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What a bad post. >1. TV and Film have switched spots. There's a lot more than Marvel going on today no matter what the author implies here. >2. Self-Censorsh

by Tenoke 5y ago

What a bad post. >1. TV and Film have switched spots. There's a lot more than Marvel going on today no matter what the author implies here. >2. Self-Censorship. Comedy was big in the early 2000s. Claiming that there have been no comedies since 2012 is just ridicilous and pointing at Deadpool as the only potential counter-example just shows how little the author has explored beyond blockbusters. > 3. Most Stories are the Same. > 4. You Learn the Tricks. This is mostly the same point and if the author didn't just watch the biggest blockbusters he'd have found how much pleasure you can get at that point by going for deconstructions, Meta, movies who play with, ignore or go against the tropes etc. >Passive Media Consumption is Fundamentally Bad. Fundamentally? He spent 2-3 hours on movies every 5 days, I doubt he doesnt spend as much time on something that he'd deem empty calories now, too. At any rate, you've hardly exhausted that much after 819 movies even after including those he'd seen before when he was watching less.

tarsinge 5y ago
Yeah the the author circles around the root issue but ultimately misses it: it's not a quality problem, but a consumption behavior problem. Thinking that it's possible to be amazed by a new movie everyday is a consumerist myth, that's not how the brain works. When they say : > Those films of childhood were special – they’d fill me with wonder and ideas, inspiration for scenes to then recreate in The Sims or Lego It's not the film that were special, it was the fact that they watched few movies and had time to tinker about them. The wonder was not only in the passive watching experience, so the author will always be disappointed if their quest is to find the movie that could do that. Of course that's also applicable to video games or any other media when you feel the magic is lost.
- YinglingLight 5y ago
  Content consumption "binges" are just that, they leave a feeling of regret if remembered at all.
- travisjungroth 5y ago
  I really thought that he'd touch on the fact that one of the differences between movies when he was a child and movies when he is adult is his age. That he doesn't still play with Legos is probably not the fault of cinema.
jhanschoo 5y ago
Can you give some example titles to illustrate your points?
- Tenoke 5y ago
  Comedies - Spontaneous, Popstar, Everybody Wants Some Deconstruction/Meta/Anti-trope -Jump Street movies (count for both this and comedy as do some of the others), The Lego Movie, Cabin in the Woods, Better Watch Out, I'm Thinking of Ending Things 'Film' instead of movie - Another Round, Thorougbreads, The Lighthouse, Ex Machina
  - stnmtn 5y ago
    Fantastic list
tootie 5y ago
I would consider this to be a lame post on Reddit. I'm confused how it got voted up on HN.
- duderific 5y ago
  Certainly there are flaws in his reasoning, but it's still interesting enough to spark discussion, as evidenced by the number of comments.
chaostheory 5y ago
> “1. TV and Film have switched spots.” > There's a lot more than Marvel going on today no matter what the author implies here. I agree. It now costs a lot less to propel TV to have “good enough” special effects that nearly rival movies. Pair that with better plots and more time for telling stories, it’s not hard to see why TV is more enjoyable these days.
- ghaff 5y ago
  It's not just that TV has more time but, with streaming, TV has a lot more flexibility to choose the right amount of time and the right format. Aside from the odd miniseries, traditional broadcast TV was pretty much limited to 30 minute and 60 minute slots with ads, typically in episodic form although that started to change with VCRs and then, especially, DVRs. Oh, and there was a significant incentive to hit enough episodes for syndication deals.
nmz 5y ago
I will agree with the point about comedies is somewhat true, comedic releases have diminished greatly. We used to get a great new comedy every year. I can name 20 great comedies in the 80s, 90s and 2000s respectively, but in the 2010s there's only a handful.
mark-r 5y ago
I wonder if he realizes how ironic it is to have "Passive Media Consumption is Fundamentally Bad" on a blog?

by Tenoke 5y ago

tarsinge 5y ago

Yeah the the author circles around the root issue but ultimately misses it: it's not a quality problem, but a consumption behavior problem. Thinking that it's possible to be amazed by a new movie everyday is a consumerist myth, that's not how the brain works. When they say : > Those films of childhood were special – they’d fill me with wonder and ideas, inspiration for scenes to then recreate in The Sims or Lego It's not the film that were special, it was the fact that they watched few movies and had time to tinker about them. The wonder was not only in the passive watching experience, so the author will always be disappointed if their quest is to find the movie that could do that. Of course that's also applicable to video games or any other media when you feel the magic is lost.

YinglingLight 5y ago
Content consumption "binges" are just that, they leave a feeling of regret if remembered at all.
travisjungroth 5y ago
I really thought that he'd touch on the fact that one of the differences between movies when he was a child and movies when he is adult is his age. That he doesn't still play with Legos is probably not the fault of cinema.

jhanschoo 5y ago

Can you give some example titles to illustrate your points?

Tenoke 5y ago
Comedies - Spontaneous, Popstar, Everybody Wants Some Deconstruction/Meta/Anti-trope -Jump Street movies (count for both this and comedy as do some of the others), The Lego Movie, Cabin in the Woods, Better Watch Out, I'm Thinking of Ending Things 'Film' instead of movie - Another Round, Thorougbreads, The Lighthouse, Ex Machina
- stnmtn 5y ago
  Fantastic list

tootie 5y ago

I would consider this to be a lame post on Reddit. I'm confused how it got voted up on HN.

duderific 5y ago
Certainly there are flaws in his reasoning, but it's still interesting enough to spark discussion, as evidenced by the number of comments.

chaostheory 5y ago

> “1. TV and Film have switched spots.” > There's a lot more than Marvel going on today no matter what the author implies here. I agree. It now costs a lot less to propel TV to have “good enough” special effects that nearly rival movies. Pair that with better plots and more time for telling stories, it’s not hard to see why TV is more enjoyable these days.

ghaff 5y ago
It's not just that TV has more time but, with streaming, TV has a lot more flexibility to choose the right amount of time and the right format. Aside from the odd miniseries, traditional broadcast TV was pretty much limited to 30 minute and 60 minute slots with ads, typically in episodic form although that started to change with VCRs and then, especially, DVRs. Oh, and there was a significant incentive to hit enough episodes for syndication deals.

nmz 5y ago

I will agree with the point about comedies is somewhat true, comedic releases have diminished greatly. We used to get a great new comedy every year. I can name 20 great comedies in the 80s, 90s and 2000s respectively, but in the 2010s there's only a handful.

mark-r 5y ago

I wonder if he realizes how ironic it is to have "Passive Media Consumption is Fundamentally Bad" on a blog?