28 ms·

Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

• Strawhorse 5y ago
  We can blame a lot of the dumbing down on Hollywood's kowtowing to China
  • fullshark 5y ago
    Every example here is a female protagonist also, I think it's also partially kowtowing to feminist cultural critics who are vocal online and are particularly sensitive to perceived slights.
    • Strawhorse 5y ago
      That's ironic, because China hates strong female role models or protagonists in movies due to an endemically sexist culture
      • fullshark 5y ago
        I think the Mulan update was a huge flop in China FWIW, so maybe Disney tried to thread the needle there and failed. New Star Wars movies also I think didn't do well there. https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/why-china-hates-disney-mulan-1234770198/ https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/why-china-hates-disney-mu... > The most fundamental flaw, most felt, was that Disney’s new heroine starts out from childhood already equipped with superhero-like abilities, thanks to her extraordinary reserves of “qi,” the force that she cultivates and controls to excel as a fighter. > Turning her into a superhero removes Mulan’s everywoman appeal, and leaves her with no room to grow as a character, huge swathes of Chinese viewers said. Basically the exact criticism of the youtube video interestingly enough
        • Strawhorse 5y ago
          I think the new Mulan fail was due to some social media shitstorm about the lead actress or something; the spastic Chinese internet trolls had a feeding frenzy on something she said. At the same time, the movie got trashed in the West for being, well, shit.
          • fullshark 5y ago
            In any case I think the macro issue is trying to placate too many audiences with their own agendas (hardcore fanboys, Chinese censors, feminist cultural agitators, etc) instead of telling a good story with interesting characters, at least for the cinema the video maker is focused on (big budget IP).
            • Strawhorse 5y ago
              Tell that to Hollywood, man. A lot of their movies now are being passed by Chinese censors first with the domestic market somewhat of an afterthought. Interestingly, though, China hasn't produced a single decent movie in a decade or two, and they certainly don't give a fuck about the foreign market. But I agree with what you said there.
• pvaldes 5y ago
  They should put an epilepsy warning in this video. Bombing the viewer with one second sequences of random films for the entire video is really annoying
  • lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Extremely quick cuts are a staple of YouTube videos that my 10 year old nieces and nephews seem to enjoy watching. Very annoying to me and a good filter of the part of a YouTube to avoid.
  • bawolff 5y ago
    While people might find that annoying, is it actually an epilepsy trigger?
  • omnicognate 5y ago
    I agree it's not very pleasant to watch and this style is often abused, but it serves a real purpose in this video. He's making broad points about movies as whole in two different timeframes and comparing between them. When he's discussing a particular movie the shots illustrate which movie (and in many cases which parts of it) he's referring to. When making broad statements about whole clases of movies the shots provide examples of the points being made. Using shots like this is much more information-dense than verbally listing a load of titles and scene descriptions and triggers the viewer's memory much more effectively. Keeping the clips very short allows more examples to be packed in and also protects against intellectual property complaints. (The need for the latter is highly regrettable but a daily reality for youtubers.)
  • dudul 5y ago
    I believe it may partly be to avoid copyright strikes.
  • gsich 5y ago
    The audio is what is important.
• jsnodlin 5y ago
• 88840-8855 5y ago
  The main criticism of this YouTube video is that the main character doesn't really have to put in any effort and has all those skills from the very beginning. While I agree that this trope can make kids think they're special without trying in life (and that they will be a hero in the future), I think there have been similar tropes in the past. Just take basic story writing of many old movies: There is always a hero that is living a boring or even sad life, often unsuccessful and unhappy. Suddenly, a "mentor" appears who takes our hero into this new magical world and teaches him the most amazing things in no time. Matrix, Star Wars, Harry Potter, basically all Disney movies, even Sailor Moon. That doesn't teach kids very positive things either: just wait for a mentor to come along and show you the way to become a hero, don't worry, you will be a hero because someone shows you the way. So I don't see the development described in the YouTube video as dramatically, it has existed forever.
