Cultural Ground Zero

00:23:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgEtnkA0YMY

概要

TLDRIn this video, David Stewart elaborates on the concept of 'Cultural Ground Zero,' a term he initially picked up from others, to describe the decline in the quality of popular culture around 1997. He notes that while great works continue to emerge, the prevailing expectation that each new creation would surpass its predecessor effectively ended around that time. Factors contributing to this decline include the rise of the internet reshaping cultural consumption and the consolidation of media companies, which diminished competition and quality. Notably, Stewart argues that the gaming industry enjoyed a peak until 2007 before experiencing similar stagnation. He discusses the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on music dispersion and the eventual cultural consequences. Stewart promotes his book 'King Leper' and invites viewers to share their thoughts on cultural shifts since 1997.

収穫

  • 🎥 The year 1997 is seen as 'Cultural Ground Zero' for popular culture.
  • 📉 Post-1997, expectations for quality in new media declined.
  • 🌐 The rise of the internet started fragmenting popular culture.
  • 🏢 Media conglomeration led to decreased competition and quality.
  • 🎮 Gaming peaked in 2007 before also declining in quality.
  • 📚 'King Leper' is currently available for support on Kickstarter.
  • 🎨 Modern art reflects a decline in artistic skill compared to earlier periods.
  • 📅 The 1980s are identified as a peak decade for popular culture.
  • 🎶 The impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is significant in music industry restructuring.
  • ✍️ Viewer feedback on cultural milestones is encouraged.

タイムライン

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    David Stewart discusses the concept of 'cultural Ground Zero', attributed to Brian NE and JD Cowan, focusing on a turning point in popular culture around the year 1997 when expectations for improvement in movies, games, and arts began to stagnate. He highlights that while quality entertainment existed after 1997, the belief that future productions would be superior began to dissipate.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The speaker notes significant factors contributing to the cultural stagnation post-1997, including the rise of the internet and the consolidation of media companies which reduced competition and consequently, quality. He elaborates on how reduced competition within the media industry has led to a decline in published works, particularly in genre fiction, as companies began prioritizing consistency and profitability over originality and quality.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Another crucial aspect discussed is the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed major corporations to dominate the radio industry. He points out how Clear Channel Communications' monopoly over radio programming limited diversity in music and led to a homogenization of popular culture, with regional music diversity severely diminished and a focus on a few monopolized acts.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:23:10

    Furthermore, David Stewart draws parallels between the music industry and gaming, indicating that while gaming thrived until 2007, it too has seen a decline due to similar corporate consolidations and a shift towards the AAA model of game development. He ends by suggesting that 1997 serves as a critical point in various cultural mediums, affecting the trajectory of popular culture from then onward.

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ビデオQ&A

  • What does 'Cultural Ground Zero' refer to?

    It refers to the point in popular culture where quality began to decline, identified by David Stewart as around the year 1997.

  • Why is the year 1997 significant according to Stewart?

    1997 marked a slowdown in the expectation of improving quality in popular culture, influenced by factors like the rise of the internet and media consolidation.

  • What happened in the gaming industry after 2007?

    After 2007, the gaming industry began to stagnate, transitioning towards larger, less innovative productions.

  • What is the Kickstarter project Stewart is promoting?

    The project is for a book called 'King Leper,' available in hardback or ebook format.

  • When did popular music culture start to decline?

    According to Stewart, popular music culture began to decline significantly after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and by 1997.

