In a time where overconsumption is rampant in parts of our world, quantity over quality is an easy choice. We see it in how we buy our clothing. "fast fashion" refers to clothing and other materials that are made cheaply in sweat shops. Designs from independent creators are copied with synthetic, flimsy material and are sold on mass producing sites, often ending up in landfills after a few years. This phenomenon does not just affect our clothing though, I have recently noticed a similar trend with books. I think that the growth of "Book-tok", a part of Tik-tok were people promote and create content based on new, popular books. Interestingly, many of these books have extremely similar plots, themes and characters, many of them are commonly referred to as "fairy smut". It is interesting that in years past, so called "smut" books were most commonly viewed as cheap paperbacks with a muscular, shirtless man on the front cover and were only read by desperate, sexually frustrated middle aged women. Smut has really re-invented itself these past few years.
While I typically think that the ideas that came from the scholars at the Frankfurt school are kind of elitist and stuffy, I can understand where they are coming from when it comes to culture industry. I pose this question to you. What gives something value? The books and movies that we love, the clothing, the slang we use, does it hold value because it is unique? It is difficult to find truly unique things these days, but even so the difference between something well made and a cheap cash- grab reproduction can almost always be felt.
I personally love reading good books. Don't get me wrong, I love a classic from time to time but I also love to indulge in a fun YA fantasy book as much as the next person. However when we recently have been pumping out popular books with identically predictable plots, questionably similar characters, and content that feels crafted by AI (and some of it is), it all starts to feel like my remote is stuck on the Hallmark channel.
Like fast fashion, I think that the books of Book-tok can be trendy and tempting, but will not ultimately withstand the test of time. Of course, we are all allowed to enjoy what we want, but just like a healthy diet we should strive to feed ourselves with good filling things, and not just candy and empty calories.
While I don't consume these kinds of books myself, I have been on the outside looking in and observed many of the same things you noted here. It could be argued that uniqueness gives something value, but I think these books in particular are valued specifically because they are not unique. I think every once in a while, people go crazy after something that is actually good (I've never read the series but I imagine A Court of Thorns and Roses was this for the book-Tok community) and then they hunt for something similar to it until the next good one comes along and it sets the new trend. Unfortunately, this does mean people can get away with AI-generating content sometimes, but that's just the cycle we're in right now.
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