Ah, so if an artist has no desire to impact on national consciousness, s/he is not an artist? It hink it is arrogance to think that. A scientist and an inventor does more good when he produces things that make life easier.

Lots of things create cultural shifts. The Enlightenment created a cultural shift. Jesus Christ and Mohommet created cultural shifts. Economists create cultural shifts (from mixed economy to neoliberalism). When the Wright brothers created machines that flew, they created a cultural shift. None of these things are arts, but they still create cultural shifts and change the world.

I grew up in country without TV. People didn't become doctors because of TV or story books. I'm not saying that they won't. I'm saying that there are just as many other avenues where people do things as a result of things outside the arts.

I think whether a story or a film creates a cultural shift has more to do with luck than anything else. I also think that the cultural shift can be for better or worse, but I certainly don't think that the artist's work is more valuable and more difficult than anyone else's.

And, yes, each to his own.