What makes something generic? It’s easy to see when something is bad or good, but how do you identify what makes something generic?
If people asked you about a particular movie you could say it was good or bad, but most often than not people would say “eh” or “it was fine” these are phrases most commonly used to describe something generic.
Something right down the middle of the quality spectrum. Something generic will not leave you with a strong sense of anything after consumption. Most things are like this, most things you eat will be “fine”, most movies will be “okay”, nothing spectacular nor awful. In my post about Netflix movies, I concluded that most of their movies are like this.
But why is there so much generic stuff out there?
I think that there is more generic stuff now than ever before. One of the main reasons for this is because there is more stuff now than ever. People crank out content at an alarming rate. There are more movies to watch, books to read, or games to play than ever before.
More content will automatically mean more generic stuff.
There is a battle going on for people’s attention since there is more content and art to consume than ever before. While the amount of art and content has risen over the digital age we still only have a set amount of time doing the day. This means people make content to grab attention and not necessarily for the sake of making good art.
People’s attention span is also nonexisting at this point since everything has to grab attention. Everything feels super fast-paced with no time to breathe at all. The rise of TikTok is a perfect example of this, with a format focusing on quick and short videos. This creates a surface-level appreciation for art, everybody is conditioned to only being able to pay attention for a brief period of time.
How to identify something generic
To identify what makes something generic one must first realize what makes something good and bad. If we take movies as an example.
It is important to consume a wide range of different kinds of movies both in terms of genres, but also in terms of quality. When you see enough movies like Transformers, The Room, or other terrible movies you start to automatically appreciate better movies. Now, if you only watch bad stuff the generic stuff appears to be good, for we judge things in relation to other things.
I have seen a lot of movies all from different decades, in different genres. I am not a fan of gangster films, they simply do not do it for me. However, when I watch the Godfather I can tell it’s a great movie. The way Coppola moves the camera and the way he transitions from scene to scene is next level, in combination with a beautiful score and a spectacular cast that all deliver great performances and you have yourself a masterpiece of a film.
Most films coming out today are just there, one does not feel anything watching them. It might have some cool things in it, but overall it was just “something to watch”. When people get home from work they just need “something to watch” that takes their mind off of work or their worries.
When consuming art one should be able to feel something, whether it would be a positive or negative emotion doesn’t matter. The worst feeling is indifference and apathy. Once you enter a state of apathy everything becomes meaningless to a degree. People in this state grow more cynical, they can’t empathize with others as easily and they don’t feel motivated about anything.
Art should make people feel something, whether that be Fear from a good horror film, excitement from a nice action flick, or sadness from a drama. No matter the genre one should feel something when it comes to art. If we start to experience art with apathy then we start to see the world with apathy and thus no improvement to the world can be made.