As we continue to think about the future of media in a fragmented world, there is a real opportunity that everyone knows about, that has been around basically as long as media itself, and that few have successfully capitalized on. This is the potential of genre-specific fiction.
There has of course always been a whole spectrum of genre fiction out there in visual media. Melies’ Trip to the Moon (Science Fiction, 1902) or Porter’s Great Train Robbery (Western, 1903) show that these kinds of films have always been around. And while they are sometimes relegated to pockets of the culture (sci-fi in the 70s was certainly not mainstream until George Lucas brought us to a galaxy far far away), genre fiction has always had its place.
But with the release of the Matrix (1999) and Fellowship of the Ring (2001) all of a sudden Hollywood knew that not only would people watch these kinds of movies (which they had always known), but they could make a lot of money on them.
Yet now on the other side of the end of the MCU (the good parts of it anyway–we need pay no mind to anything after Endgame) and the collapse of the Star Wars franchise, we find ourselves in a place where genre fiction appears to be about to retreat into the fringes of society again. Here is where the opportunities arise.
However terrible the next Marvel movie is or whatever the fringe politics of the next fantasy film or however obvious a cash grab the next reboot of a beloved cartoon, there will always be a core of fans who will go see those movies and watch those TV shows. As the overall numbers shrink and the core of fans becomes a larger and larger portion of the remaining viewers, Hollywood has an opportunity to grow the loyalty of the fan base with minimum financial investment (relative to the cost of the big-budget things, anyway). This is where studios need to invest their attention: make high-quality films and TV shows that the fans want to see. Don’t preach, don’t crank out nonsense product for the sake of making a buck, and for heaven’s sake leave the politics in DC. Just make good movies and TV, on however small a scale.
A good model here is Country Music. I won’t go into full detail here–this post is already longer than I want it to be. But we see in Country an entire genre that sometimes is mainstream and making tons of money, and sometimes is small scale and focused on a faithful core of fans, and has navigated that swinging pendulum for nearly 80 years. This is the model which Hollywood should pay attention to, and if they do not only will we again start having good TV and film, but Hollywood will reinforce its faithful base–and maybe even make some money along the way.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
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