he made quotes from positive reviews appear on the screen.

** He addressed this trope in [[Recap/BobChapman his reviews]] of ''Film/TheEagle2011'' and ''Film/KnightAndDay''. He feels that the reason for the disconnect between critics and the ‘average’ moviegoer is because critics watch and pick apart hundreds of movies per year as part of their job and have learned how to spot every trope and plot twist from a mile away, making them much more receptive to original, offbeat movies that go against their expectations. Meanwhile, people who don’t see more than one movie a week (i.e. most non-critics) can better appreciate films that are {{cliche|Storm}}d but well-made on the technical side, and find arthouse films that [[GenreBusting challenge "traditional" genre boundaries]] to be off-putting.

* ''WesternAnimation/SanjayAndCraig'' is another example of being popular with children but hated by critics and adults. Unlike the aforementioned ''Breadwinners'', though, [[GrowingTheBeard people warmed up to it somewhat from its second season onward]] instead of hating it even more.

* The WWE often uses this as a justification for pushing [[BaseBreakingCharacter Base Breaking Wrestlers]] or [[CreatorsPet Creator's Pets]] like Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/RomanReigns. Claiming that only a handful of "Internet Fans" dislike them[[note]]Though at this point those "[[Main/SmartMark internet fans]]" make up the majority of the wrestling fanbase, while Vince was slow to pick up on this Wrestling/TripleH's booking seems to be more catered to the "smart" fan, and Wrestling/{{AEW}} exclusively targets that market[[/note]], even when half or an entire arena boos them out of the building and ratings continue to fall. What defines an "Internet Fan" vs a "Casual Fan" is often [[NoTrueScotsman whatever the WWE wants to define it as.]] While it has been said that Roman Reigns is a top merch-seller, this claim has never been verified beyond hearsay. Roman Reigns in particular had XPacHeat so bad that Website/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_and_reception_of_Roman_Reigns has an article on the matter]]. It took the WWE pulling back Cena's CreatorsPet status and giving Roman Reigns a FaceHeelTurn (Which they had claimed for years that "Only a few 'internet fans' want") for either man to start getting respected for their genuine talent.
** Too Cool were especially loathed by critics during the Attitude Era but got great reactions. Fans who aren't {{Smart Mark}}s tend to remember them as a good tag team with a fun gimmick.

** Sid's polar opposite would probably be Wrestling/DeanMalenko. Considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world (if not ''the'' best) by smarks and ragsheets, to the point that he was #1 in the 1997 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' "PWI 500" when no one really did well enough in kayfabe to earn the top spot[[note]]The WWF title was a bit of a mess during the grading period (in this case from August 1996 to July 1997) due to injuries, "[[Main/TroubledProduction injuries]]", titles being relinquished, and contract holdouts. Wrestling/SteveAustin was the highest ranked WWF wrestler at #3 despite never even holding the title, on the other channel Wrestling/HulkHogan held the WCW title for nearly that entire year but because he was basically on the Wrestling/BrockLesnar schedule he fell to ''55th'' because his output was so low, and because the few matches he did have almost always involved a fuck finish. Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa of Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling was #2 for those curious, and Wrestling/{{Tazz}} was the top ranked Wrestling/{{ECW}} wrestler at #11[[/note]] and ''PWI'' awarded it to who they called the best wrestler. Outside of one program with Wrestling/ChrisJericho (which can totally be credited to Jericho's usual stellar work as a heel) crowds never really gave a shit about Dean unless the rest of the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen were standing next to him. Wrestling/KevinNash got torn apart for calling The Radicals (Malenko, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) "vanilla midgets" after they fled [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} up north]], but with Dean he might have had a point.

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'' is typically seen as an unneeded {{retool}} of a series that was already doing fine, not to mention the entire concept was simply lit by ExecutiveMeddling, to the point that it went unmentioned when the original ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' series was released on DVD. Critics loved it, though, and it won several awards (including an Emmy) during its really short run.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' recieved mixed reviews (and even some backlash) from critics and fans of the original ''Looney Tunes'' because of the character redesigns and the change in humor from Tongue-in-cheek slapstick comedy to low-key, SliceOfLife sitcom. Despite this, the show was much better recieved by younger audiences and does have a devoted fanbase that appreciated the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}} esque'' humor acknowleding that it wasn't competing or trying to replace the original Looney Tunes, but rather be a different interpretation of well-known characters. To make things even more confusing, critics and audiences tend to agree that changing WesternAnimation/LolaBunny from MsFanservice to scatterbrained ValleyGirl was a welcome change but die-hard Lola Bunny fans were less pleased with the change.

