Matt Yglesias has coined the term "pundit’s fallacy" to describe the pundits’ tendency to mistake what they think is right for what is actually popular and politically savvy. I’ve been wondering if a similar dynamic has taken hold of popular culture criticism. Think of the number of claims you hear that the music industry wouldn’t be hurting financially if only they stopped plugging popstars like Britney and Justin and started cultivating more Wilcos/Norah Joneses/Music Like They Used to Make. But maybe the record companies know what they’re doing and would be worse off if they staked their livelihood on genre-crossing album-oriented music. Similarly, just because Sideways taps into an over-30 audience eager to see films made for them doesn’t mean that Hollywood is stupid to make films for a younger demographic who actually goes to the movies more often.
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