In Defense of Mid

why we need mid art

Last week, there was a fascinating piece in the NY Times called The Comfortable Problem of Mid TV by James Poniewozik. The premise seems self-evident so I won’t waste your time summarizing, but suffice it to say, Poniewozik feels that there is a problematic rise in TV content that is just “mid.”

I can’t really say that he’s wrong as any cursory glance through all the current streamers showcases a lot more mid than prestige.

HOWEVER, I did take issue with the implied permissiveness of assuming that “mid” is necessarily bad. This week on the Popcast we have a different kind of conversation around the idea of midness, but the spinzone I’d like to bring to you here is about deciding if “mid” is really that bad.

My first point in defense of mid is that we need it because midness serves a very real purpose which is ecological balance.

AN EXAMPLE:

Everyone agrees that the Classic Mix Chips Variety Pack is a pretty cool thing, right?

When you got this in elementary school, you knew that Mom was in a good mood and that you’d be the envy of school lunch/snack time.

But as kids, we didn’t even realize the extent of the variety pack greatness because of the economic value it represented. 50 mini-bags of chips for 22.50? That’s 0.45 a bag, which is a veritable COUP when school vending machines are asking 0.75 for a smaller bag.

But do you know WHY you get that great value?

That’s right. The great value is thanks to the chips that smell like feet and the chips that taste like feet.

If you replace both of these with some kind of elite Pringles or Southern Heat Lays, you’re definitely not getting them for 0.45 a bag, BUD.

So what does this mean? MID = VALUE

Let’s look at this a different way.

Remember Dead Poet’s Society? Of course you do; it’s the movie we all cite when we pretend to care about art and poetry and teachers.