Blank Space - by W David Marx (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A revealing exploration of a quarter century of cultural stagnation, examining the commercial and technological forces that have come to dominate contemporary culture--from music and fashion to art, film, TV, and beyond

Over the past twenty-five years, pop culture has suffered from a perplexing lack of reinvention. We've entered a cultural "blank space"--an era when reboots, rehashes, and fads flourish, while bold artistic experimentation struggles to gain recognition. Why is risk no longer rewarded, and how did playing it safe become the formula for success? Acclaimed cultural historian W. David Marx sets out to uncover the answers.

In this ambitious cultural history, Marx guides us through the blur of the twenty-first century so far, from the Obama era to the rise of K-pop, from Paris Hilton to the Marvel cinematic universe, from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift to . . . Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, whose enduring influence highlights both their adaptability and the broader shifts in pop culture. Combining sociological, economic, and political insights with a deep dive into art, street culture, fashion, and technology, Blank Space dissects the rise of profit-driven, formulaic trends and the shifting cultural norms that often prioritize going viral over innovation. He reveals how backlash against indie snobbery and nineties counterculture gave rise to a "counter-counterculture"--one marked by antiliberal sentiment, the celebration of business heroes, and the increasing influence of industry plants and the elite class. In a world of crypto bros, nepo babies, and AI-driven art, Marx offers readers a much-needed dose of clarity and context.

Vibrantly narrated and sharply argued, Blank Space is an essential guide for anyone looking to understand the chaos of the twenty-first century, the trends, tastemakers, and icons who shaped it, and how we might push our culture forward over the next quarter century--through renewed emphasis on creativity, community, and the values that transcend mere profit.

Review Quotes

"A fascinating, astute, lively examination of the decline of groundbreaking creative ambition and innovation in our ultra-postmodern digital era. Happily, W. David Marx isn't some nostalgic old fogey--he came of age at the turn of this century and yearns for an old-school commitment by creators to attempt the genuinely, excitingly new."
--Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire

"Reading Blank Space was the first time this century made any sense to me."
--B. J. Novak, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"The first quarter of the twenty-first century had a paradoxical feeling--so much happened and yet nothing happened at all. A triumph of forensic research and pattern recognition, Blank Space cuts through the bustle and the babble to make a senseless time make sense. W. David Marx diagnoses the malaise and even proposes a course of treatment. This is a book that's fun to agree with and even more fun to argue with."
--Simon Reynolds, author of Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past

"Only Marx, a late Gen Xer with the dogged work ethic of an early Millennial, could so exhaustively document the evaporation of the counterculture and the fragmentation of the monoculture that took place over the past twenty-five years. An engrossing must-read for anyone who wonders not why pop culture died but how."
--Lauren Sherman, coauthor of Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon

"W. David Marx's Blank Space offers the most incisive, in-depth, and indeed revelatory account yet of why our culture has turned its back on creative risk and innovation. For anyone who's been alive these past twenty-five years, Marx's cultural history is a nostalgic trip, a barrage of blasts from the recent past, revisited with fresh eyes. But it also cuts through the noise--no small feat amid the glut of the internet age--tracing the origins of our current cultural and political moment with remarkable acuity."
--Natasha Degen, author of Merchants of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol

"[Marx] draws on a commendable wealth of examples from disparate realms of culture--from the dominance of Japanese streetwear to Nazified internet memes and the "child influencer" the Rizzler--to ably explain what many citizens of the modern world, especially Americans, have long colloquially felt: that our current culture has grown stagnant. A wide-ranging, persuasive, readable treatise on a crucial component of modern life."
-- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

About the Author

W. David Marx is a longtime culture writer based in Tokyo and the author of Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change and Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Popeye, The New Republic, Vox, and more.