04-15-2014, 09:19 AM
I think you bring up a valid point, Spectra- desensitization. Over time, people have become desensitized in their entertainment and what they find titillating or stimulating. The internet has only exacerbated that trend in regard to fetishes that range from odd but benign to odd to straight up sick. Peoples interests run the gamut from things like voraphilia and furries to very sadistic. So I would agree that there would be extremely dark elements to CCD culture. Spectra Lin being a media darling while having come from the adult entertainment industry is not that much of a stretch. One only has to think of Jenna Jameson or Sasha Gray to see that that kind of thing could happen very easily. (Though I honestly am not sure that a majority of people would not feel a great deal of empathy for her knowing that she came from the child-sex trade. Being peripherally aware that many in the adult industry might have been abused is one thing. Knowing that she specifically had been exploited as a child and then, as a survival mechanism, parlayed that into fame that included pornography is something else. Just personal opinion but I think is born out below.)
But at the same time, there are two objections I'd make to a completely dystopian/almost deSade-like acceptance of anything and everything. First, extremes in one direction almost always elicit a counter-reaction in the opposite direction. We see this even today in regard to pop-culture. As we get more extreme in one-direction, we also see elements of society, or even of the culture itself, that are filling the vacuum of the other end with material. I would argue (just off the top of my head) that resurgence of Pixar/Disney films, the continued rise of super-hero movies- esp with characters whose core is goodness, like Superman or Captain America- as well as book series whose themes are about friendship and loyalty in the face of darkness (WOT itself, Harry Potter, LOTR, etc), TV shows about the same things, and overtly religiously themed entertainment represent this need that society wants to fill.
Escapism is not the only reason to turn to music, tv, movies or whatever, nor does it have to be purely dark. People also find things to "feed" their soul so as to be able to get by with some semblance of hope. So I find it very unlikely that the majority would be desensitized to that degree or that the world of that time would be completely dystopian in their acceptance of casual brutality. Along with those elements, I think you'd also see attempts to be uplifting and positive. (It's the reason why positive/happy/love themed pop-music trends always last longer than angry/depressing/nihilistic music trends. At some point people get tired of feeling down or focusing on the negative. It's too depressing.) Escapism from the horrors of life involve positive things too, not just soul-numbing entertainment.
Again, I am not disagreeing that what society has become used to wouldn't be worse than what exists now. That would be undeniable. But I think that along with all of that, we would find pop-culture elements in completely the opposite direction.
And that gets to my second objection to a purely nihilistic soul-sucking escapism. If, as Ascendency has said, CCD culture has been designed to make people feel as if they are living in the greatest empire that has ever existed, a place of innovation and promise, then pop-culture cannot be purely dark. "Government influence upon the institutions that set the stage for pop-culture (cinema, celebrity, musicians, etc) do so in a way to encourage CCD nationalism. Jaxen's interpretation that the pop culture of the CCD is quite futuristic is a perfect example of this. The CCD wants to encourage the youngest generations to identify with the Custody, the future, and not identify with the past (at least not the recent past)." For that to be true, pop-culture would need to reflect that sense of hope for the future.
So I see a more balanced state of pop-culture. Certainly those elements you describe. And there has been a shift as to what has become acceptable. But at the same time, even in mainstream pop-culture, I think we'd see a lot of positive or hopeful things. Otherwise, it would just be Gotham, turning on itself.
But at the same time, there are two objections I'd make to a completely dystopian/almost deSade-like acceptance of anything and everything. First, extremes in one direction almost always elicit a counter-reaction in the opposite direction. We see this even today in regard to pop-culture. As we get more extreme in one-direction, we also see elements of society, or even of the culture itself, that are filling the vacuum of the other end with material. I would argue (just off the top of my head) that resurgence of Pixar/Disney films, the continued rise of super-hero movies- esp with characters whose core is goodness, like Superman or Captain America- as well as book series whose themes are about friendship and loyalty in the face of darkness (WOT itself, Harry Potter, LOTR, etc), TV shows about the same things, and overtly religiously themed entertainment represent this need that society wants to fill.
Escapism is not the only reason to turn to music, tv, movies or whatever, nor does it have to be purely dark. People also find things to "feed" their soul so as to be able to get by with some semblance of hope. So I find it very unlikely that the majority would be desensitized to that degree or that the world of that time would be completely dystopian in their acceptance of casual brutality. Along with those elements, I think you'd also see attempts to be uplifting and positive. (It's the reason why positive/happy/love themed pop-music trends always last longer than angry/depressing/nihilistic music trends. At some point people get tired of feeling down or focusing on the negative. It's too depressing.) Escapism from the horrors of life involve positive things too, not just soul-numbing entertainment.
Again, I am not disagreeing that what society has become used to wouldn't be worse than what exists now. That would be undeniable. But I think that along with all of that, we would find pop-culture elements in completely the opposite direction.
And that gets to my second objection to a purely nihilistic soul-sucking escapism. If, as Ascendency has said, CCD culture has been designed to make people feel as if they are living in the greatest empire that has ever existed, a place of innovation and promise, then pop-culture cannot be purely dark. "Government influence upon the institutions that set the stage for pop-culture (cinema, celebrity, musicians, etc) do so in a way to encourage CCD nationalism. Jaxen's interpretation that the pop culture of the CCD is quite futuristic is a perfect example of this. The CCD wants to encourage the youngest generations to identify with the Custody, the future, and not identify with the past (at least not the recent past)." For that to be true, pop-culture would need to reflect that sense of hope for the future.
So I see a more balanced state of pop-culture. Certainly those elements you describe. And there has been a shift as to what has become acceptable. But at the same time, even in mainstream pop-culture, I think we'd see a lot of positive or hopeful things. Otherwise, it would just be Gotham, turning on itself.