I was catching up with a friend and told him about Worm, and he said "oh, some of my friends had to read that for a class they took"
???
I tried to clarify. "There are two webcomics called worm, are you sure it wasn't one of those?" And he said "yeah, it has superheroes right? My roommate hated it, she read it out loud to me, I remember the main character being on public transit?" I asked if she was in a sundress and he said yes.
So to be clear. There is a professor in Florida who is making their students read *the entirety* of worm for a freshman media studies class.
I've never read Homestuck but there's a type of media that I call "a Homestuck" and I think it's a useful categorization. The main criteria are:
long enough that the time investment is a serious barrier to entry
irrevocably changes your personality
brings something genuinely unique to the table. there is no real substitute for reading/playing/watching it in its entirety
Fate/Stay Night is a Homestuck. Worm is a Homestuck. When They Cry is a Homestuck.
Undertale has cultural impact similar to a Homestuck at first glance, but the fact that it's a pretty short and accessible game means that you don't get the particular mix of sunk cost fallacy and an intimate experience with a piece of media that results in you needing to connect with others who have already put in the time investment. You can buy your friends Undertale and expect them to play it if they're not too busy; telling a friend to read Homestuck is giving them a quest that, if accepted, will spark an odyssey. to read someone's Homestuck is an act of love without true equivalent.
I've been staring at this post for like 30mins and I'm not sure why it has me like this but I'll try to explain:
Fundamentally, a "Homestuck" must be something you assume your IRL friends:
Are not already into, and
Are probably not going to get into
for a combination of factors, which may or may not include:
Length
Difficulty to parse, for ANY reason(s)
Lack of mainstream presence
Dated/otherwise offensive elements
Notoriety of the fanbase, especially if it's full of literal children
On top of all of this, it must also bring a relatively unique experience to the table, especially one that changes how you see the world.
The result is a piece of media or experience that is almost impossible to share with any IRL friends. It is much easier to find someone online who understands than it is to introduce someone you know to a "Homestuck". In this regard, a "Homestuck" must be a simultaneously enriching and isolating experience for its fans. Without online communities and/or conventions, it must be extremely difficult to share what a "Homestuck" means to you with anyone else.
Ok so some of the examples I kept seeing in the comments and RBs (I haven't read/watched all of these but these are my thoughts)
Worm is a great example. Though the fanbase is different, format is traditional, and it's not "problematic" (I think), Worm is both extremely unique and impossible to introduce to friends.
Danganronpa is more mainstream, but otherwise fits the bill decently well. It's more popular than some of the other entries and its basic formula isn't unique, but it isn't easy to get into and its execution is pretty interesting
More mainstream examples like One Piece, Dr. Who, and Star Trek all feel more like semi-"Homestuck"s due to it being much easier to find someone into them, making them far less isolating experiences.
Touhou makes a lot of sense, as it's difficult to describe its appeal to people and it's a very unusual multimedia experience. However, Touhou can also be enjoyed without needing to parse all of its complexities, so I think it's a bit lower in the list
MLP would be difficult to introduce to people due to the perception of both the show itself and of its fanbase. However, I'm not sure how well it meets the other criteria (I haven't seen it)
I think most of the other examples can be thought of along these lines. Really, the "how isolating is it IRL" seems to be the biggest factor, as if something is both niche and meaningful, it becomes that much more difficult for the people around you to understand you
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
romaincrisis
titsay
origamiaround
snowghoul