* Creator/DaveChappelle exemplifies this trope, his Netflix special ''Sticks & Stones'' scored 17% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but 99% from viewers there and 8.4 on iMDB. And [[HistoryRepeatsItself this would happen again]] and with even more controversy with his next special ''The Closer'' which got a 40% critic score and a 96% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. This is due to the specials content which talks about similarities between discrimination to the African-American Community and the LGBTQ community, including jokes that were seen as offensive by members of the transgender community, though Chapelle claims he is not transphobic and that's one of the points he makes during the special. This led to several LGBTQ groups call for its a removal, an organized [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Netflix_walkout walkout]] and a data leak by a disgruntled transgender employee.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' recieved mixed reviews (and even some backlash) from critics and fans of the original ''Looney Tunes'' because of the character redesigns and the change in humor from Tongue-in-cheek slapstick comedy to low-key, SliceOfLife sitcom. Despite this, the show was much better recieved by younger audiences and does have a devoted fanbase that appreciated the [[''Series/{{Seinfeld}} Seinfeld-esque'']] humor acknowleding that it wasn't competing or trying to replace the original Looney Tunes, but rather be a different interpretation of well-known characters. To make things even more confusing, critics and audiences tend to agree that changing WesternAnimation/LolaBunny from MsFanservice to scatterbrained ValleyGirl was a welcome change but die-hard Lola Bunny fans were less pleased with the change.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' recieved mixed reviews (and even some backlash) from critics and fans of the original ''Looney Tunes'' because of the character redesigns and the change in humor from Tongue-in-cheek slapstick comedy to low-key, SliceOfLife sitcom. Despite this, the show was much better recieved by younger audiences and does have a devoted fanbase that appreciated the ''Series/Seinfeld esque'' humor acknowleding that it wasn't competing or trying to replace the original Looney Tunes, but rather be a different interpretation of well-known characters. To make things even more confusing, critics and audiences tend to agree that changing WesternAnimation/LolaBunny from Ms. Fanservice to scatterbrained ValleyGirl was a welcome change but die-hard Lola Bunny fans were less pleased with the change.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' recieved mixed reviews (and even some backlash) from critics and fans of the original ''Looney Tunes'' because of the character redesigns and the change in humor from Tongue-in-cheek slapstick comedy to low-key, SliceOfLife sitcom. Despite this, the show was much better recieved by younger audiences and does have a devoted fanbase that appreciated the [[''Series/Seinfeld'' Seinfeld-esque]] humor acknowleding that it wasn't competing or trying to replace the original Looney Tunes, but rather be a different interpretation of well-known characters. To make things even more confusing, critics and audiences tend to agree that changing WesternAnimation/LolaBunny from Ms.Fanservice to scatterbrained ValleyGirl was a welcome change but die-hard Lola Bunny fans were less pleased with the change.

Critics may look down on a [[ItsPopularNowItSucks popular work]] on principle, denouncing it as LowestCommonDenominator garbage that’s all flash and no substance. Critics tend to favor serious drama and disdain genre works (horror) and lighter works. Conversely, the public may see a work beloved by the critics as boring, [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty]], and [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible pretentious]] drivel engineered solely to [[OscarBait win awards]] from [[StrawCritic equally boring, angsty, and pretentious Academy members]]. Other divides could result from critics putting greater emphasis on [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical the politics some media are perceived to be pushing]] rather than the merits of the media itself.

** Sid's polar opposite would probably be Wrestling/DeanMalenko. Considered one of the best technical wrestlers in the world (if not ''the'' best) by smarks and ragsheets, to the point that he was #1 in the 1997 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' "PWI 500" when no one really did well enough in kayfabe to earn the top spot[[note]]The WWF title was a bit of a mess during the grading period (in this case from August 1996 to July 1997) due to injuries, "[[Main/TroubledProduction injuries]]", titles being relinquished, and contract holdouts. Wrestling/SteveAustin was the highest ranked WWF wrestler at #3 despite never even holding the title, on the other channel Wrestling/HulkHogan held the WCW title for nearly that entire year but because he was basically on the Wrestling/BrockLesnar schedule he fell to ''55th'' because his output was so low, and because the few matches he did have almost always involved a fuck finish. Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa of Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling was #2 for those curious, and Wrestling/{{Tazz}} was the top ranked Wrestling/{{ECW}} wrestler at #11[[/note]] and ''PWI'' awarded it to who they called the best wrestler. Outside of one program with Wrestling/ChrisJericho (which can totally be credited to Jericho's usual stellar work as a heel) crowds never really gave a shit unless the rest of the Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen were standing next to him. Wrestling/KevinNash got torn apart for calling The Radicals (Malenko, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, and Wrestling/PerrySaturn) "vanilla midgets" after they fled [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} up north]], but with Dean he might have had a point.
** There's also Wrestling/SheltonBenjamin. Like Malenko he's brilliant in-ring worker with a strong pedigree (he was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and was college roommates with Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and came from the same training program that gave us Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Lesnar, and basically every other major and minor homegrown star of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra) who everyone can agree puts on great matches, but like Malenko he's not particularly charismatic, can't a promo to save his life, and has never really connected with the crowd. He's spent most of his career in a tag team or as part of a stable and has never really received a serious singles push.

** ''ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}'': In its early run it was a cult among the general audience in Flanders, mostly because of the fame of the comedian on which it was based, but critics absolutely despised its art which may go down as some of the ugliest art in a comic book ever this side of ''Pitch''. As time changed and the art style got better critics started to like it as well, especially because the comedian has a good grasp of what the author is doing, but is still dismissed by hipsters. Seeing as they are AcceptableTargets it’s very understandable.

%%* Some of the stuff reviewed on [[TheWikiRule The Bad Webcomics Wiki]] is this.

[[quoteright:350:[[Creator/TylerPerry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/criticaldiss_6590.jpg]]]]

** There's also Wrestling/SheltonBenjamin. Like Malenko he's brilliant in-ring worker with a strong pedigree (he was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and was college roommates with Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and came from the same training program that gave us Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Lesnar, and basically every other major and minor star of the Wrestling/RuthlessAggressionEra) who everyone can agree puts on great matches, but like Malenko he's not particularly charismatic, can't a promo to save his life, and has never really connected with the crowd. He's spent most of his career in a tag team or as part of a stable and has never really received a serious singles push.