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  • 00:00:00
    hey folks David Stewart here let's talk
  • 00:00:03
    a little bit about cultural Ground Zero
  • 00:00:05
    before I jump into it don't forget you
  • 00:00:06
    can still back King leper on Kickstarter
  • 00:00:09
    and get yourself a hardback or an ebook
  • 00:00:12
    in fact I think I'm going to do a
  • 00:00:13
    special color you might get like the
  • 00:00:15
    blue Edition which will be different
  • 00:00:17
    from the people who buy it on Amazon
  • 00:00:18
    later anyway let's talk about cultural
  • 00:00:21
    Ground Zero what is this I've alluded to
  • 00:00:23
    it many times I talked about it in a
  • 00:00:25
    recent video and I had several people
  • 00:00:26
    ask to do a video specifically on
  • 00:00:29
    cultural Crown zero and I've talked
  • 00:00:30
    about it in my articles especially the
  • 00:00:33
    corporate period in the Arts which is
  • 00:00:35
    dealing with 20th century popular
  • 00:00:37
    culture and popular art which is
  • 00:00:39
    probably the art that you guys most like
  • 00:00:41
    and are most familiar with uh so you can
  • 00:00:43
    read that over on substack now uh I will
  • 00:00:47
    start this by saying cultural Ground
  • 00:00:49
    Zero is not my idea okay I got this from
  • 00:00:52
    Brian NE and JD Cowan uh whom I have
  • 00:00:54
    published a book with called Generation
  • 00:00:56
    Y the new Lost Generation I'll link
  • 00:00:58
    their blogs down below and you can get
  • 00:01:00
    it straight from the horse's mouth
  • 00:01:02
    because they have done uh this sort of
  • 00:01:04
    Investigation into when did the popular
  • 00:01:06
    culture seem to run out of steam because
  • 00:01:09
    we had this expectation for a long time
  • 00:01:12
    that everything was going to get better
  • 00:01:13
    everything was getting better all the
  • 00:01:14
    time movies were getting better special
  • 00:01:16
    effects were getting better games were
  • 00:01:17
    getting better everything was getting
  • 00:01:18
    better until things weren't getting
  • 00:01:20
    better and the year that they landed on
  • 00:01:22
    is 1997 and that's a very important year
  • 00:01:25
    as we've continued to say it seems to be
  • 00:01:27
    1997 you find more and more things that
  • 00:01:30
    are surrounding the Year 1997 and I'll
  • 00:01:34
    talk about some of those things before I
  • 00:01:36
    talk about those things for 1997 I'll
  • 00:01:38
    also mention another year which is 2007
  • 00:01:40
    and I've done a video and articles on
  • 00:01:42
    this that's gaming Ground Zero because
  • 00:01:45
    While most pop art and most pop culture
  • 00:01:49
    stuff you know started to stagnate in in
  • 00:01:52
    1997 if not fall off a cliff in terms of
  • 00:01:55
    the quality of what was popular gaming
  • 00:01:57
    soldiered on and continued to approve
  • 00:01:59
    until the year 2007 at which point it
  • 00:02:02
    peaked and began its stagnation and
  • 00:02:04
    decline now an important thing about
  • 00:02:06
    this is that it's not that everything
  • 00:02:08
    starts to suck after 1997 it's that uh
  • 00:02:11
    there's plenty of great things after
  • 00:02:12
    1997 it's that our fulfillment of
  • 00:02:15
    expectations stops at 1997 is in
  • 00:02:18
    1997 the expectation next year's going
  • 00:02:21
    to be better than last year the next
  • 00:02:22
    movie is going to be better than the
  • 00:02:23
    last one really no longer starts to
  • 00:02:26
    apply so there's a bunch of things that
  • 00:02:28
    line up with that if you want the causes
  • 00:02:29
    like deep issues the first one is the
  • 00:02:32
    rise of the internet 1997 was the last
  • 00:02:34
    year that we didn't have things like
  • 00:02:36
    Napster that were omnipresent right we
  • 00:02:39
    didn't have um an Internet that was
  • 00:02:41
    omnipresent and driving its own culture
  • 00:02:44
    and splitting off its own subcultures we
  • 00:02:45
    still had the popular culture in
  • 00:02:49
    1997 after that we start to have lots of
  • 00:02:51
    splinters lots of uh sub genres start to
  • 00:02:53
    emerg in music um so that's a big one
  • 00:02:56
    right so we you have post big big
  • 00:03:00
    internet and pre- big internet there was
  • 00:03:01
    still internet in 1997 but it was like
  • 00:03:03
    you know let me go home and log on dial
  • 00:03:05
    up my dialup modem and log on to icq and
  • 00:03:08
    maybe chat with someone for my class and
  • 00:03:10
    it wasn't um this like logging into
  • 00:03:12
    Facebook or Myspace or anything like
  • 00:03:13