  • bawolff 5y ago
    I think the difference is that the mentor might introduce them to the magical world, but its still up to the character what they want to do with it e.g. to quote the matrix "But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." And the decision as to what to do with it has consequences and changes them. Or to use another example - gandalf might mentor frodo, but yet it always seems like frodo's accomplishments are his own and gandalf didn't really do all that much for him when all is said and done. Frodo is a hero and an interesting character, but i wouldn't want to be him. Anyways i don't think the problem is lack of life lessons (even if they are lacking) its static characters and lack of stakes. Characters that were born ready are boring to watch. We like watching characters that change and adapt to circumstances whose choices are meaningful and consequential. The protagonist who was basically born with super powers, does not face a challenge and doesn't have to adapt their personality, is a boring character.
    • watwut 5y ago
      Nah. Superman, spiderman, hluk, any of these got skills by accident. Even karate kid which shown some training, shown imaginary low effort low time investment training. The typical action movie of my youth had guys winning all the fights for no reason other then that they are awesome. Audiences loved it. The past movies had enough of pure power fantasy or other "just gonna win" in it for the whole generation to drawn in it. And not just American movies. Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill were super famous and did basically nothing but that. They don't train, never ever, they are lazy as cool factor and are strongest guys most sharpest shooters around. Franch movies, fairly often the same thing. Random middle aged man thrown in situation and suddenly climbing and jumping roofs. And series targetted at kids still show plenty of training. Lego ninja go, winx club, all show training or classroom scenes often.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• probably_wrong 5y ago
  I think the video doesn't go deep enough: the problem is not that movies teach the wrong lessons, but rather that the movies are so hyper-optimized for engagement and ROI that there's no room for nuance. He may not like the newest Star Wars trilogy, but it nonetheless made a lot of money. That said, I think the author (and also me in the previous paragraph) uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", which are by no means the only movies out there. There are lots of good movies out there, but most people aren't watching them. If you have the chance, I suggest everyone spend a couple weeks going to a "mystery movie night". Sure, sometimes you may end up watching "Blackhat" (or even worse, "Tracers"), but the good movies you'll end up also watching will make up for it.
  • jpgvm 5y ago
    This video is actually just one in a series of videos on the subject, you might want to watch the others if you want a more complete picture of his views.
  • danielrpa 5y ago
    And don't forget that they are also optimized to the lowest common denominator of American and Chinese sensitivities.
  • dmitriid 5y ago
    > uses the term "movies" to refer to "big budget movies", which are by no means the only movies out there They kinda are. Franchises have sucked all the air out of the room, and movies are given money on the premise that they will make money. Edit: not just money. But shit-tons of money that can be milked from multiple angles for many years. Already 10 years ago filmmakers were struggling to find funding for their projects. Birdman and Gravity were very close to not being made even they had Oscar-winning directors and stellar casts. It's significantly worse today.
    • chii 5y ago
      > movies are given money on the premise that they will make money so what would be an alternative funding model? A patreon or kickstarter like model where directors and stars are pre-paid via crowd funding? A state sponsored funding model? Non-profit model?
• jpgvm 5y ago
  Knew this was Critical Drinker before I clicked on it. Mate introduced me to it and he is absolutely spot on for the most part. Modern movies (and TV for that matter) have become so commercialized and expensive that the series they are now rehashing (Star Wars for instance) wouldn't be possible to create today. George Lucas definitely didn't have the name or history necessary when Alan Ladd gave the go ahead to make Star Wars that you would need these days for a comparably ambitious film. It's weird because I feel like some other forms of media, namely games and music have gone in the opposite direction because of the availability and power of tools for independent production. However movies just need so much more resources the same indie competition hasn't been able to come in and shake things up sadly.
  • k__ 5y ago
    So true. I feared the Hollywoodization of the game industry. But it never happened in the mindless extend of movies and music. Indie games are still going strong.
    • viraptor 5y ago
      I think all media you mentioned have similar effects and all have both Hollywood and indie areas. I mean, some sports games are definitely hollywoodized with "let's just swap some colours, change 2021 to 2022 and charge another $70". On the other hand Bill Wurtz still releases new tunes on YouTube and Ben Levin continues doing... Ben stuff. In movies you can still get quality indie productions like Joel Haver's full movies. My random selection of course, but the point is, there's definitely indie stuff available if you want it.
