Welcome to the weekend!
We're halfway through October and close to spooky season. That said, some topics are a bit spooky without even really trying, especially when talking about the entertainment landscape. For anyone who is paying attention, they know how bad things truly are.
For a bit of a change, today we're going to dive back into the pop cult world, but not for criticism or easy shots at it, but more to point out that there isn't really anything left to talk about. Years ago, I mentioned that Pop Culture was dead, a topic that took people by surprise and which I still stand by, and nothing has changed on that front t change my opinion.
In fact, it's considerably worse than it was when I wrote that post eight years ago.
All the crusty corpos can do now is recycle IP, hope for a few minutes in the current fickle meme cycle, and then wait for the audience to inevitably forget everything they had just consumed mere moments earlier. Nothing sticks anymore.
Consider the original versions of Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 4 were huge in the gaming scene for years after their initial release, and in Current Year the remakes were forgotten in mere months for the next IP cash grab. It doesn't even matter if the product well made anymore, the audience no longer cares or has any investment. The normal audience has moved on from caring, and those remaining are doing so hoping for a few minutes of potential watercooler talk (or whatever they call it on social media these days) before moving on to whatever they are told is the next thing to care about. We all know this is how it works now, even if we can't express it.
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| It's dead. |
This isn't even a shot at the consumers, this is just how it objectively is now. A consuming content checklist is all anyone aspires to be a part of, not a scene or part of a wider connected cultural landscape. The above video shows us that this is where the pop cult has lead to, much as we said it would years back, and it will not get better. The only solution is finally putting this entire mindset out to pasture. Pop culture is dead, and we need to stop pretending it's not. Perhaps it was always dead to begin with. Regardless, there's nothing there now.
Those old, ancient IPs are now novelties, they have no greater meaning to the wider audience except as cheap references to long dead days, and jangling keys to distract their attention from reality for a few hours. There is no higher meaning, no daring ideas, and nothing vital in any of them except safe messaging for a sick society currently eating itself. These rickety properties are tired and need of eternal rest. Nothing lasts forever, especially not all this corporate IP.
What we're currently looking at is a near-future of isolated pockets of artists, entertainers, and creators, all working together to find shared ground and connection with each other and audiences they might not have expected. This won't be the permanent state of things, it never is, but it is the way it will have to be before said audiences are able to find those they can trust again who will not decay the way the mainstream has. We're going to be here for a while to come.
In the meantime, take one last look at the pop cult wasteland and remember how mighty it once was, before taking what is necessary to moving on to fertile grounds. There is nothing left here, and we need to start admitting it. The dead is to buried.
Whatever awaits ahead is not this, and there is nothing ahead like what we are leaving behind us. And there is nothing wrong with that.
We just need to be able to finally accept the way things are. The old world is dead, the old corpo IPs are done, and none of it is ever coming back. Clinging to it while not saving anything, or making the cultural landscape grow or become any better, is just lying to yourself about where we are and where we're going. We simply aren't there anymore.
And that's all there is to say about it. There isn't anything left but corpses in that old graveyard, and the only purpose of corpses is to bury them, remembering who they once were, and moving on.
So let's finally do that. We need better ways.
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