Personality 1, Character 0

David Brooks correctly diagnoses the cause of the degradation of middle-class popular culture as the victory of personality and "self" over character.

The middlebrow impulse in America dates at least to Ralph Waldo Emerson and the belief that how one spends one's leisure time is intensely important. Time spent with consequential art uplifts character, and time spent with dross debases it...

Middlebrow culture was killed in the late 50's and 60's, and the mortal blows came from opposite directions. The intellectuals launched assaults on what they took to be middlebrow institutions, attacks that are so vicious they take your breath away...

At the same time, pop culture changed. It was no longer character-oriented; it was personality-oriented. Readers felt less of a need to go outside themselves to absorb works of art as a means of self-improvement. They were more interested in exploring and being true to the precious flower of their own individual selves.

Thus the need for Club Infinite Knowledge, InstantReplay, and the other attempts we make to recapture culture and depth. Thus the appeal of the Star Wars ethos, where self-sacrifice is the highest virtue.

The Fifties had plenty of "pop culture": greased hair, muscle cars, and rock 'n' roll. But those things were kept in proper perspective and in the domain of youth and entertainment. But the Fifties also had Animal Farm, the G.I. Bill and Brown v. Board of Education. We have the State of California v. Michael Jackson.