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Tangentially, last night I half-listened to an interesting YouTube video that used the history of Robin Hood movies to describe this trend. https://www.youtube

Tangentially, last night I half-listened to an interesting YouTube video that used the history of Robin Hood movies to describe this trend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=428ZxrW6jhk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=428ZxrW6jhk It's a slowly escalating 45-minute rant, but I think that this quote from toward the end summarizes it fairly well: "I'm admittedly a little tired of seeing heroes always surrounded by worlds of gray, because, if they're there long enough, they start to feel kind of gray, too." I haven't ever seen the Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood, but I suppose my equivalent is that, as far as I'm concerned, Batman peaked with the TV show in the 1960s. It wasn't just colorful, it was legitimately fun. To the point where even the bad episodes were good. The Tim Burton movies were also a bit like that. They were visually dark, sure, but that was Tim Burton's aesthetics, and it was a package deal that came together with at least a few glimmerings of that same twisted sense of humor that got him fired from Disney for making Frankenweenie. Since then, though? It's a bunch of increasingly sad movies by apparently sad people whose creative drive seems to primarily come from the desire to demonstrate to themselves and everyone else that they are Grown Ups, and who are too busy Taking Their Jobs Seriously to have any fun at work. And so they're working so hard that, even though what they're producing is technically classified as entertainment, the end result is so joyless that watching it ends up feeling, at least to me, like work.

afavour 5y ago
I think the simple answer is that movies tend to reflect the world around them. Not to get too political on HN but I think no matter your political stripes we can agree that the general mood of the country has been not great since at least 2015 or so. You could argue that means we need more escapism, not less, but somehow that doesn't happen.
- mumblemumble 5y ago
  I think it goes both ways. The stories we tell reflect our thinking, and our thinking is shaped by the stories we tell. The cynic in me thinks that another problem is that fun is bad for business. Fun makes people feel good, and people who feel good aren't as likely to engage in retail therapy, and modern movies make a whole lot of money off of merchandising.
- kmonsen 5y ago
  That is actually not true, Gallup says right know we feel the best we have done in 13 years: https://news.gallup.com/poll/351932/americans-life-ratings-reach-record-high.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/351932/americans-life-ratings-r... I think there is something to what you are saying, and Americans are not feeling as well as the (average) GDP data should indicate compared to the Nordics, but in general data shows we feel fine.
- irrational 5y ago
  I’ve felt tremendously better since Biden was elected and, as an introvert, the lockdown for the past year and a half has done wonders for my mental health. I’m happy now than I’ve ever been (at least for the past four decades).
- Y_Y 5y ago
  > The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
jandrese 5y ago
IMHO this what Thor: Ragnarok got right. It was one of the few Marvel movies that seemed to remember its comic book origins. Quick pace--individual comic issues are short, snappy (not necessarily quippy) dialog--because there isn't space on a comic panel for walls of text, colorful and interesting character designs, and a good dose of humor sprinkled in. It would probably get old if every Marvel movie were like that, but all in all I think the formula works. Guardians of the Galaxy also did pretty well in this regard, but making most of the characters assholes in one way or another undercut the theme somewhat.
YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
>> They were visually dark, sure, but that was Tim Burton's aesthetics, and it was a package deal that came together with at least a few glimmerings of that same twisted sense of humor that got him fired from Disney for making Frankenweenie. Heh. Like in Batman Returns were the Penguin yells at Batman: "You're jealous, because I'm a genuine freak and you have to wear a mask!". I loved that bit :) Danny DeVito, man. A comedian playing a deformed super-villain. That was cinema, once. That was even superhero movies, once.

afavour 5y ago

I think the simple answer is that movies tend to reflect the world around them. Not to get too political on HN but I think no matter your political stripes we can agree that the general mood of the country has been not great since at least 2015 or so. You could argue that means we need more escapism, not less, but somehow that doesn't happen.

mumblemumble 5y ago
I think it goes both ways. The stories we tell reflect our thinking, and our thinking is shaped by the stories we tell. The cynic in me thinks that another problem is that fun is bad for business. Fun makes people feel good, and people who feel good aren't as likely to engage in retail therapy, and modern movies make a whole lot of money off of merchandising.
kmonsen 5y ago
That is actually not true, Gallup says right know we feel the best we have done in 13 years: https://news.gallup.com/poll/351932/americans-life-ratings-reach-record-high.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/351932/americans-life-ratings-r... I think there is something to what you are saying, and Americans are not feeling as well as the (average) GDP data should indicate compared to the Nordics, but in general data shows we feel fine.
irrational 5y ago
I’ve felt tremendously better since Biden was elected and, as an introvert, the lockdown for the past year and a half has done wonders for my mental health. I’m happy now than I’ve ever been (at least for the past four decades).
Y_Y 5y ago
> The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

jandrese 5y ago

IMHO this what Thor: Ragnarok got right. It was one of the few Marvel movies that seemed to remember its comic book origins. Quick pace--individual comic issues are short, snappy (not necessarily quippy) dialog--because there isn't space on a comic panel for walls of text, colorful and interesting character designs, and a good dose of humor sprinkled in. It would probably get old if every Marvel movie were like that, but all in all I think the formula works. Guardians of the Galaxy also did pretty well in this regard, but making most of the characters assholes in one way or another undercut the theme somewhat.

YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago

>> They were visually dark, sure, but that was Tim Burton's aesthetics, and it was a package deal that came together with at least a few glimmerings of that same twisted sense of humor that got him fired from Disney for making Frankenweenie. Heh. Like in Batman Returns were the Penguin yells at Batman: "You're jealous, because I'm a genuine freak and you have to wear a mask!". I loved that bit :) Danny DeVito, man. A comedian playing a deformed super-villain. That was cinema, once. That was even superhero movies, once.