Western Culture

A few months ago I read a book called "Everything bad is good for you" by Steve Johnson. Its a defense for the so called "popular culture". He argues that video games, sit comes and tv series has grown more and more complex and they are in no way "junk culture" He mention Simpson, Seinfeld, 24, Deadwood (Deadwood is by the way one of Lasse F's favourites) and games like Zelda, Sims, Tycoon as example of pretty complex narrative with a lot of cross references which demand quite and engagement from the viewer. I agree with most of his ideas and also the conclusion that these new kinds of media doesn't replace books and other types of media, its just another way to indulge in culture.
Well, referring to that I find the eminent comic of "Preacher" being a great example of complex popular culture. I would like to compare it to Don DeLillo's book "Underworld" which is an historical odyssey over post-world war II America. The book is held as an American classic. Both these publications is rich resources into the understanding of western culture, ideology, world view and religious foundation. I am pretty sure a guy like C.G Jung would enjoy the mythological approach in Preacher as well as the subtle nuances in DeLillos book. Of course Preacher contains violence, sex and bizarre events but none the less, it also contains a deeper level of humanism, religious belief, social critique and satire just like DeLillos book.
The connection to fine art might be expressed in the humble approach of Roy Lichtenstein to become abstract artist. Its ironic, fun and kinds of illustrate the border between expressions. Lichtenstein said that he had no intention to make fun of abstract art or artists (like Jackson Pollock and others), he said that this was the only way he knew how to paint and he had the deepest respect for their genre.
In the end I find most of the culture of our time to be expression of modernism, secular society and in between a Nietzschean world view.