    that okay there was a bunch of things
  • 00:03:16
    that happened around 97 and building up
  • 00:03:19
    to 97 that caused or allowed the culture
  • 00:03:23
    to enter this um the popular culture at
  • 00:03:25
    least to enter this stagnation
  • 00:03:28
    and the so many it's hard to list them
  • 00:03:31
    all but if you want the big ones it was
  • 00:03:33
    there was a condensation of media
  • 00:03:35
    companies media companies started to buy
  • 00:03:37
    each other out and started to form what
  • 00:03:39
    would what we might think of as olop
  • 00:03:42
    this is definitely the case in the book
  • 00:03:43
    publishing industry the book publishing
  • 00:03:45
    continue to go up but as a lot of people
  • 00:03:48
    have noted quality of books seems to be
  • 00:03:50
    at least like the major published books
  • 00:03:52
    seems to be much worse now especially in
  • 00:03:54
    genre fiction um but probably in
  • 00:03:56
    literary fiction and everything else as
  • 00:03:57
    well just the quality of books is is
  • 00:04:00
    really bad and it's because there's
  • 00:04:02
    fewer competitors we have a starting in
  • 00:04:06
    around
  • 00:04:06
    1997 I think we we get the big six and
  • 00:04:09
    then that condenses into the big five
  • 00:04:11
    and now I think we're still condensing
  • 00:04:12
    into the big four Publishers you had
  • 00:04:15
    several publishing houses by each other
  • 00:04:16
    I think McMillan got bought um I think
  • 00:04:20
    uh Pearson bought several which owns
  • 00:04:22
    penguin so the penguin group becomes
  • 00:04:24
    this massive publisher um you have lots
  • 00:04:27
    of Publishers buying things up and as
  • 00:04:29
    there's less compet competition there is
  • 00:04:32
    uh less incentive for Quality right and
  • 00:04:35
    it's not just like a oh you get once you
  • 00:04:37
    have monopo you can charge as much as
  • 00:04:38
    you want and have have as crappy product
  • 00:04:40
    as you want is that as there's fewer
  • 00:04:42
    competitors the quality is not so
  • 00:04:44
    important not only that but uh if you
  • 00:04:47
    want to talk about like the Long March
  • 00:04:48
    through the institutions corporations in
  • 00:04:52
    as we approach a hegemony or an
  • 00:04:54
    oligopoly become a Power Center unto
  • 00:04:57
    themselves so it becomes attractive to
  • 00:04:59
    go work at those corporations and then
  • 00:05:02
    use those corporations to affect the
  • 00:05:04
    culture to decide what's going to be
  • 00:05:06
    popular to decide what's not going to be
  • 00:05:07
    popular to by Fiat declare what the the
  • 00:05:11
    culture ought to be now that works for a
  • 00:05:14
    while but consumers are not just
  • 00:05:17
    programmable robots and a lot of them
  • 00:05:19
    will will withdraw so there's always
  • 00:05:20
    this question like why aren't men
  • 00:05:21
    reading books well you stop publishing
  • 00:05:23
    books that they wanted to read they are
  • 00:05:24
    reading books still they're just not
  • 00:05:25
    reading major published books they're
  • 00:05:27
    reading other things okay uh and if you
  • 00:05:30
    wanted them to read the books that you
  • 00:05:31
    published you have to publish books that
  • 00:05:33
    they like well they need to like the
  • 00:05:34
    books that I publish how misogynistic is
  • 00:05:36
    it that they don't like a book that's
  • 00:05:37
    made for women it's like you hear this
  • 00:05:39
    argument right um but that's the
  • 00:05:42
    attitude that starts to um Infuse a lot
  • 00:05:46
    of these corporations is that activists
  • 00:05:48
    become attracted to them because they
  • 00:05:49
    understand that is a way to gain power
  • 00:05:51
    just like getting a position in
  • 00:05:52
    government becoming a government
  • 00:05:53
    bureaucrat is a way to exercise Petty
  • 00:05:56
    power over many people by deciding lots
  • 00:05:57
    of things um for your particular
  • 00:06:01
    political side uh it's the same thing
  • 00:06:03
    with corporations right eventually you
  • 00:06:05
    end up with a thing where the
  • 00:06:06
    corporation no longer serves its core
  • 00:06:08
    purpose but has in fact taken it itself
  • 00:06:11
    as a power base and the employees that
  • 00:06:13
    have been hired start directing that
  • 00:06:14
    power towards whatever their pet
  • 00:06:15
    projects are like um you know furthering
  • 00:06:19
    um transgenderism by sticking a certain
  • 00:06:21
    person on a Bud Light can right this is
  • 00:06:23
    an insane move why would you do that
  • 00:06:26
