It feels like everything being made today is bad, or at least worse in terms of quality compared to just a couple of years ago. My average score for movies I consume has dropped off these past couple of years. I struggled to even go to the movies these days.
I think there are a couple of reasons for the decline in quality, not just in movies but in art as a whole.
Some people might be inclined to say “it’s because of a lack of originality”, that everything is either based on something else or a remake.
I object to the assertion that lack of originality is the problem. The first reason is that Hollywood has always been full of remakes and works based on source materials. So-called “original” movies like Die Hard, Fight Club, American Psycho, Forrest Gumb, Jaws, Psycho, and The Godfather are all based on books. A lot of classic movies are based on books.
The western the magnificent seven is a remake of seven samurai. The problem seems to be that they make movies inspired by other movies now. Thus most movies feel like something we have seen before and the more movies you watch the more apparent this problem becomes.
The market is also oversaturated with crap. The reason for this is a large number of streaming services. Before you had to go to the movies and pay for the experience. You had to do a bit of research on what movie you would like to go and see. Now everyone has streaming and everyone can watch everything whenever they want. If something doesn’t grib you from the get go then just turn it off or find a new thing.
This is also the reason why quality is low. It doesn’t make sense to take your time crafting a good movie. Companies need their streaming sites filled up with content; the quality doesn’t really matter as long as people stay on their platform. A service might have something like a Game of Thrones that a lot of people like, but they also need stuff to watch afterward.
It becomes a battle for attention rather than the quality of the art.
Oddly enough this also means more original movies are being made today, due to original movies being produced by streaming sites. This is also because more stuff gets made today than ever before.
I heard an interview with Mat Damon talking about how DVD sales were taken into consideration beforehand. In this day and age DVDs are simply not a thing and thus the movie has to make all of its money on release. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on the filmmakers since they simply have to make a movie that makes all the money within the span of a theatrical release.
The internet did not help us
Today everyone has a voice. Evey random smug can write a review or make a video critiquing something. Hell, one can just go on Twitter and yell into the void about how mad they are about a given movie or series.
There is such a thing as too many chefs in the kitchen. Every single opinion can not be taken into account nor should it. For what kind of credentials do people have when critiquing something? What does the average person know about storytelling?
Instead of focusing on creating a good piece of art movies today seem to be made by committee.
Without dating myself too much I can say that I am a part of gen y and I did not have an abundance of technology growing up. That meant I was bored a lot and thus to not be bored I had to do something and entertain myself, in turn, my creativity skyrocketed.
Every generation below me, Gen Z, and below are all having major problems when it comes to technology and information overload. A lot has already been said about too much dopamine and a shorter and shorter attention span. These things happen to all of us, but I
fear for the younger generation since they will grow up with all this.
Feel bored? Play a game on your various devices
Feel bored? Watch a movie or series on all the various streaming sites.
Feel Bored for a minute while you wait for something? Take out your phone and start scrolling through social media like a zombie.
We have heard of all the dangers before regarding the technological world we live in. But I think we are going to have a problem with creative people in the future. I think art is going to be in danger. AI may be going to make art in the future due to humans not being able to anymore. Every single piece of entertainment you can think of is going to be laid out in front of you. You never have to engage that part of the brain to “fight” boredom, you might make shitty art that is not going to be original, but instead a pale imitation of actual good art.
When people have no idea how to make art what do they do?
They look for feedback and unfortunately for us, everyone is giving feedback on the internet despite not knowing much about art, movies, or storytelling. This is going to create a wired feedback loop and art is going to be worse and worse.