The junkification of American life

‘Hollywood studios are laying off employees. The number of new scripted TV series is down. That’s because entertainment is being swallowed up by distraction,’ says Brooks. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

BACK in February, music historian Ted Gioia wrote an essay on the state of American culture. He argued that many creative people want to create art (work that puts demands on people), but all the commercial pressures push them to create entertainment (which gives audiences what they want).

As a result, for the past many years, entertainment (superhero movies) has been swallowing up art (literary novels and serious dramas).