What do these pop culture products have in common besides making obscene amounts of money? They are superficially engaging and depressingly short on substance. Both equally demonstrate how some contemporary artists do little more than deftly mix cliche, tropes, and cultural memes into a marketable product. They are like a copies of copies of copies, ad infinitum until you get to a point of maximum derivativeness that collapses on itself like a black hole that sucks in money.
The only thing more stunning than Avatar's visuals is how formulaic it's plot is. Cameron gave us Pocahontas dancing with wolves in Ferngully. Oh yeah, there was big blue cat people.
"Don't stop/ Make it pop/ DJ, blow my speakers up/ Tonight, Imma fight 'til the we see the sunlight..."; goes the chorus to 'Tik Tok'. It's catchy and the theme of devil may care partying is fun but that's about the most positive thing I can say. I've heard this song a thousand times before by a thousand different artists and Kesha's verison doesn't make the top half.
I'm not saying we all need to listen to opera and watch art house films but I wish our standards as consumers was just a little higher. But what do I know? I watch reality on TV.
Seriously. I will say though that I don't want to punch James Cameron... but that little Ke$ha girl.. Anyone who has a dollar symbol as part of their stage name needs to get a diamond encrusted blackberry flung to the face! I guess our only comfort is in knowing that she'll collapse in on herself soon.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for her to go supernova.
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