What are the benefits and drawbacks of a genre or franchise gaining mainstream acceptance? For instance: in what ways does Marvel benefit from being mainstream? How does grossing popularity damage Star Wars (or does it?). How does the MCU gain artistically from its mainstream appeal? What sacrifices must it make? Are the monetary benefits worth the trade of artistic integrity?
A game writer might focus on the social benefits gamers receive from the de-stigmatizing of video games vs. the "selling out" of catering to the main stream. The writer of this article could focus on any medium of entertainment, from television and movies to games, examining both privilege and hipster-esque shunning that comes with the main stream.
While I've provided an overly-broad range of ideas for medium, the writer of this article would focus on only one aspect of entertainment (film; television; games), not all three.
I think audiences are more sophisticated nowadays. Movies and TV shows used to be at the level of an 11 year old boy back in the 70s and even the 80. I don't think it was until the early 90s that movies really began to take off and franchises such as Star Trek after TNG the TV series really began going mainstream. Especially Sci-Fi. I think Terminator started that trend. – Munjeera8 years ago