    well you do that because you can and
  • 00:06:28
    because it's a way to uh hopefully
  • 00:06:30
    affect the culture and and they're
  • 00:06:32
    pretty explicit about things like that
  • 00:06:34
    so that's a big one is the
  • 00:06:35
    conglomeration of many companies another
  • 00:06:37
    really huge one that's often overlooked
  • 00:06:39
    uh but people who are in the music
  • 00:06:41
    business or who were part of the music
  • 00:06:43
    business as I was they understand this
  • 00:06:45
    there was a telom uh Telecommunications
  • 00:06:47
    Act of 1996 and so
  • 00:06:50
    1997 basically by 1997 all the radio
  • 00:06:53
    stations in America or of overwhelming
  • 00:06:55
    majority of them had been purchased by
  • 00:06:57
    one company that company was Clear
  • 00:06:58
    Channel Communications
  • 00:07:00
    and uh Clear Channel Communications by
  • 00:07:02
    establishing a monopoly on the the
  • 00:07:05
    broadcasting industry was able to buy
  • 00:07:07
    fat determine what music would or would
  • 00:07:10
    not be popular and of course the
  • 00:07:12
    programming directors are going to
  • 00:07:13
    determine what music should and should
  • 00:07:14
    not be popular based on not only their
  • 00:07:17
    tastes but what Equity exists either the
  • 00:07:20
    company's Equity or their Equity what
  • 00:07:21
    they own um so if they own Sony records
  • 00:07:25
    if they own some stock in Sony records
  • 00:07:26
    well then you play artists from Sony
  • 00:07:28
    records and basically pay yourself it's
  • 00:07:31
    it's Peola uh you force people to listen
  • 00:07:34
    to what you want to listen to they
  • 00:07:35
    listen to it people buy records based on
  • 00:07:37
    what they hear so they go down to the
  • 00:07:38
    record store they pay $20 for a CD which
  • 00:07:41
    was a real thing and there was even you
  • 00:07:43
    know $20 for a 12 song CD and it's
  • 00:07:47
    basically pure profit um so they figured
  • 00:07:50
    out how to buy Fiat not only have
  • 00:07:52
    legalized Peola but by Fiat determined
  • 00:07:55
    what should or should not be popular now
  • 00:07:57
    if you're wondering why didn't anybody
  • 00:07:58
    open some Compu radio stations it's
  • 00:08:00
    actually illegal so this was the other
  • 00:08:02
    thing is that they deregulated the
  • 00:08:05
    broadcasting industry so you could own
  • 00:08:06
    as many radio stations as you wanted but
  • 00:08:08
    they didn't deregulate how the FCC
  • 00:08:11
    grants licenses to broadcasting stations
  • 00:08:14
    so let's say and actually I remember
  • 00:08:16
    this is that there was a station in
  • 00:08:18
    Fresno um it was called krzr the wild
  • 00:08:21
    hair and it played kind of like rock
  • 00:08:23
    music and metal right uh the wild hair
  • 00:08:26
    was kind of a reference to hair metal
  • 00:08:28
    cuz the'80s but even though this is the
  • 00:08:30
    '90s anyway uh their programming changed
  • 00:08:33
    overnight when they got bought by Clear
  • 00:08:34
    Channel I remember hearing Dream Theater
  • 00:08:37
    hearing Dream Theater on the radio that
  • 00:08:39
    radio station and I never heard it again
  • 00:08:42
    after 1997 not a single time that I hear
  • 00:08:45
    there was Dream Theater songs played
  • 00:08:47
    there was Strat of various songs on the
  • 00:08:49
    radio right like you heard things that
  • 00:08:51
    would by 1999 be considered obscure like
  • 00:08:54
    the internet would talk about them like
  • 00:08:56
    have you heard about Strat of arus and
  • 00:08:57
    it's like Strat of arious was a band
  • 00:08:58
    people listen to in 1994 uh but it was a
  • 00:09:01
    band that people was was sort of an
  • 00:09:04
    outsider band in America because no one
  • 00:09:06
    heard it on the radio what people heard
  • 00:09:08
    was corn and Nickelback and that kind of
  • 00:09:10
    stuff by 1999 so that destroyed the
  • 00:09:14
    American um culture as far as the
  • 00:09:17
    American pop music culture got destroyed
  • 00:09:20
    by this Telecommunications Act
  • 00:09:21
    everything got leveled to the ground
  • 00:09:23
    there was no regionalism anymore there
  • 00:09:25
    was no way for a regional station to
  • 00:09:26
    play a regionally popular band there was
  • 00:09:29
    no such thing that you were either
  • 00:09:30
    nationally Popular by Fiat or you were
  • 00:09:33
    nobody so all the midlist acts went Into
  • 00:09:35
    Obscurity became unprofitable uh I think
  • 00:09:38
    the only exception was probably in the
  • 00:09:40
    Realms of like jazz or metal which had
  • 00:09:42