      • xvilka 5y ago
        There are some jewels in the category of the short movies. For example, some films, even mini-series from the DUST channel on YouTube.
    • dgb23 5y ago
      I mean there’s indie games that are works of art just like there are indie movies for the lack of a better term. Similarly there are plenty of popcorn games with big budgets and shallow content.
• a257 5y ago
  > Basically what this means is they are teaching people really sht lessons now, and if this sort of thing continues for too long, it's going to produce an entire generation of shtty people. Out of curiosity, how much influence do movies/tv shows have in shaping society? Could it be that the seemingly casual link between movies and culture be opposite? Or, in other words: B (bad movies) = "this sort of thing continues for too long" S (shtty people) = "produce an entire generation of shtty people" B -> S is claimed in the video, is !B || S always true? Could it be B <- S instead? B <-> S?
  • makeitdouble 5y ago
    I’d see this as an already well established field we call either “propaganda” or “advertisement. No need to go real deep, with a “follow the money” approach, the amounts that are spent im product placement and effort to shape narratives through work of art speak for themselves.
    • throwmeariver1 5y ago
      This gets pondered everywhere but product placement was worse in the beginning of television like the "The Colgate Comedy Hour" and it's abbreviations from Coke etc. or the characters from sponsors directly integrated into the plot of a tv show. Imagine your favorite character going into the kitchen making a coffee and the coffee salesperson comes in and makes a 5-minute pitch. You can say about modern advertisement what you want but it was way more subliminal in the beginning.
      • makeitdouble 5y ago
        I hear you. France had to pass rulings limiting the frequency you can say a product name on tv. Advertisement and propaganda have always been the bread and butter of tvs (and to a lesser extent movies). The whole industry grew leaps and bounds during the last century, yet people still dismiss it as low brow, or only care about images/narratives influence when it’s children looking at boobs or games that are supposed to be too violent. On getting better or worse, I think it got more sophisticated as the reach increased and the market for attention became more competitive. All in all I don’t think the core of it changes much, the army is still heavily supporting war movies and games to the same extent for instance, the landscape just got more diverse making it less prominent.
• WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
• t0bia_s 5y ago
  I don't mind that modern films are flat end empty, because then I have more time for watch tons of good old films and I do not have regrets that I miss something. Last week I saw "Three colours" from Kieślowski. Absolutely amazing trilogy about liberté, égalité, fraternité.
  • justinator 5y ago
    Good pick- it’s to the point that I try to express my love of these movies and I just start sobbing. At once because of how beautiful these films are and also that I fear an audience for them no longer exist in a world where movies = The MCU.
  • JKCalhoun 5y ago
    Recently put on and enjoyed Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria." I think I only saw one of the "color" films. (Was so depressing.)
• noduerme 5y ago
  I kind of appreciate the gamer-style review of Mulan, just, like, not having as much difficulty or leveling up in the live-action version. Putting it in that way makes a meaningful point and is something that can actually be fixed. What can't be fixed, unfortunately, is Disney's enslavement to China. The classic Disney narrative was at one time was aimed at selling the American Dream. Which, bullshit as it may have turned out for most pepole, at least vaunted (can you use that as a verb?) the advancement of the underdog and, like, bootstrapping peasants or immigrants into responsible leadership by their talents. (It was a Universal film, but "An American Tail" was the only movie my parents took us to see TWICE in the theater when I was a kid). I think you could trace the decline in meaningful storytelling to a political posture in China that is deeply at odds with anything that smacks of peasant uprisings, or power to the people, which in spite of its corporate undertones in production Hollywood writers actually used to somewhat be allowed to champion. Remember that even though these are huge multinational corporations, most actual screenwriters were for all functional purposes extreme liberals or communists up until they were killed and replaced with regurgitating AI bots in the mid-2000s.
  • bawolff 5y ago
    > I think you could trace the decline in meaningful storytelling to a political posture in China that is deeply at odds with anything that smacks of peasant uprisings, or power to the people The first disney mulan is a story about a girl who overcame discrimination and gender roles to come into a position of great honour to the state. Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising.
