These stories are the mirrors in which we see ourselves, but they are also hammers that shape the world. The way we view cops (true crime), the way we view romance (rom-coms), and the way we view technology (cyberpunk) are all forged by the media we consume.
This presents a dizzying ethical and legal minefield. Who owns the copyright? Is it still art without human suffering? And if content is infinitely available and infinitely personalized, what happens to shared cultural values? If we all live in our own custom-made realities, do we lose the ability to empathize with a reality that isn't custom-made for us? Entertainment content and popular media are often dismissed as fluff—the candy of culture. But candy has calories. Candy affects your body. Media affects your soul. backroomcastingcouch140616sammyxxx720pmp
We are living in the golden age of distraction—or, depending on your perspective, the golden age of storytelling. Entertainment is no longer a passive activity reserved for the evening hours; it is a 24/7 torrent that influences our politics, dictates our fashion, shapes our language, and even rewires our neural pathways. To understand the 21st century, one must first decode the hidden language of the blockbuster, the bingeable series, and the viral meme. Thirty years ago, "entertainment content" was a simple concept: a movie in a theater, a sitcom on one of three networks, or a song on the radio. Popular media was a monologue delivered from Hollywood and New York to the suburbs. Today, that model is dead. These stories are the mirrors in which we
Why take a risk on a new idea when you can reboot Spider-Man for the fourth time? The logic is brutal but sound: familiarity reduces financial risk. We live in the era of nostalgia capitalism. Stranger Things profits from 80s nostalgia. Star Wars prints money by mining your childhood memories. Who owns the copyright