So people are wishing for a better world- one with floating mountains, space marines and blue cat people. One that by contrast is not ‘dead’ or ‘colorless.’ One that offers them a way to escape their normal lives and see something they don’t see everyday through the lens of a creative mind that created a whole new world – one that offers lush environments and a complete break from the norm. What does this say about us as an evolving culture? Are we so sick of our everyday life that the musings of James Cameron offer us something that actually affects our emotional disposition to the point of depression? Is Avatar the new anti-depressant?
There is another explanation.
It’s because we have been subjected to a decades worth of World War 2 dramas, Historical epics, actual war, scandals and 3 different flavors of both Law&Order and CSI. That we want something else should be a bit of a given. We do not want the gritty and dark, but the lush and colorful.The immense.The immersive.The heroic.
Across media outlets we’re seeing a revival of…well…..lightness. In the comics industry the ‘Big Two’ (DC Comics, Marvel Entertainment) are both bracing themselves for an end to the grim and gritty age of comics that have prevailed since the 80s. Marvel is calling it “The Heroic Age” and DC is calling it “Brightest Day.”
The Big Screen has also been hurtling towards a brighter era, evolving past rain soaked streets, ‘tortureporn,’ dark and moody anti-heroes and grim futures. They’re starting to show a penchant for brighter color palettes and epic, heroic stories- not the least of which is an effect of several entertainment industries starting to bleed over into each other (namely Movies, Video Games and Comics.) We’ll still see movies with roots in history (Take Clash of the Titans or The Lighting Thief) but they swerve off into heroic epics or urban fantasy, respectively; and yes, of course we’ll still have grim and gritty movies for the next 8 years or so, but that’s only because the movie industry tends to be about 10 years behind literary entertainment.
Music sales have shown consumers are buying up more country music than ever- and that’s not to say rough-and-tumble-I-killed-a-man-just-watch-him-die country is selling. It’s this new amalgamation of pop starlets and country that is proving to be light hearted and easy for the masses to connect to with the current global state of affairs. People are downtrodden, jobless, broke and despairing-They want something that will pick them up, dust them off and show them that hey, maybe everything isn’t so bad, and sure, you’ll make it through this.
Even video games, whose leading sales were held for the last two years by the family-friendly and casual gamer embracing Nintendo Wii, shows that the average consumer enjoys bright, lighthearted fare.
Companies have an opportunity to embrace this and show their consumers that they understand their plight and are willing to meet them on their own terms. Fear and Paranoia no longer need to be a brand message.
