Driven by panic as much as by rational planning, media conglomerates will try out one sensation after another, straining to make book publishing, say, produce the same 20 percent profit, at least, that they expect from TV, movies, and, increasingly, newspapers. The taste for sensation cuts across all cultural lines. Popular culture will go on delivering short bursts of feeling that are, in a sense, more chemical than emotional. They are meant to tickle the ribs with gags, or to thrill, but not to overwhelm or cultivate. The action movie, that B movie with an A-movie budget, will continue to deliver collisions, gashes, crashes, and burnings, like the video games that are their prototypes.
Popular culture loves box office, and box office loves celebrity, especially celebrity in trouble.
From the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby to O. J. Simpson, Princess Diana, Gennifer Flowers, and Monica Lewinsky is not so great a leap. Celebrities are held in common by diverse people who otherwise would have precious little in common. Celebrities provide membership cards for ordinary folks. Through our common fascination, outsiders turn to insiders. Synergy will be a fifth prime media feature.