On the menu today: a break from politics, in which I contemplate whether American pop culture has reached a point of boredom and stagnation — perhaps Ross Douthat would call it “decadence” — and whether the woke philosophy, which has taken deep root in Hollywood, constrains the creativity needed for exciting, compelling, memorable storytelling.
Is American Culture Boring? Or Just Woke Culture?
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times is bored with American popular culture, and echoes literary critic Christian Lorentzen’s lament that, “Hollywood movies are boring. Television is boring. Pop music is boring. The art world is boring. Broadway is boring. Books from big publishing are boring.” She warns:
An obvious caveat: I’m a white middle-aged parent, so whatever is truly cool is, by definition, happening outside my purview. Still, when I go to coffee shops where young people are ...