The Popular Culture That Is Actually Popular

[Commentary] Now more than ever, American culture seems to be caught up in a moment of intense innovation: This period in television has been called a golden age often enough that it amounts to a cliché; the Internet has made more music more accessible than ever before; and this past summer, you had to go to the movies eighteen times before having to watch a blockbuster a second time. And it's not just the material that's fresh but also the media. There's Netflix, there's Spotify, there's whatever curatorial project is just getting off the ground: There are endless new ways to see all the unbelievable new things. And all of this wonderful newness is fantastic except for the fact that when you look at what people actually watch, it's mostly the old. Real popular culture is stuff everybody's already seen and heard before.