MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Has American pop culture plateued?

Has American pop culture plateued?

posted 4 years ago by [deleted]
15 replies | jump to latest

Last century, pop culture was very well defined per decade, as things were always changing.

Changes in musical styles were very well defined.

So was fashions.

So was movies.

Now things are just sort of refining, but not necessarily changing.

In the past decade, I can't really think of anything ground breaking to shake up music, fashions, movies, etc.

I see refinement of things, technological upgrades, more integration of ourselves and our lives to our phones, but besides that, is the pop culture we consume any different?

I can look back at 2011 and say "my phone back then was quite different" but the movies that were showing are sort of the type of movies that still get released.

Artists from then like Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Drake are still best selling artists.

Kids still dress in Nike, want Jordans, want the newest phone. No difference to kids 15 years ago.

So if things haven't changed in a decade, will things change in another decade?

Or have we plateued?

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 4 years ago

Things will change, because change is the only thing which never changes.

😎

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

No. Superheroes are in peak height of popularity all over the world currently, and it's an original American pop-culture.

[–] blue1981 (7950) 4 years ago

No one takes creative risks in movies, tv shows or music because creators are too worried about who they might offend.

[–] chilone (18034) 4 years ago

It's all programing, these days. Conform or be cast out.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

"Conform or be cast out."

That's exactly what Neil Peart said!

[–] chilone (18034) 4 years ago

I was hoping someone would get that. 🎶

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

Is Neil Peart cast out?

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 4 years ago

We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[–] Esterhowse (468) 4 years ago

It is all more compartmentalized and moving so much more faster. You used to see decades long eras of pop culture and that has now been shrunk down to months.

Unless your last name is Kardashian.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

It is all more compartmentalized and moving so much more faster.

Quite the opposite.

Genres and artistic movements used to rise, peak and fall in one decade or two. Early 60s, classic pop didn't even exist. One decade later you already had one golden decade of pop and you'd be seeing the beginnings of classic rock. One decade later you had a golden decade of classic rock bands and music was moving to 80s style.

Popular music didn't even exist before the 1920s (folk music was just a dude playing some melody with a flute). Things that you take for granted in painting and graphic design weren't even imagined before 1890s.

And we could say something similar about literature. What's considered as "scifi" started in late 50s, traversed several periods and ended during the 90s. During the last 150 years, art has been changing, evolving, re-starting, creating things that weren't even a thing a few years before. One or two decades and art was a completely different thing.

Right now there's lots of noise, but no movement. Current literature is no different from what used to be 2-3 decades ago (except worse). Music has barely evolved in the last couple of decades, it's just the same overproduced vocal track with a heavy rhythmic base and some background sounds as filler. Series look better, that's true, they look like movies because the CGI is much cheaper. But that's just a technological advance and any case, Asian countries should be the ones credited for cheap computers.

What defines our era is the extreme level of anti-western propaganda in (western) art, and the cheap CGI. Besides that, current art is stagnant. It's not moving, it's not evolving, it's not peaking. It's just preaching.

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 4 years ago

Making new things has been disincentivized from many directions.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

Well, nobody in the world is making anything nowadays. Except China.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

overexposure is an issue.

[–] DarkHorse (297) 4 years ago

Entertainment, especially music isn't edgy anymore and people have also mostly become very boring. So you don't get the crazy stuff you had in the 70's and 80's in particular anymore it is all the same.