Q debate: Should we take the guilt out of guilty pleasures?
Are there certain television shows you can't admit to watching? Or movies you love that you'd never recommend? Or songs you openly mock but secretly sing along with, while in your underpants, dancing alone in your room?
If you said yes to any of the above, you're familiar with the classic guilty pleasure.
There's a critical movement afoot to take the guilt out of enjoying any kind of art we please, edifying or not. But others say that sense that we should know better is useful. Seems it's time for a Q debate!
Be it resolved that we should take the guilt out of guilty pleasures.
Meet your debaters:
- Arguing for: Adam Sternbergh, a contributing editor to Vulture. Earlier this year, he wrote a piece for the New York Times Magazine titled, All of the Pleasure. None of the Guilt.
- Arguing against: Writer and editor Alex McCown, who recently wrote a piece for the AV Club titled, Defending the Guilt in Guilty Pleasure.
Over to you, Q audience. Did Sternbergh convince you to own up to your tawdry tastes? Or did McCown persuade you to stay sheepish, sometimes?
Share your guilty pleasures, and whether or not you hide them, in the comments below!