Fiction
Prior to the creation of Fiction (capital F) as we think of it todat, what existed prior were plays and epic poetry. There was a huge gap between the number of producers and the number of consumers.
Pinning an exact date to when Fiction began is hard, but Cervantes Don Quixote in 1605 is a reasonable tentpole. So we have had just over 400 years of it. In most of that time it was the province of the upper classes — since they were the only ones who could afford books. Plays and storytellers were available to everyone.
In the mid 1800’s we saw and explosion in the amount of fiction produced, and thus a positive change in the number of producers vs consumers, but if you look at who was reading it, then you see it was still upper class men with the added demographic of literate middle class women. For it was expected that a wife (or potential wife) should have a handy suppy of annecdotes and wittisms hand.
In the first half of the 20th century we saw the next huge explostion in fiction, and for the first time it was largely availible to everyone. Everone with an interest in reading fiction (which was still a minority of the overall population). More importantly was the realization in the minds of people what producing fiction is possible for anyone. Indeed it became an almost working-class occupation (I am talking to you Orwell).
As the century crossed the halfway mark, and television began its rise we saw fiction begin to decline as a pastime of the masses. However the number of people producing it continued (and continues) to grow.
The statistic that only 1 in 5 households has read or bought a book in the last year is totted out from time to time as a signal of our impending doom. I have been hearing that for the entire two and a half decades of what we might call my adulthood. The fact that this statistic doesn’t seem to change should be evidence of the underlying truth: reading fiction is the exception and not the rule. It is a phase what we go through for a time, and the provice of an elite. In this case it just happens the elite cuts across socio-economic barriers.
However the number of producers continues to grow. Still nowhere even near to parity, but more now than ever. Look at the amount of slash fiction, fan fiction, and homemade erotica out there (Literotica FTW!).
But just as plays and storytellers have been the dominent form of entertainment to the masses, this trend remains the same. We just call those Television and blogs now. What I find facinating is that as Television (and I mean that in the broadest sense of the word) rises, and Fiction remains at the shallow end of the pool, the amound of complexity in television is increasing. Take an episode of House and compare to Marcus Welby, and marvel at the increase in complexity, information, and critical thinking.
The “problem” with television (and plays before it) is that it has always the highest producer/consumer gap. Anyone can be a storyteller, but producing a play is hard stuff. However now more than ever that is changing. The means of production are easier to aquire than ever, and the means of distribution are available to most (look saying “all” would just be hyperbole). You might not make any money, but you can produce, and people are.
YouTube isn’t just a place to find laughing babies and cats playing pianos, it is also where the revolution of producers versus consumers is closing…
