21st-Century Culture Has Hit a Wall. Here's How to Break Through.

"Twenty-five years into the 21st century, culture is markedly different than it was in the previous millennium. Everyday life has never contained more stuff -an endless reel of words, ideas, games, songs, videos, memes, outrageous statements, celebrity meltdowns, life hacks, extremely talented animals. Yet audiences can sense what's missing. For all the energy society invests in culture today, little has emerged that feels new, and certainly nothing revolutionary enough to properly outmode the past."

"Some commentators have argued that cultural progress is at a standstill. In The Crisis of Culture, published in English in 2024, the French political scientist Olivier Roy claims that the canon has been abandoned, subcultures have been reduced to superficial identity groups, and the marketplace has swallowed everything. As a full diagnosis, this seems too pessimistic. In its broadest definition, culture always exists, and subcultures remain-there are just fewer conspicuous ones now, and those have less influence."

Contemporary life offers an unprecedented flood of cultural material, yet audiences feel that little of it truly feels new or revolutionary. Some commentators claim cultural progress has stalled, arguing that the canon has been abandoned, subcultures have become superficial identity groups, and the marketplace has assimilated everything. Culture nonetheless endures and subcultures persist, although with diminished visibility and influence. The continued reverence for major 20th-century artists signals collective respect for agents of radical change. Reversing stagnation requires valuing an artistic mindset and encouraging creators to pursue complexity, ambiguity, and formal experimentation.

Read at The Atlantic