    • noduerme 5y ago
      >> Propping up the state is basically the opposite of a peasent uprising. True, and fair. I didn't mean to cast Disney as some kind of revolutionary force for anti-authoritarianism at any point in its history. But the Joan of Arc myth means different things to different people, and it's inherently dangerous to the status quo even if it's used for the glory of the state. Such a legend could not be told now in China, because there's too much room for subversion in the individual's self-empowerment.
• BoppreH 5y ago
  Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase, speech patterns, or novel vocabulary choices when the audience is struggling to understand even the most basic, predictable sentences. [1] https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it/ https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-ha... Edit: for people mentioning audio mixing and stereo, that's only part of the problem. Even with my (admittedly cheap) 5.1 setup, I sometimes miss most of the dialogue in some scenes. I think the change from theatrical to more realistic enunciation is also to blame.
  • civilized 5y ago
    This was perfectly satirized a decade ago https://www.mrlovenstein.com/comic/87 https://www.mrlovenstein.com/comic/87 ...and still hasn't been fixed.
  • jerome-jh 5y ago
    Gameplay and enunciation look quite standardized in modern movies. I remember a quote from a vietnamese director who said he cannot stand movies where you do not see people breath. Look at blockbusters: you never see people breath. When you do see them breath it is very much overplayed.
    • sandworm101 5y ago
      Female characters get to breath. Look at marvel movies. Black Widow and Scarlet Witch are seen pausing and breathing, mostly breathing in, but that is more for male gaze than anything else. In the pauses of fight scenes they are mouth agape, almost panting as the male characters stand like stones.
  • cvuls 5y ago
    I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue
• zabzonk 5y ago
  I've often thought that the look of 1950s films (and of other decades, I guess) was the result of a reinforcing positive feedback loop between film (and TV) and society. If this is the case, what enables us to break out of the loop? PS I really like The Drinker.
• yakubin 5y ago
  Another aspect which is often neglected in movies of today is character development. A character's backstory is either completely unknown, or is told instead of being shown, or is shown in a couple seconds, and then something happens to them that was aimed to supposedly instil some emotions in me as a viewer, but no, I don't care about this character. If they die, I guess they will be replaced by another character I don't care about. Example of this chasm between the old and the new is Moffat-era Doctor Who vs post-Moffat Doctor Who. This YouTube review shows it best: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMbZkR9vOrw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMbZkR9vOrw> Also, romantic scenes all look the same, completely generic. They're basically copy-pasted between movies. They're so flat and devoid of any genuine feeling I end up hitting the right arrow to skip them entirely. Usually I don't have those issues with older movies (and movies of a couple selected directors still making good movies to this day).
• ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  This just doesn't ring true to me, at all. Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days", 'kids today', 'civilization is doomed' content aimed at young males? Or is that just a natural cycle that repeats throughout history? The biggest film in history was "Birth of a Nation" until it was replaced by "Gone with the Wind", "Star Wars" may have been a rebellion against a vaguely Nazi empire, but it was still about hereditary rulers that are related to each other starting wars. Overall, the trajectory seems fairly positive. The good old days were pretty crappy and that was reflected in their books, films and songs. Though I suppose if you're young enough that Mulan 1998 is a classic film from the good old days you might simply be ignorant of a lot of the crazy shit that went on. Look up parents re-watching films from their youth with their children, to realise, horrified, what passed as entertainment in their youth that is now shocking to them and stuff they don't want their kids to emulate or look up to.
  • EamonnMR 5y ago
    > hereditary rulers that are related to each other starting wars Star Wars (New Hope) is nothing of the sort. The universe just got progressively smaller as they retconned every character into being related to every other character.
    • ZeroGravitas 5y ago
      I meant that as general dig at "princesses" in film and history, not the specific weird Star Wars geneaology. Star Wars is basically old War Movies, Flash Gordon serials and Errol Flynn swashbuckling movies spliced together, as such it draws on the long history of storytelling that, in turn reflecting their own 'good old days', often revolves around the beautiful and genetically superior children of heriditary dictators who murdererd their way into power and how they deserve to be the rightful ruler and basically owner of the populace. This is not a good lesson and is exactly the kind of thing Terry Pratchett satirizes with Lance Constable Carrot Ironfoundersson in Discworld, or George RR Martin in Game of Thrones.
