The series finale of Smallville aired this past week in the US, marking the end of a ten season journey from boyhood to Supermanhood for Clark Kent. In just under two months, the final installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise – also ten years in the making – hits big screens worldwide.
As a fan of both franchises, and still somewhat reeling from the Smallville finale, I felt compelled to write something from a more literary angle than one usually sees written online about pop culture events.
Shared Culture
Although I ponder serious music and literature as much as the next graduate with a humanities degree, I keenly enjoy the thrill of popular culture in all its manifestations. For pop culture immerses you in the stream of a generation’s consciousness like no analyst research report ever can. The fact that it’s often delightfully escapist fun is also a major contributing factor, of course.
And I’m far from the only one. If you scratch just a little below the surface, you’ll find that a lot of the people you know are keen watchers of at least one hit television series. The same goes for movie franchises and light pulp fiction reads. Recently, when joining a new company, I was particularly surprised by the variety and depth of series enjoyed by my colleagues. What better way to connect with the group culture than by sharing recaps and impassioned reviews of the latest developments at the water cooler? It’s not called populare culture for nothing.
The Stigma
While serious readers and cinema and television buffs turn up their noses at what they consider inferior writing and production values, they forget that not everything that is now considered “literature” and “cinema” – appropriately intoned in Received Pronunciation - started out that way.
For many, no bookshelf would be complete without the classic works of Dickens, yet he started out as a weekly serialist, writing his stories chapter by chapter and keeping audiences world-wide enthralled with his complicated plotlines and cleverly crafted cliffhangers. If historic anecdotes are anything to go by, the people waiting eagerly at the New York docks for the delivery of the latest news packets from London, just to find out what happens next in Great Expectations, are no different to modern TV audiences who tune in like clockwork to watch the latest installment of their favourite show.
The Inspiration
Fundamental to the enjoyment of these stories, is the human penchant for storytelling. Ultimately, entire generations are defined by the stories of their time. And what does it say about the 18 – 49 Nielsen demographic that two of the most enduring franchises of the past decade have been about sometimes flawed, but always inspiring heroes?
Are we living in a time where the up and coming generation – the generation already starting to take up the mantle of leadership in business and government – seeks to lay the responsibility for its enormous challenges on the shoulders of a few good men?
Or have both franchises, with their underlying theme of love, pureness of heart and friendship conquering all, simply resonated with a universal theme that you will find echoing through both serious and popular literature since time immemorial?
You make of it what you will – that is, after all, the deepest pleasure of thematic analysis. As for me? I will still be replaying the final iconic moments of the Smallville finale for a few weeks to come, and every time with a lump in my throat.