The emergence of media: Humanity's endgame – a précis (Part Five)
By Mark Wegierski
web posted March 11, 2013
Noted below are some paradigmatic examples of the most "savvy" media phenomena. As is pointed out below, there is a tendency in media to create one exemplar (or, at most, two or three) within every format or genre that virtually defines the format or genre. There seems to be an almost invariable tendency towards "oligopoly" within the media. Once a given brand or franchise is successfully launched, it creates an almost irrepressible surge to become coterminous with the entire genre. For example, most of popular science fiction nowadays is defined by a handful of huge franchises, notably Star Wars and Star Trek. One can notice a similar tendency in the development of the formats of the technology that delivers the multifarious content. That technological formats are more-or-less uniform should obviously be of less concern than the uniformity of content. The list below, of course, could be far, far longer if various formats and genres were added and/or subdivided into various subcategories. Nevertheless, it would be possible to notice that there would usually be one defining exemplar within a given format or subgenre, even if the list were extended to hundreds or thousands of formats and subgenres. One might well ask if there is this drive to uniformity because of the massive corporate structures of so-called "late capitalism" which are able to bring enormous advertising and other resources in support of various "brands" and franchises? Or are some of the success stories below sometimes mostly the result of simply being the "first-in" in a given category or subcategory? Or are they successful because they happened to fill a perceived public need, or somehow caught the wave of a sometimes somewhat nebulous popular mood or opinion?
What is especially striking is how all these mediatized phenomena have come to prominence within a few years (or, at most, a few decades), without any kind of real tradition behind them. This is in strong contrast to long-lived institutions such as various religious denominations that developed over hundreds or thousands of years. The incredible power of attraction among quite large numbers of people of something as apparently ephemeral as these media phenomena could be seen as quite alarming. It appears that more genuine collectivities such as religion and nation have been largely replaced by various "consumer tribes" and "gadget-cults".
All three of the following incubated in "hot-house", artificial, megapolitan, "downtown" environment:
TV Station: CITY-TV/MuchMusic in Toronto – called "global village-idiots" by satirical magazine Frank
Radio-Station: CFNY in Toronto
Print Journalism: Now Magazine in Toronto or Details or Mondo 2000
Cable Station: CNN -- "Dead Air: How CNN Wrecked Television News." The New Republic, August 22 & 29, 1994
Political (or Magazine) Journalism: National Review – note how Buckley squeezed out and marginalized all those who disagreed with him on the Right -- the ongoing attempt in all media is "to reduce a plurality of current social phenomena to a single person, journal, magazine, newspaper, movie, or TV show" - Buckley has carried out a right-wing version of "political correctness" -- he excised all ideas critical of corporations/big business/laissez-faire and out-of-control technological growth
Newspaper: The New York Times
Newser: Walter Cronkite
Afternoon Talkshow Host: Oprah Winfrey
Late Night Talkshow Host: David Letterman
Rock-Star: Female: Madonna -- constantly reforging her persona
Rock-Star: Male: David Bowie -- constantly reforging his persona
Rock-Bands: The Beatles; The Rolling Stones; The Sex Pistols; Led Zeppelin; Genesis; The Police; U2; The Clash; Dire Straits; Nirvana
Media Intellectual: Camille Paglia
Book (Current day): Generation X, by Doug Coupland
Book (Fantasy): Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling
Book (SF): Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Book (Nonfiction/business advice): any book by Malcolm Gladwell
Movie (Current-day drama): The Big Chill
Movie (Teen): The Breakfast Club
Movie (Sci-fi): Star Wars
Movie (SF): The Matrix
Movie (Action): James Bond movie series
U.S. Sci-fi TV Series: Star Trek -- William Shatner visibly drunk at Billboard 1994 awards, "Captain Kirk is dead! Get a life!" cf., his famous Saturday Night Live sketch where he screams at a bunch of nerdy Trek fans: "get a life! You -- you there, have you ever been on a date?? Have you ever kissed a girl??" – yet, he titled his most recent biography, Get A Life
The Original Reality Show: Survivor
Online Seller: Amazon
Online Reseller: eBay
Social Media Site: Facebook
Search Engine: Google
MP3 Player: IPod
Smartphone: IPhone; Blackberry – nicknamed a "crackberry" by its users because it's so addictive/ubiquitous – but notice that the Blackberry has faded recently; Samsung also somewhat challenging Apple
Instant Messaging Vehicle: Twitter
Wiki: Wikipedia 
Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher.