feelgoodery

plural feelgooderies · alternative feel-goodery

1. derogatoryuncountableBehaviours performed with the purported purpose of promoting emotional happiness and/or certain cultural values; these behaviours may be seen as superficial or unimportant, or as a substitute for more meaningful action.

   Lots of smiling faces, money and feelgoodery will do that.

   2020, Bruce Warnock, Road Signs to the End Times, page 46

   3 more examples

   Every mainstream pop musical money-spinner, from Jesus Christ Superstar to Mamma Mia!, finds its origins in Hair 's relentless crassness and misguided feelgoodery, which means I don't have to watch or write about any more of them.

   2010, Garry Mulholland, Popcorn: Fifty Years of Rock 'n' Roll Movies

   He's down in the dumps because nobody wants to buy his art and his wife died, while she's got a case of the gloomies in response to public apathy for the plight of the underclass. Their grown-up troubles form an odd angle with the purportedly innocent feel-goodery, and ultimately betray the film's cross purposes.

   2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 May 2019

   We see lots of humanistic feelgoodery on gretting cards, internet memes, wall posters, bumper stickers and the rest, aimed at justifying, in one's mind, the very things that they should feel guilty about.

   2019, Bruce Warnock, Observations on Redemption, page 96

2. countablederogatoryA place or work containing such behaviours.

   Believing it to be an award, she has Maeby's expulsion letter from the "new age feel-goodery" Openings framed.

   2011, Kristopher G. Phillips, J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Arrested Development and Philosophy: They've Made a Huge Mistake

   2 more examples

   While the school remains a progressive, liberal feel-goodery, it is also regularly ranked among the West's best liberal arts colleges.

   2009, John Ortved, Simpsons Confidential, page 11

   Genevieve is exactly the type of character we usually see running one of these new-age feel-gooderies (though, based on those two references, apparently the only one who’s made an impression on me is the Arrested Development version), but Punch’s performance keeps the character from feeling like Sam’s shoes: A re-tread.

   2016 March 29, Erik Adams, “David Walton returns to display the dark side of New Girl’s big kiss”, in AV Club