Snark factor 9, cap'n
Once Upon a Time, MTV played music videos. This didn't end of being the revenue source they thought it would have been, so they started throwing other music oriented content. Then the whole MTV-Generation thing started kicking up and then MTV played content theemed at what are now the GenXers. The very first thing we watched when we got cable oh, those many years ago, was ZZ-Top's 'Legs' on MTV.
But take a look at what's hot right now. MTV has many channels now (MTV2, VH1 to name the most well known). What seems to be the it-thing right now is retrospectives on how bad was it? Like, the hair? We used to wear it like that! How could we do that? Etc.
CMT is almost as bad these days.
There is a particular host that seems to be on the retrospective snark-fest shows a lot. He is now hosting a show called, "What I hate about you." This particular show takes a couple and both get to air their chief grievance about the other person and go into depth about it. A panel then decides who is the martyr of the relationship, and they get revenge of some form. This particular host is a snark-maven. He can come up with a disparaging but humorous remark for ANYTHING.
This holds true in a lot of other areas as well. I stopped reading Slashdot years ago. Things got to the point where the shoot-from-the-hip cynicism so drowned out discussions of the idea that it was just unreadable. "It'll never work" is the first response to any genuine new idea, and culture has shifted to the point where later posters riff on that one topic.
The unscripted "reality" shows out there have helped this out. Part of the formula for these shows is 'behind the scenes' interviews with the participants where they give their impressions of recent events. Or look back on what happened. Due to the intensely competitive nature of these shows, such opinions are fairly biased. And the more biased, the more shocking, the more likely it is to get airtime. These shows have been on the air enough that contestants going into these things are aware of that.
And all this makes me thing of the "put-down culture" that prevailed in my High School. The art of the put-down was held in high regard, if infrequently exercised on school grounds. At the time, this was a predominantly black-street thing; but the idea seems to have changed a bit and morphed into the mainstream. Still annoying.
But take a look at what's hot right now. MTV has many channels now (MTV2, VH1 to name the most well known). What seems to be the it-thing right now is retrospectives on how bad was it? Like, the hair? We used to wear it like that! How could we do that? Etc.
CMT is almost as bad these days.
There is a particular host that seems to be on the retrospective snark-fest shows a lot. He is now hosting a show called, "What I hate about you." This particular show takes a couple and both get to air their chief grievance about the other person and go into depth about it. A panel then decides who is the martyr of the relationship, and they get revenge of some form. This particular host is a snark-maven. He can come up with a disparaging but humorous remark for ANYTHING.
This holds true in a lot of other areas as well. I stopped reading Slashdot years ago. Things got to the point where the shoot-from-the-hip cynicism so drowned out discussions of the idea that it was just unreadable. "It'll never work" is the first response to any genuine new idea, and culture has shifted to the point where later posters riff on that one topic.
The unscripted "reality" shows out there have helped this out. Part of the formula for these shows is 'behind the scenes' interviews with the participants where they give their impressions of recent events. Or look back on what happened. Due to the intensely competitive nature of these shows, such opinions are fairly biased. And the more biased, the more shocking, the more likely it is to get airtime. These shows have been on the air enough that contestants going into these things are aware of that.
And all this makes me thing of the "put-down culture" that prevailed in my High School. The art of the put-down was held in high regard, if infrequently exercised on school grounds. At the time, this was a predominantly black-street thing; but the idea seems to have changed a bit and morphed into the mainstream. Still annoying.
posted by Corwin at 12:09 PM
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