Genius And Crass Culture

Written by a human, for humans, always.

I just started to read a new book.

Not the types of books I generally read in the non-fiction category…

Leadership…

Psychophysiology…

Philosophy and Theology.

No, the current book I am reading is fantasy fiction.

Heroes and Villains.

Magic.

Magical Creatures.

I do not do a lot of reading like this these days…

I used to when I was younger.

I love the genre.

At one point I considered writing my own fantasy fiction book…

Maybe I will one day in the future.

One of my favorite worlds was written by J.R.R. Tolkien…

Truly a genius.

When fantasy fiction is done really well…

It becomes a powerful playground to push different ideas to extremes.

To put heroes against world-ending scenarios.

To watch as an interesting idea devolves into anarchy and pain.

To see how different worldviews clash in epic showdowns.

To understand how different philosophies and theological ideas can crash against each other.

That is when fantasy fiction is done well.

Which brings me to this book that I am reading.

I am currently halfway through…

And the author has created something very interesting to read.

A world that brings you into the action.

Rules in the world that are intriguing and unique.

Mysteries to dive into.

At the same time…

There is what you might call “fan service”.

Derivative.

Predictable.

Caricaturized.

I could see the plot of the love triangle before two of the characters in it were formerly introduced.

On top of it all…

None of it adds anything to the story.

It does not develop the characters.

It just is not necessary and is designed for today’s crass culture.

What makes it worse…

Is that if I were to remove the fan service from the half of the book that I have read…

It would remove over half of what I read.

But…

What would be remaining…

Might be genius.

This brings me to an interesting question that I see in today’s world…

Can genius and crass culture mix?

This is not just a question for fantasy fiction…

I see the same question play out in business contexts today.

Do I write a difficult book or create junk food motivation?

Do I make difficult articles or articles that cater to the greatest audience reach?

Do I challenge the status quo or dedicate myself to it?

These types of questions have been playing out throughout time.

Does one seek to become a genius?

Or do you seek to fit into the culture at hand?

Do you design something deeply original?

Or do you hit what is popular and risk being forgotten?

Will you die without anyone ever seeing your genius?

If you die and no one ever accepts what you made, was it ever really genius?

This becomes even more difficult to consider when you throw in other real factors…

Such as whether you have a family to take care of…

Or whether you are supported by others in your endeavors.

Those have real consequences that must be considered.

But all of this does beg the question…

Can genius and crass culture work together?

Some people will say yes…

Others will vehemently disagree..

Many will try to make their place somewhere in the middle…

Hoping for the best.

In all likelihood…

There may not be one right answer.

Perhaps you need crass culture to distinguish from genius.

Perhaps some people need to work in the middle to discover where genius can be found.

Perhaps genius needs crass culture to gain its defining characteristics.

They may not work together directly...

But maybe we need both to understand what is not valuable...

And what truly is genius.

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