We are seeing a massive boom in "mid-core" content. These are shows and movies that are high-budget enough to look great but structurally familiar enough to be "second-screen friendly." Think of the procedural dramas or reality competitions that you can watch while scrolling through your phone. Popular media is increasingly designed to be —it fills the space without demanding 100% of our cognitive load. Fandom as Currency
Popularity used to be measured by ratings; now, it’s measured by . A show with 1 million casual viewers is often less valuable to a network than a show with 100,000 "stans" who create fan art, write theories, and buy merchandise. Media franchises like the MCU or Star Wars have pivoted from making "movies" to building "ecosystems" that fans never have to leave. The "Niche-ification" of Everything NinaKayy.22.11.22.Four.Babes.One.Cock.XXX.1080p...
Paradoxically, as media becomes more global, "monoculture" is dying. It is rare for everyone to be watching the same thing at the same time (outside of massive events like the Super Bowl or a House of the Dragon finale). Instead, we exist in , where our "popular media" is entirely different from the person sitting next to us on the bus. We are seeing a massive boom in "mid-core" content