When we walk or drive down the street, it is up on the billboards. It drives past on buses. It flashes out of large screens and small. We surf and scroll through it. It resounds from elevators and restaurants.
Entertainment is our second-largest export in dollar terms, exceeded only by aerospace.
One hesitates to predict the technologies of tomorrow. But odds are, popular culture will remain not only an economic underpinning but a medium for collective dreams and self-definitions, spiritual cement, inspirations, myths, pastimes, raptures, enchantments, and disenchantments. Yet in one respect, at least, the next century will be different. It is going to be steadily harder for a single icon to collect a mass national audience. Technology, with ZIP codes, cable and digital, makes it easier to address audiences in the hundreds of thousands and the low millions.