Knowledgeable =/= Pretentious

I am a little snobbish about things that I enjoy. I know that. I admit that. When I watch a movie I am thinking about cinematography and editing and writing. When I read a book I am thinking about descriptions and character development. I'm like that. I thought we knew that.

That doesn't mean I'm trying to belittle your knowledge or opinions when I express my observations. That is never my intention. I'm trying to start a conversation, maybe share a fact or two that I find interesting. I'm not trying to appear smarter, I'm expressing what to me is an interesting observation. Is there something wrong with that?

Yes, I am knowledgeable about things that I like. Duh.

Yes, I tend to have strong opinions about things that I like. Duh.

Yes, I enjoy sharing my knowledge and opinions with people. Duh.

I don't think that makes me self-righteous or better than thou or high and mighty. I'm not close-minded. I will hear an argument against my own personal opinion. But that's why I like sharing my opinions, so that someone can talk to me about them, so that I can hear what other people think about it.

Recently people in my life have been throwing the word "pretentious" around. And that offends me. Because noticing that long-running shot at the beginning of the movie Gravity doesn't make me pretentious. Talking about the layers of themes and symbols in the book To Kill a Mockingbird (which is actually a fantastic book and I think everyone should read it because it's so so good) doesn't make me pretentious. I mean, if I say anything besides "I like the part with the explosions", am I pretentious?

I don't understand why expressing my small observations about actual quality of things that I enjoy makes me pretentious. I would think that that just says that I appreciate it all the more. Is it just me that appreciates a movie more once I find the symbols and devices used? Is it really so pretentious of me to talk about things like tracking shots and underlying themes? I don't think so. I would have thought that made me thoughtful. I would have thought that made me observant.

I'm tired of people getting offended or weirded out because of the things I know or the things I like. Nothing I do is intended to belittle the opinions of other people, I just enjoy discussing opinions. That's how I learn from people.

I'm just tired of being embarassed of my own brain, because actually, I'm extremely proud of it. Somehow or other it's looked down on if you really seem to know what you're talking about and I'm getting pretty sick of it. I'm sick of pretending that I only look at stories on a surface level, when anyone who knows me knows that I could probably write a detailed essay about any given movie or book I've seen. I could also poke a million holes in any story just for kicks, if I feel like (and I often do - if I'm in the mood, I'm a terrible person to watch a movie with), but when I actually give a story THOUGHT about the techniques for telling it, I get a lot of blank looks and rolled eyes coming my way. I'm used to it, for the most part, but it gets really really REALLY tiresome that knowing things seems to make me uncool, or even unlikeable.

Why are people like this? I just don't understand it.