    always been a little bit Outsider by
  • 00:09:44
    that point right especially the more
  • 00:09:45
    Extreme Styles Cannibal Corpse had never
  • 00:09:47
    had much radio play but they did have a
  • 00:09:49
    lot of cultural penetration because of
  • 00:09:51
    their um you know their intense fan base
  • 00:09:54
    and stuff so anyway that's what happened
  • 00:09:56
    with that that destroyed that at the
  • 00:09:58
    same time after 1997 you get the rise of
  • 00:10:01
    Napster in music sharing and once
  • 00:10:03
    consumers especially the target consumer
  • 00:10:05
    base were young
  • 00:10:07
    people who didn't have a lot of money
  • 00:10:09
    once they had the option to not pay for
  • 00:10:11
    music they just took it so by the time
  • 00:10:13
    that I was in a university in the early
  • 00:10:15
    2000s I didn't know anyone who bought
  • 00:10:17
    music and I was a music Major so fellow
  • 00:10:20
    musicians would not pay for music that's
  • 00:10:22
    where we were by the early 2000s um and
  • 00:10:25
    you know the record company took a took
  • 00:10:27
    a dive off a cliff it was partly their
  • 00:10:29
    own huus but that's what established it
  • 00:10:32
    was this Telecommunications Act so '90s
  • 00:10:35
    music was really diverse there were
  • 00:10:36
    still a lot of '90s music you were able
  • 00:10:38
    to hear uh really uh sometimes there
  • 00:10:40
    were Outsider hits like I could never be
  • 00:10:43
    your woman like things that are just
  • 00:10:44
    really weird that would would kind of
  • 00:10:47
    take have a cultural Force for a while
  • 00:10:49
    that stopped in 1997 because of the
  • 00:10:51
    Telecommunications Act of 1996 there was
  • 00:10:54
    also the bankruptcy of Marvel Comics I
  • 00:10:56
    believe DC also had a bankruptcy around
  • 00:10:58
    that time so Marvel Comics the biggest
  • 00:11:01
    American comic uh Comics publisher went
  • 00:11:03
    bakup in
  • 00:11:04
    1997 that would be surprising if you
  • 00:11:07
    were to look at any of their sales
  • 00:11:09
    numbers in the 1980s where they were
  • 00:11:11
    moving over well over a million books a
  • 00:11:13
    month uh to have them go into bankruptcy
  • 00:11:16
    in 1997 and after that they ceased to be
  • 00:11:19
    a cultural force from then on now people
  • 00:11:21
    the MCU is very big right but are Marvel
  • 00:11:24
    Comics a PO a popular Force I don't know
  • 00:11:26
    anyone who reads Marvel Comics that
  • 00:11:28
    wasn't reading them in 199 5 so by the
  • 00:11:30
    time 1997 rolls around comics have
  • 00:11:32
    become a a niche a niche uh industry
  • 00:11:36
    that sold out of specialty shops uh no
  • 00:11:38
    longer at the news stand no longer by
  • 00:11:42
    the counter at lucky drugstore and stuff
  • 00:11:44
    like that so 1997 we had that uh that
  • 00:11:49
    whole element in America disappear as a
  • 00:11:51
    cultural force and it's been stagnant
  • 00:11:52
    ever since then they generally don't
  • 00:11:54
    publish Comics that are outside of the
  • 00:11:56
    the superhero genre call it the mono
  • 00:11:58
    genre and and they don't sell a lot of
  • 00:12:00
    copies and the stories that they publish
  • 00:12:02
    are not good so that's what you've
  • 00:12:04
    gotten since 1997 with the collapse of
  • 00:12:06
    Marvel eventually being bought by by
  • 00:12:09
    Disney and such um which allows them to
  • 00:12:11
    make a lot of movies that were popular
  • 00:12:13
    but did any of the people who watch
  • 00:12:14
    those popular movies the last Refuge of
  • 00:12:18
    like popular culture go and by the comic
  • 00:12:20
    books not really okay so all of these
  • 00:12:23
    things conspired to get to this point
  • 00:12:26
    and it was the same thing in movies
  • 00:12:27
    right where things reached Peak and then
  • 00:12:29
    they didn't get better now the reason
  • 00:12:31
    this is a disappointment is that uh now
  • 00:12:33
    we're used to just being disappointed
  • 00:12:35
    all the time but in the 1990s every
  • 00:12:37
    summer I could go to a movie theater
  • 00:12:40
    watch a random movie and enjoy it right
  • 00:12:43
    and slowly that started to decrease
  • 00:12:45
    right I remember these Jerry brookheimer
  • 00:12:47
    movies around 1999 like Coyote Ugly and
  • 00:12:49
    stuff um that were just or like Gone in
  • 00:12:51
    60 Seconds that were like this is not as
  • 00:12:55
    good as the movies I watched last year
  • 00:12:57
    it's just not as good um you know it's
  • 00:12:58
    like last year I watched Heat this year
  • 00:13:00
    I watched Gone in 60 Seconds like okay