  • JanneVee 5y ago
    Nostalgia that is the most natural thing in the world is defined as 'fascist' now?
• dustingetz 5y ago
  the english second language market is several times larger than the english market, so mega franchises like Marvel really need to keep it simple. a lesson for entrepreneurs as well.
  • Strawhorse 5y ago
    These foreign cinemas have their own industries. Plus, Marvel as an entity has been around for years before they started making those crap movies. It's just hollywood kowtowing to other countries for more money.
  • jeltz 5y ago
    There is no need to keep it simple for our sake, we can follow complex dialogue just fine using subtitles.
• smallerfish 5y ago
  Ehh, I think he's asking movies to do too much. It's not the responsibility of hollywood to teach cultural mores. I do think blockbuster movies are (perhaps) increasingly just glorified cartoons, though, and Marvel/Disney are probably significantly to blame. Is fighting _really_ that interesting? Does the wire pull _have_ to be used in every fight? Why are big dumb CGI animals so popular? Why does every small CGI animal make the same wuk wuk wuk noise? Why does every large CGI animal snort like a buffalo?
• 999900000999 5y ago
  What a great video! On Star Wars in particular, in the original trilogy, it's about coming from nothing, and overcoming your challenges. Luke fails, he makes numerous mistakes throughout the series. Ray never makes any mistakes, in fact in Episode 9 she clearly kills Chewbacca, but 30 seconds later they backtrack that decision. The new Star Wars movies are absolutely god awful, except for Episode 8. I liked it for a fairly unique reason. Back when I lived in LA I basically went out with this girl who knew she was a model and I wasted a ton of time and money on her. When I moved to Chicago, I met a dorky awkward girl, who became my first real girlfriend. This is priceless dating advice, go for that dorky awkward girl that actually likes you. Of course this really pissed a lot of people off, so they basically got rid of that story arc for the last movie. Looking at the entire series, I really think someone at Disney got uncomfortable with interracial dating, and thus Finn ends up making no sense as his two previous love arcs need to be eliminated by the last movie. This is understandable because even in America I've met people who are very uncomfortable with it, and Disney needs to distribute these movies to a global audience. That might actually be the root of the problem, you have to make a movie that goes out of its way to keep everybody comfortable. In various countries showing LGBT plotlines are a big no-no, so you have reports coming out of Disney that they've cut these at the last moment from various movies. The moment you have to make a movie that's okay for every single person, you end up creating these devoid visual spectacles. As in, most action movies are just a bunch of explosions and music. You can replace all the dialogue with gibberish and still get the idea of what happened. I was trying to watch Free Guy and had to turn it off 10 minutes in. Stop with the freaking music for a second and let people speak. However, other countries are still making real movies. I think a big part of the Korean wave is you don't have as much pandering to every single possible audience in K-pop dramas. Even then, I've had friends post that the subtitles are often toned down. Edit: Language Reactor is a great Chrome plugin which offers alternative subtitles as well as context. It's a great tool for language learning as well I can't imagine ever going to a movie theater again, congratulations Disney You've ruined cinema. Maybe I'll put one of these mediocre movies on in the background while I do other things, but they're not worthy of my undivided attention.
  • micromacrofoot 5y ago
    yeah I think the bright side is that foreign film can shine now; it's amazing how korea has been entering the american zeitgeist regularly now, that’s no small feat
• durnygbur 5y ago
  I'd rather announce the end of American cinematography. It's entirely product placement pulp, preceded by numerous ads when displayed in cinema or the internet, and any form of sharing them on the internet oftentimes implies a vicious strike of copyright predators. Shut down this industry already.
• Gatsky 5y ago
  I disagree that one learns anything important from a (non-documentary) movie. Movies are an experiential but non-interactive art form that resists internalisation. At best they make you feel a certain way for a short while, in my experience.
  • Strawhorse 5y ago
    Movies (non-documentary) can moot and champion whole ideologies, psychologies, and philosophies, for example Fight Club (nihilism), Logan's Run (progressivism, anti-establishmentism), Lost in Translation (existentialism, contemporary anomie), Magnolia (existentialism, fugue) etc. I suggest you broaden your viewing.
