By James Poniewozik, in the Dec 29, 2003 issue of Time magazine In the most mass of mass media, it is no longer possible to please most of the people most of the time. In all of entertainment we are moving from the era of mass culture to the era of individual culture. If it's harder and harder to define mainstream pop culture, is there a mainstream at all? ... Mass culture developed only because the technology for mass communication was invented before the technology for mass choice. In an overentertained, overmediated society, mainstream culture becomes more and more a secondhand experience. We are less influenced by [the things themselves] than by what we hear about them ... ... the culture is increasingly in the hands of nontraditional commercial tastemakers like Wal-Mart. With almost 3,000 locations in the US, Wal-Mart is more of a broadcaster than NBC is. Mainstream culture today is like a flash mob. Those who are part of it know they're part of it, even if it doesn't congregate as often ... Increasingly, the events that most deeply, if briefly, unite that floating mainstream are deaths. This is a most excellent year-end article, and I can't believe no one has mentioned it before now. If you don't get Time magazine, find a copy of this issue and read this article. | 