  • 00:13:03
    uh probably not a fair comparison but
  • 00:13:06
    you get the idea right the movie
  • 00:13:07
    industry starts to get into this mode
  • 00:13:09
    where it's like Blockbuster season and
  • 00:13:12
    the Blockbusters just aren't as exciting
  • 00:13:16
    compared to how they were in the 90s
  • 00:13:17
    like things are not getting better than
  • 00:13:20
    they were um TV doesn't really get like
  • 00:13:23
    Simpsons falls off a cliff like all of
  • 00:13:24
    these things happen around the Year 1997
  • 00:13:27
    and you can see them lining up now
  • 00:13:28
    gaming is an example of something that's
  • 00:13:31
    different gaming persists until 2007 but
  • 00:13:34
    you have some of the same patterns
  • 00:13:36
    emerge that causes gaming to stagnate
  • 00:13:39
    and then Decline and that is
  • 00:13:41
    conglomeration right uh big gaming
  • 00:13:44
    companies buying up the smaller
  • 00:13:46
    Publishers and making these monolithic
  • 00:13:48
    AAA Studios the idea of a AAA game was
  • 00:13:52
    not it was not in the Lexicon in
  • 00:13:55
    2004 um it really only came into the
  • 00:13:58
    Lexicon following 2007 to notate games
  • 00:14:02
    that had like high graphical Fidelity
  • 00:14:04
    high production cost high production
  • 00:14:06
    value that were for serious Gamers and
  • 00:14:09
    weren't for just having fun so the
  • 00:14:11
    reason the PS2 uh Generations look back
  • 00:14:14
    so fondly even by people who pick up
  • 00:14:16
    those games later like if my son goes
  • 00:14:18
    and plays a game from like 2005 he's
  • 00:14:20
    like wow this game is really fun um you
  • 00:14:22
    know he likes playing marwin uh that
  • 00:14:24
    kind of stuff
  • 00:14:25
    so why were these games better well they
  • 00:14:28
    were made by small smaller companies
  • 00:14:29
    more dedicated programmers they were
  • 00:14:31
    simpler and therefore could be part of
  • 00:14:33
    smaller teams so in the '90s you had all
  • 00:14:35
    tours who were making games on small
  • 00:14:38
    teams and then it developed into large
  • 00:14:41
    movie like production companies making
  • 00:14:43
    big cinematic games and there was a peak
  • 00:14:45
    for this that was 2007 so if you look at
  • 00:14:48
    most of your big franchises that you
  • 00:14:51
    would talk about in 2025 they all
  • 00:14:53
    started in 2007 the first Assassin's
  • 00:14:56
    Creed game came out in 2007 uh Modern
  • 00:14:59
    Warfare the it was actually Call of Duty
  • 00:15:01
    4 but the previous Call of Duty games
  • 00:15:04
    had been like World War II games so this
  • 00:15:05
    was Modern Warfare so Modern Warfare 1
  • 00:15:09
    came out in 2007 and that established
  • 00:15:12
    the mode for all of the Call of Duty
  • 00:15:14
    games going forward you were going to in
  • 00:15:16
    the fall you're going to release this
  • 00:15:18
    game you're going to release maybe a Mac
  • 00:15:19
    Pack or something like in the spring
  • 00:15:21
    right um and uh it's going to be this
  • 00:15:26
    format it's going to play this way it's
  • 00:15:27
    going to have these controls it's going
  • 00:15:29
    to have this kind of campaign it's going
  • 00:15:30
    to have this kind of multiplayer and
  • 00:15:32
    then it's just a bunch of variations
  • 00:15:33
    each year you get a different setting a
  • 00:15:35
    different story different weapons
  • 00:15:37
    different Maps different variations on
  • 00:15:39
    that gameplay uh but you know that's an
  • 00:15:42
    example even though it's Call of Duty 4
  • 00:15:43
    it was Modern Warfare 1 you can look a
  • 00:15:45
    year before you have Oblivion come out
  • 00:15:47
    in 2006 Oblivion is the game that
  • 00:15:50
    created the uh gameplay standard and the
  • 00:15:53
    used the engine for uh all of the
  • 00:15:56
    Bethesda games that followed it okay so
  • 00:15:59
    Oblivion Fallout 3 is oblivion with a
  • 00:16:02
    Fallout skin right it's really similar
  • 00:16:04
    gamepl it's the same engine same
  • 00:16:06
    interactivity with the the environment
  • 00:16:09
    um you know it's a different game in
  • 00:16:11
    that sense right like you there's a lot
  • 00:16:13
    enough lot of stuff different about it
  • 00:16:15
    but Oblivion is the base explore the map
  • 00:16:19
    look around find things do quests talk
  • 00:16:21
    to NPCs that's oblivian you could say
  • 00:16:24
    that marind and Daggerfall were before
  • 00:16:26
    that they come before that but the the
  • 00:16:28
    the engine and the gameplay of marwin is
  • 00:16:31
    so distinct from Oblivion I really put
