Page 215 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

1 | Innovat on and Im tat on n Commerc al Med a

In fact, pure innovations that wildly diverge from existing norms and traditions
are often difficult for audiences to understand and respond to, as they seem too
detached from the cultural expectations that go along with any medium. Such
radical innovations rarely emerge in commercial culture, belonging to an avant-
garde aesthetic that addresses a narrow and elite niche of media consumers.
More influential innovations come from reworking the well-known and com-
mon elements of our shared popular culture, whether it is Fargo’s playful take on
crime film conventions or the thematic mixture of teen drama and horror film
in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

ThE PLEasurEs oF imiTaTion
Why might audiences seek out cultural forms that are overtly imitative rather
than original forms? One key motivation is to manage expectations, as a viewer
wants to anticipate what they’ll encounter in something new—we want to know
when we see a film whether we are likely to laugh at or be scared by the events on
the screen. Likewise, we take comfort in knowing that a television episode will
offer a short narrative to be resolved by the end of the hour, guaranteeing sto-
rytelling closure following expected conventions. Even beyond genre and struc-
tural expectations, there is a distinct pleasure to be had in viewing the familiar
and comfortable, knowing that something new will resemble other pleasurable
experiences. People become fans of a certain genre or style, coming to appreci-
ate the nuances and subtle differences between similar programs or songs—for
a fan of dance music, romance novels, slasher films, or soap operas, there are
tremendous distinctions between different examples of what might seem mere
clones to a novice audience member. Finally, creators and audiences both enjoy
working within the parameters of conventions, exploring how media can simul-
taneously adhere to established structures and offer something new within the
confines of genres and formulas.
Innovation and imitation are thus not mutually exclusive practices, nor can
we view one as innately more valuable or pleasurable than the other. However,
we can not deny that many imitations in popular media, perhaps even the ma-
jority of them, are failures, falling short of their object of mimicry and offering
nothing creative beyond the act of cloning. But we cannot attribute such failures
to the imitative process itself, as many original innovations fail as well, offering
new ideas and forms that cannot deliver on their ambitions or meet audience
expectations. Both innovation and imitation have important roles to play both
within the creative process and the way that consumers engage with popular
culture. As creators, consumers, and critics, we need to think carefully about
the balance between these two impulses, and recognize the important roles that
both practices offer to our understanding, appreciation, and critical analysis of
commercial media, not reducing imitation and innovation to a simplistic hier-
archy of value.

see also Cultural Appropriation; Hypercommercialism; Narrative Power and
Media Influence; Ratings; Reality Television; Runaway Productions and the