essential poptimist reading

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

I was originally going to write quite a long bit about this book, but then I thought I might save that up and just ask YOU LOT if any of you have read it.

Not everything in it rings true, but the core observations (mass/pop culture is getting more cognitively demanding), and the fundamental inference (our brains WANT to be challenged) are things that everyone here will probably agree with. It's never a good thing to agree wholeheartedly with an argument/book, at least it feels wrong/uncomfortable to me, but my disagreements here are minor to trivial.

indeed the "mass/pop culture is getting more cognitively demanding" thing is so obviously true, but he actually goes into quantifiable specifics in a nice way. plus it's nice to have someone actually bloody well saying so forthrightly and in public, rather than the usual crap "going to hell in a lowest common denominator handbag"

he doesn't actually touch on music much at all (i'm going back to find that bit, cos there was something ironically slightly rockist about singles v albums he mentions) but it's still poptimism.

anyway. anyone?

Comments

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

agree with a lot of what you say, and tho i'm shy of anyone who wants to talk about rapture, i'm totally with you that that is an inseparable part of pop culture - and what i referred to in the longer response up there a bit. BUT the amount of information thing in old telly is totally OTM.

repeats of old dramas are not watched so much by ppl who haven't seen them, and are usually then equated with less demanding dramas of today. someone watching repeats of dallas might do so in the same way as they'd get into a routine of watching an aussie soap, but a teen fed a diet of 24 and Lost would find it plodding and tiresome. I myself watch 70s scifi, and while I'm aware of the slow spoon-feed-the-audience pace of events i consciously make allowances for it for the enjoyment of other qualities - principally the weirdness of the stories.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

dallas vs 24 = apples vs lemons a bit surely, thrillwise? dallas was not a thriller (ok haha NOR IS 2Zzzzzzzz but that's not the point i'm making)

so what about the professionals vs 24? *sings words to professionals themetune*

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

actually i think a clearer comparison -- which makes the complexity point but maybe also somewhat undercuts johnson's optimism -- is to compare a VANGUARD thriller of today with something like (the incredibly useless) SPOOKS; that's where you really feel the draggy lameness of structure and technique (except you also have to be aware the cultural darwinism has not yet offed spooks and its ilk...

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

the success of spooks baffles me. fair point that 24 v dallas isn't a fair comparison. actually he falls down on some of his examples a few times. tho you'd be fair pushed to disagree that LotR adaptations had more main players than Star Wars, some of the characters he cites i can't even recall.

tho this is perhaps cos i am old, and i didn't actually like LotR that much

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

in the commentaries they actually said the number of LotR main players at some point and i was astonished how FEW it was! unfortunately i can't remember the number either

just doing a count-up in my head it's about 30 i think

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

try the same with Star Wars. hard to get past half that

i shall attempt 1xhomology

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

jarjar binks = legolas

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

"i'm shy of anyone who wants to talk about rapture"

Can I ask why?

A while back I got the really strong feeling that my attitude toward art was kinda religious in nature, or I guess more accurately that modern evangelical Christianity was searching for a guilt-free way of getting the feeling I get out of art, which sure is an egotistical thing to think. My blog subtitle for a long time was "we are pentecoastal" and now it's "god hates your tears." I guess I haven't thought about this very thoroughly.