midcult means A form of middlebrow culture that copies and adulterates high culture. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “midcult” is a great word
MIDCULT — [Noun] A derivative, commercialized form of middlebrow culture that presents diluted imitations of high art with a veneer of seriousness. Coined by Dwight Macdonald in 1960 from 'mid-' (short for 'middlebrow') + 'cult' (short for 'culture'), modeled on the earlier term 'masscult.' Unlike 'highbrow' (which stakes a claim on the difficult and new) or 'kitsch' (which revels in its own garish sentiment), midcult is the respectable forgery, cloaking its formulas in borrowed robes of artistic pretension. It is the tastefully bland museum reproduction, the bestselling novel that solemnly rehearses modernism's themes without its disquiet, the prestige drama that mistakes convoluted plot for depth of feeling—a seductive echo where genuine aesthetic experience goes to die a little.
noun
- A form of middlebrow culture that copies and adulterates high culture.“Only thing Fitzgerald wrote that will last is The Great Gatsby—the rest (Tender Is The Night, The Last Tycoon) is midcult junk.”