  • 00:16:33
    that in another category uh marwin is
  • 00:16:35
    more of like a true RPG oblivion's
  • 00:16:37
    closer to an action RPG still a lot of
  • 00:16:39
    RPG elements um Fallout New Vegas right
  • 00:16:43
    even though that was made by obsidian
  • 00:16:45
    same gameplay same
  • 00:16:47
    engine Skyrim everyone loves Skyrim it's
  • 00:16:50
    just an upgraded Oblivion in terms of
  • 00:16:52
    its Graphics its gameplay its approach
  • 00:16:54
    to the way things work right and all the
  • 00:16:57
    mods that go with that you know so
  • 00:16:59
    Oblivion was huge and it came out in
  • 00:17:00
    2006 Final Fantasy X came out in 2006
  • 00:17:03
    that was sort of the Capstone of of
  • 00:17:05
    squares PS2 generations and then uh a
  • 00:17:08
    lot of people were disappointed by Final
  • 00:17:10
    Fantasy 13 though I think it's a really
  • 00:17:12
    great game I understand why people were
  • 00:17:14
    disappointed by it um so you have this
  • 00:17:16
    kind of peak with something like Final
  • 00:17:17
    Fantasy X where you you have this
  • 00:17:19
    aesthetic Peak that's reached and then
  • 00:17:22
    things are going to start to stagnate I
  • 00:17:23
    would actually put Final Fantasy 13 kind
  • 00:17:25
    of in this Ground Zero category even
  • 00:17:26
    though it came out quite a bit later
  • 00:17:28
    same thing with drag Age Origins last
  • 00:17:30
    good BioWare game that they really came
  • 00:17:31
    out with was in 2009 um Mass Effect came
  • 00:17:34
    out in 2007 uh there's a whole list of
  • 00:17:38
    games I think crisis came out in
  • 00:17:40
    2007 um gosh there's so many there's so
  • 00:17:44
    many to list maybe Fallout 3 did I'm not
  • 00:17:46
    sure uh but anyway think of whatever
  • 00:17:49
    your favorite game franchise is you know
  • 00:17:52
    chances are there was an installment
  • 00:17:53
    that came out in 2007 I think Far Cry 2
  • 00:17:57
    or something like that right so so take
  • 00:17:59
    a look at it um that's the point where
  • 00:18:00
    it really peaked and the reason that we
  • 00:18:03
    had a decline was you had a shift oh the
  • 00:18:06
    MMO space you had burning Crusade came
  • 00:18:08
    out in 2007 the the rating peak of World
  • 00:18:11
    of Warcraft was 2007 um and the build up
  • 00:18:15
    to that was classic World of Warcraft
  • 00:18:16
    which was the gameplay and the world
  • 00:18:18
    peak of MMO design up to that point uh
  • 00:18:21
    and afterwards everybody was copying
  • 00:18:23
    that so after this it becomes you get
  • 00:18:25
    mud genre stuff uh you get things that
  • 00:18:28
    are more streamlined and less fun you
  • 00:18:31
    have repetitions of the same theme going
  • 00:18:33
    forward after
  • 00:18:35
    2007 and you have a focus on what what
  • 00:18:38
    we call now live service games which is
  • 00:18:41
    uh selling things over and over again
  • 00:18:43
    that you used to just buy once and half
  • 00:18:46
    DLC um started to proliferate after 2007
  • 00:18:50
    the infamous horse armor was the was
  • 00:18:52
    kind of patient zero but it goes on from
  • 00:18:54
    there um on and on and on again so all
  • 00:18:56
    of those practices start to take hold of
  • 00:18:58
    the industry after 2007 and that's
  • 00:19:00
    because the wiii and the PS3 and the
  • 00:19:02
    Xbox 360 shipped as physical consoles so
  • 00:19:06
    when they shipped people were still
  • 00:19:08
    buying physical games but halfway
  • 00:19:11
    through their life cycle actually a
  • 00:19:12
    little earlier about 2007 they really
  • 00:19:15
    started to transition into digital
  • 00:19:17
    digital consoles primarily digital
  • 00:19:19
    consoles
  • 00:19:21
    after the initial run of these consoles
  • 00:19:23
    most people that I knew were just buying
  • 00:19:25
    things digitally uh off the store you
  • 00:19:27
    know they're uh the PlayStation had all
  • 00:19:29
    the PS1 games that you could buy on
  • 00:19:31
    their store and just download to your
  • 00:19:33
    PS3 and play it was great all that stuff
  • 00:19:35
    was great and people consumers really
  • 00:19:37
    liked it but it actually created the
  • 00:19:39
    environment that we have today where
  • 00:19:40
    things ended up stagnating and there
  • 00:19:41
    ends up not being a whole lot of
  • 00:19:43
    innovation so it came as the you know
  • 00:19:45
    after this long buildup with all tours
  • 00:19:47
    big
  • 00:19:48
    budgets you know now we get things like
  • 00:19:50
    Concord anyway so that's my my stick on
  • 00:19:54
    cultural Ground Zero we're talking about
