Professor Elam

Sat April 7, 2012

I have mentioned and written about social mood and its affect on society at length. But so far the students have shown little to no interest. Well a chap named Seth Grahame Smith has shown interest, and is about to become well to do as a result. The reading below also appears on themarketperspective.

And this is no spring break student made movie, the budget is $ 70 million.

Social Mood – Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter Premiering in June

In three years, Seth Grahame Smith has gone from writing The Big Book of Porn to the million best seller in 27 languages no less, Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. This spawned a genre of weird spoofs of famous works resulting in Android Karenina and Wuthering Bites. (So what am I doing writing an investment blog….)

Now he is in demand, his production company has 15 movie and tv projects in the works 

Well America is the land of opportunity and this fellow saw an opportunity.

Here is the operative social mood explanation, though I doubt the writer has grasped it (that's our job here at TMP)

His irreverent literary reboot landed at precisely the right cultural moment. In recent years, digital remixing and sampling—once viewed as derivative at best and illegal at worst—has grown widespread in music, film, television and fine art. Mash-ups are no longer just kitschy parodies. Literary writers like Colson Whitehead and Michael Chabon have experimented with horror and science-fiction themes. A zombie-infused Regency romance doesn't sound so ludicrous in today's mash-up rich environment.

In an 18 year period of stagnation, emotions move violently from fear to joy, witness the stock market rise form last October to now. Texas Chainsaw Massacre debuted at the bottom of the market in 1974. Yet Rocky, an upbeat film, followed in 195-76. Yes this is the right cultural moment amid fascination with zombies and vampires. The national election has undecided in the lead, no wonder reader seek new genres. The trick of course is to catch the weird idea that connects with the fickle mood of the moment. Even Historian Doris Kearns, a Lincoln expert, is an admirer of Mr. Smith's work. If the markets peak this summer and tumble the next two years as we expect, Mr. Smith will have hit the cultural moment dead center, so to speak.