    • Gatsky 5y ago
      My viewing is pretty broad, I’ve seen these movies except Magnolia. What you are describing is the placing of a movie in a cultural context. This is criticism, not learning on an individual level. For example, take Mulan. I can generate a feminist counter-critique that the new Mulan is in fact better because women are born with special qualities men don’t have, and often are superior when given equal opportunities. This isn’t a lesson the movie teaches however, it’s academic bloviating. I mean I think actual existentialist philosophers would laugh if you tried to tell them that Lost in Translation is an existentialist movie. Also I think you mean ennui not anomie.
      • Strawhorse 5y ago
        I think we were doing well until you brought in some pap like Mulan.
        • Gatsky 5y ago
          That’s the example in the original video.
• Joeboy 5y ago
  I think I agree with the thrust of the video. My caveats would be: 1) When anybody dunks on "modern movies", they mean "modern movies with $>100m marketing budgets". Which is actually a small minority of modern movies. 2) The messaging has changed, but movies have always had terrible messaging in them. Edit: Maybe it's a bad idea to say this out loud, but when you get protagonists who are "just born preternaturally awesome", they're generally female, right? I'm not sure the same trend applies for male protagonists.
  • moltke 5y ago
    That's an underrated comment, there are tons of good indie movies.
  • Eddy_Viscosity2 5y ago
    There are also lots of modern movies sub-$100M budget that suck spectacularly. Many of them star Bruce Willis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd1eNS9HtXo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd1eNS9HtXo
  • karpierz 5y ago
    > Edit: Maybe it's a bad idea to say this out loud, but when you get protagonists who are "just born preternaturally awesome", they're generally female, right? I'm not sure the same trend applies for male protagonists. I think this is a bit of selective memory ala: https://xkcd.com/385/ https://xkcd.com/385/ Did you have particular movies in mind with this? The whole Marvel universe is riddled with male protagonists who are simply better than other people. That's the whole schtick that the Watchmen criticises.
    • Joeboy 5y ago
      Surely the whole point of Watchmen was that superheros aren't better than other people. For the last couple of decades cinema's been reinventing (male) superheroes as "complex characters" with flaws, moral weaknesses and questionable motivations. Like you say, maybe I'm remembering selectively but I think that's less the case for Black Widow, Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman than it is for Iron Man, Superman or Batman. Can you imagine Marvel greenlighting a female-led equivalent of Logan? For what it's worth, I now regret saying anything, and will try to restrain myself from saying anything else.
• dudul 5y ago
  As far as I'm concerned we could stop making movies right now (or 10 years ago really). We would still have enough great movies to watch for several life times. As a side note, I strongly recommend checking out Drinker's books - published under his real name Will Jordan. While I was skeptical at first, I have to say I really enjoyed them.
• causality0 5y ago
  A lack of moral subtlety is also hurting modern productions. I nearly cringed out of my skin when Peacemaker and Resident Alien managed to have blunt anti-anti-masker scenes in the same week. I really don't need to see my own opinions fed back to me out of a baby food jar.
  • y3sh 5y ago
    How about the speech at the end of Falcon and Winter Soldier?
    • causality0 5y ago
      I'm pretty sure I had that blocked out in mental self-defense.
• blippage 5y ago
  One thing I've noticed is that is seems more recent movies lack character observations. Everything is done is in service of the plot. I think it was in Doctor No there was a conversation between Q, M and Bond. Bond's favourite weapon was the Beretta, and Q explained their downsides. Bond was ordered to use the Walther (IIRC) as a replacement. It was in a box. At the end of the scene, Bond picks up the box, surreptitiously hiding the Beretta underneath. As he is about to walk out, M, continuing with his writing and without looking up, says to Bond, "Oh and Bond, leave the Beretta behind on your way out." (Or something like that). It's a small scene, but it tells you a lot about the characters. It just adds to storytelling, even though it isn't a key scene. Another example is the difference between the original Robocop and the remake. In the original, the villain Boddicker is hailed into the police station. Battered and bruised, he spits blood on some paperwork on a desk and says "Just give me my fucking phone call." How badass is that? The villains in the remake were much less interesting, and it made for a weaker movie. I guess modern screenwriters /could/ write decent if they wanted to, but I assume that gunning for a 13 certificate really neuters the possibilities. I also suspect that there is more influence by the producers, who insist that certain things need to be in certain ways "for the demographics". So what you end up with is a story that's bent to suit the demographics, rather than just telling a good story.