  • 00:19:56
    the popular culture if we're talking
  • 00:19:58
    about High culture cultural Ground Zero
  • 00:20:00
    is probably
  • 00:20:01
    1897 which is going to be the transition
  • 00:20:03
    instead of 1997 it'll be the transition
  • 00:20:05
    from the post-romantic into the modern
  • 00:20:09
    and uh I don't want to get too deep into
  • 00:20:11
    this because that's a whole another
  • 00:20:12
    video but you can just compare post
  • 00:20:14
    romantic painters to the painters of the
  • 00:20:17
    modern period and see the decline in
  • 00:20:19
    skill quality and effect on the on the
  • 00:20:22
    viewer uh it's it's less beautiful it's
  • 00:20:25
    just not beautiful and that's because
  • 00:20:27
    modernism was the first point where you
  • 00:20:29
    had a rebellion against Art itself
  • 00:20:31
    meanwhile what most people think of as
  • 00:20:33
    good art moved into the popular sphere
  • 00:20:37
    illustration you know the book covers of
  • 00:20:39
    the 20th century are better paintings
  • 00:20:41
    than the the stuff people hang in
  • 00:20:42
    museums for Modern Art right it's just
  • 00:20:46
    that's where the skill was the skill
  • 00:20:47
    moved into that area same thing
  • 00:20:48
    literature became about selling books to
  • 00:20:51
    Consumers who wanted to to buy books
  • 00:20:54
    after 1997 it becomes about you know
  • 00:20:56
    determining by Fiat what books people
  • 00:20:58
    have to read by making sure that they're
  • 00:20:59
    in the bookstore and they're on the
  • 00:21:00
    bookshelf and people pick them up and
  • 00:21:01
    read them and buy them and that still
  • 00:21:03
    works you know I've made this point
  • 00:21:04
    before it's like if you really want to
  • 00:21:06
    have Market penetration for normies it
  • 00:21:08
    has to be in Barnes & Noble if it's not
  • 00:21:10
    in Barnes & Noble it doesn't exist right
  • 00:21:11
    so my books don't exist because they're
  • 00:21:13
    not in Barnes & Noble actually they are
  • 00:21:14
    like on the website but uh you're not
  • 00:21:16
    likely to find them sitting on a on a
  • 00:21:18
    table at Barnes & Noble is my point okay
  • 00:21:20
    so anyway back King leper uh you the
  • 00:21:22
    kickstarters link down below and get
  • 00:21:24
    yourself a limited edition copy of the
  • 00:21:26
    book um I really appreciate everybody
  • 00:21:29
    watching leave me your thoughts down
  • 00:21:30
    below about cultural Ground Zero and
  • 00:21:32
    what you think about it uh is 1997 a
  • 00:21:34
    good year would you put it later
  • 00:21:36
    everybody has a little bit different
  • 00:21:37
    opinion and I'm not trying to to say
  • 00:21:38
    like your opinion is wrong one of the
  • 00:21:41
    things that I'm keenly aware of in terms
  • 00:21:42
    of bias is that I was a teenager in 1997
  • 00:21:46
    so that means I'm going to be more
  • 00:21:47
    attached to things from 1997 but I still
  • 00:21:50
    will talk to people that are older and
  • 00:21:51
    like oh yeah you know that's about the
  • 00:21:53
    time when I feel like things started to
  • 00:21:55
    disappoint me um Phantom Min came out in
  • 00:21:58
    199 9 and for a lot of us older Star
  • 00:22:01
    Wars fans that was a big disappointment
  • 00:22:03
    the CGI didn't look good the whole movie
  • 00:22:05
    felt like a a mess as far as plot with
  • 00:22:08
    the child actor and stuff so that was a
  • 00:22:09
    big disappointment but there were still
  • 00:22:11
    good movies that came out after 1997
  • 00:22:13
    that everybody generally likes um The
  • 00:22:15
    Matrix came out in 1999 but then there
  • 00:22:18
    were two more Matrix movies and you may
  • 00:22:20
    have an opinion about those and I would
  • 00:22:22
    love to hear that opinion or read that
  • 00:22:23
    opinion um so leave me your opinions
  • 00:22:25
    down below about when you feel like it
  • 00:22:27
    started to fall off the rail if I were
  • 00:22:28
    to actually pick a decade that was the
  • 00:22:30
    peak of popular culture it's actually
  • 00:22:33
    the 1980s but things continued to scale
  • 00:22:36
    up and get bigger and better through the
  • 00:22:39
    90s 1997 is when things started
  • 00:22:43
    to and then you know especially in in
  • 00:22:46
    the music area so let me your thoughts
  • 00:22:48
    down below and I'll be happy to read
  • 00:22:49
    them have a great great
  • 00:22:57
    day for
タグ
  • Cultural Ground Zero
  • 1997
  • popular culture
  • gaming
  • Telecommunications Act
  • internet
  • music
  • media conglomeration
  • King Leper
  • David Stewart