I think there was a steady and continuous slide from 1970s to now, on recognizing inner talent vs outer bling-bling.
The 70s had rock stars. The 80s had pop stars. The 90s reality TV stars. The 00s had YouTube stars. The 10s had Instagram stars. Next we’ll have bot-stars.
The 70s had rock stars. The 80s had pop stars. The 90s reality TV stars. The 00s had YouTube stars. The 10s had Instagram stars. Next we’ll have bot-stars.
The context of the artistic experience and creative process doesn’t matter much now, as far as popular appraisal is concerned. People’s attention spans got much shorter, and everything can (must?) be cropped and photoshopped in the most presentable manner.
On the other hand, there is a veritable explosion of tiny communities who nourish true creativity even today. But how do they survive and sustain themselves economically? Not possible as the web ecosystem supports only the top performers and aggregate monopolies. Not subcultures.
