some thoughts about peoples desire to be seen as "niche"

i've noticed that from beginning of 2025 (maybe even 2024) there has been an influx of people wanting to be seen as niche, but no one wants to engage with the said niche things. overall, it just comes off as really pretentious. a more concrete example are cinephiles and anime fans, a lot of them pride themselves on knowing less popular works and thus see themselves as better than people who like popular things.

now, to say that people who engage with a medium on a surface level isn't bad would be lying. i think people should watch more obscure things, but there is a limit to how one can and should act. acting like a pretentious asshole over liking niche media just makes you look like an asshole and as a result you basically drive people away from you which i think is a pattern amongst those people