Historian says 21st century pop culture has stagnated

American cultural historian W David Marx argues in his book Blank space that popular culture has stagnated in the 21st century. He says that instead of thinking new, different, and creative, cultural creators in the new millennium have only wanted to entertain the audience and make money. While virtually every decade of the 20th century came to be defined by an art or cultural movement, the decades of the 21st century have not been marked by any major new genre.

Marx contends this shows how 21st-century popular culture has simply stalled and lost much of its cultural relevance, consisting only of entertainment. He contrasts Madonna, who constantly renewed herself and rebelled with her book Sex, with the new millennium's pop queen Lady Gaga, who chose to sell a limited edition of cookies with Oreo. The book is full of drastic judgments of popular culture from the different millennia, which has drawn a lot of criticism.