Bansky - Let's just hide this, shall we? Photo used by CC permissions DanBrady

There’s an old maxim in advertising that you have to get them young.  It’s why Coke new that soda machines in elementary schools were a good idea, at least as far as building loyal customers goes.  There’s a cultural concept here too.  If you can indoctrinate kids into a particular world-view, you have them for life.  Even if they later reject that world-view, you still have it in their minds and they are still viewing the world through that lens — even if it’s a rejection.

Back in June, NPR ran an interview with the band Devo.  It’s mildly hard to believe that an interview with a kitchy 80s band inspired a whirly-gig of thoughts, but it did.  During the interview, the guys from Devo talk about why they not only allowed but encouraged their music to be used in advertising.

We always kind of liked that subversion of mixing fine art with commercial art. ~Devo

Well, that makes a whole lot of sense.  TV commercials are a mainstream form of “low-culture.”  If  you want more evidence of this, just go to the movies right now.  I saw Inception (fabulous, btw) the other night.  We were treated to 10 minutes of ads before the movie.  The second or third ad was one of insanely fabulous Old Spice ads.  People cheered.  People prompted the lines.  It was like a one-minute Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Then the rest of the ads played and people tuned out.  They were lame, uninspired, and totally inappropriate for the target audience.

You know alternative music isn’t alternative anymore, when it’s featured in car commercial.  Remember the first time you heard Nirvana used in a commercial.  Ow.  You knew you were officially old.

Now imagine what happens when currently hip bands allow their music to be used in a mainstream way.  You could say they are selling out, but what if, like Devo, the do it with intent?  What if they use the technology of television to help sway culture in their direction?

This was the “ah-ha” I had about why authors like Cory Doctorow are writing Young Adult (YA) fiction.  Duh.  Doctorow has a clear, clear, clear world-view and uses his fiction to help spread the message.  I’m a huge fan of his writing, but there’s often a moment in his books where I feel like we cross from telling a great story to proselytizing.  Thankfully, he’s a great writer and the moment passes and I’m back into the story.  One of his stories, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, even inspired a non-fiction work based on a cultural concept he created as part of the storyline. The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business is one of many real world people trying to bring to life Doctorow’s fictional concept of “whuffie.”

Of course someone like Cory Doctorow wants to write Young Adult fiction.  Why wouldn’t he want to inspire tweens and teens to work towards his vision of a world-to-come?  Lots of people have been inspired by fiction.  Just think of the impact that Star Wars had on an entire generation?   I’ve seen many adult authors turning to YA fiction.  On one side it’s a chance to sell more books.  On the other, it’s a chance to build a loyal following.  Some authors have even managed it the other way.  Stephanie Myer, of Twilight fame, has written a pretty decent adult novel called the “Host.”

In some ways it’s an obvious statement to say if we want to know what’s coming, we have to understand what kids are in to.  But it’s not just text messaging and bad teen vampire spin-offs that are the cultural products they are feeding us.  We, in so many ways, are feeding them.  Authors, artists, musicians, and movie/TV makers are often using the medium to sow the seeds of cultural change.  It’s done so subtly that often we don’t realize it until it’s done its work.

Whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent — I leave up to you.  But pick up a YA novel written by a respected adult fiction author and see what it has to say.  There are a lot of fun ways to be subversive.  Of course the moment we start writing about them or you hear about them on the news, they cease to be subversive and instantly become mainstream.