Here's my guesses:
1. Marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing.
2. Shlock reduces reality to easily graspable paper-thin good/evil entities which relieves the anxiety of ambivalent feelings.
3. The schlock will by definition be seen by most people sooner or later ,and in a society in which there is little personal common ground, it will supply a common language.
4. The spectacle of waste on a grand scale is extremely comforting if you live under capitalism. It relieves the anxiety about overaccumulation (cause you're wasting it) and it makes you feel rich (cause you've got something to waste.)
But, I will have to confess, if I had the choice of seeing a hollywood blockbuster or any french movie made in the last thirty years, I'm not sure what I'd do.
And now, I'm going to the video store to see if they have the second season of the Sopranos: a very fine example of how popular doesn't have to be bad.
A good weekend to all,
Joanna B.