Only mainstream celebrity satisfies the human need for shared culture

Evidence

Grassroots cultural activity ultimately posed little threat to the celebrity aristocracy of movies, TV, and supermodels. Only the mainstream seemed to satisfy the eternal need for a shared culture—one that could fuel conversations with friends and interactions with strangers. At best, the monoculture could undergo slight cosmetic changes: a rotating cast of royal houses in the pop aristocracy rather than a true revolution. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 687

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s goal of assessing whether ‘blankness’ is real — Marx here concedes a persistent need for shared reference points.