Two Reasons Why I Hate Ironic Culture

Exhibit A: Starz's marketing of their premiere of I Know Who Killed Me:
Until HBO started programming quality shows, there was little reason to pay extra for premium channels because they largely consisted of shitty movies just like this one. Starz, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel's main purpose is to help Hollywood studios recoup some of the losses they make on flops by selling the rights to these channels. This is why Last Action Hero was so prominent on these channels for the longest time. But now, our love of bad movies is actually encouraging this system. Starz is marketing this movie with the express hope that people will be more willing to watch the film ironically. Never mind how the movie relates to Linsday Lohan's career and our obsession with celebrity gossip. What's worse is that Hollywood making shitty movies is not only acceptable, but actually encouraged by current culture. I wonder what movies were passed over for larger distribution because of the ironic appeal of I Know Who Killed Me

Exhibit B: The Rise of The Rock Band Band

It's bad enough that Rock Band bands exist. It's even worse when it appears in a publication called More Intelligent Life (an irony in its own right), the culture magazine of The Economist. I have no problem with people treating Rock Band and Guitar Hero as a videogame (no more than I have a problem with football fans playing Madden instead of football). But what bothers me is when fake music is deemed worthy of replacing real music. Rock Band night and Rock Band live performances should be eliminated across the board, in the same way Madden playing should not have its own television show. The complaints of those real bands who have seen open mic night replaced with Rock Band night are entirely justified. When bands at the margin have their opportunities eliminated for a fake music phenomenon, and when performing songs terribly (songs that the performers only have heard of because they appear in a videogame) is somehow rewarded over genuine creativity and skill, we have entered a weird era for culture.