re: #82 O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave..

I think this whole time period is absolutely insane from a pop culture perspective. On the one hand, social responsibility would suggest that you should, at the least, acknowledge the situation, and in some capacity, leverage your market to encourage people to pay attention and be safe. I also feel that anything that’s either rooted in the present or in a future that is derived from the current reality, or makes a reference to it, should acknowledge that it is a thing that happened - else, potential viewers or cultural researchers in post-pandemic times will not have that context. However, the argument made in the author’s statement about media as escapism is also perfectly valid, and in the current stressful times, the last thing we all need is for our favorite escapes to continue saturating us with the news we’re trying to escape from. No matter what, something is going to be weird, so I feel like it basically comes down to the individual show and how they choose to approach social responsibility, escapism, and the reality of their in-show universe.

I think I’d feel vastly different if we had handled the pandemic better from the start. That it was virtually ignored, downplayed, and outright lied about makes pop culture more than simple escapism, because for a large number of Americans, pop culture is their news, it is their reality.

The trump maladministration altered reality for a whole bunch of people. I’m not sure what needs to happen to unfuck that chicken, but ignoring it in pop culture doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I agree that each show does and should do it’s own thing and they should decide what works for their respective worlds. But I’m opposed to blanketly ignoring reality.

I don’t watch The Connors but I’d be interested to see how they’ve incorporated this into their comedy world because I’m certain they haven’t turned into a drama.