  • IgorPartola 5y ago
    Are you sure you aren’t just remembering fondly movies you saw when you were younger? Both those scenes are huge tropes/clichés.
    • User23 5y ago
      Tropes are not bad[1]. [1] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TropesAreTools?from=Administrivia.TropesAreNotBad https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Administrivia/TropesA...
    • ballenf 5y ago
      There was a lot of trope in those movies, but I think we'll look back at today's bad movies as 99% trope. It's just we don't see the tropes so clearly right now without a little distance.
• gyozapump 5y ago
  I suspect younger people generally understand this and watch streaming shows instead. A creative who wants to tell a deep nuanced story would prefer 10 episodes where they get more time and probably better terms. People lamenting the death of movies don't get this. The good stuff is still out there, it's just in a different format. Movies are now more occasions to go out to the theatre. They have to be mass appeal, family friendly, nothing too complex.
  • moltke 5y ago
    Shows are not movies and streaming even more so.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• netcan 5y ago
  Fun rant. IMO, much of what The Drinker describes is just plain old bad writing, but currently it's a lame writing in the style or George RR Martin or whatever is modern. It's not the style that sucks, it's the writing. GRRM makes for an easy example. He wrote the novels for GoT's wonderful early seasons. Other people wrote the later seasons. We can compare. Both told morally ambiguous stories that played with fantasy motifs, but with the confusing twist. The handsome knight is a villain. The good lord gets killed. etc. This is the style of both early and late seasons, the late seasons just suck. In GRRM's writing, you follow characters make fucked up, horrible and evil decisions... but motivations make sense. You understand why." In late seasons, that breaks down. I believe a good writer could have hit all the "Rey Skywalker" identity waypoints and tied it into a story that doesn't* suck. The sucky writers could have written a simple, New Hope style hero's journey where Rey overcomes internal and external obstacles... and that story could have still sucked. Fiction writing can have almost any moral take. Confusion, nihilism, certainty. The world can be just, the characters immoral. The world can be cruel, the heros can be moral. In short, it's totally possible to take the lamest of moral positions and write a great story around it. Possible, but not guaranteed. Look at Ayn Rand.
  • y3sh 5y ago
    I like that the drinker doesn't criticize without offering how to fix it, e.g. the drinker fixes Rey Skywalker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5BL6d7MOMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5BL6d7MOMY
• smitty1e 5y ago
  Art has to bespeak truth to be worthy of the name. Postmodernism scuttles truth, prepending a grade of 'F' to the word 'art'.
  • hackerfromthefu 5y ago
    And lately adds ridiculous over pc-ness to become phart!
  • kwinten 5y ago
    Cringe
• seanhandley 5y ago
  I worked for a while with a guy who'd worked at the BBC for many years. His reasoning for why movies are more boring was simple: money. A production team is looking to distribute their movie in as many channels as possible, and with the broadest appeal possible. As a result, you see a film made with the broad strokes but lacking in subtlety. If a film might be challenging because of the subject matter, the complexity of the dialogue, the character development, or the plot then it gets dialled back. You lose the specific cultural references that give a film it's charm and it ends up not really being a true reflection of any people anywhere - just easy Friday night cinema fodder that maximises return on investment. A movie sucks because it isn't art any more.
  • cle 5y ago
    Money has always been there, I think it’s really more about connectedness. Audience sizes have exploded as population has grown and cultures have become more connected due to globalization and the Internet, so the TAM has exploded and led to the watering down of…everything, from movies to games to news & politics.
    • JKCalhoun 5y ago
      Too bad then, because if the audience has exploded then so too have the niche audience that would appreciate a film about, say, John von Neumann (ha ha, just to pick someone I just read an article about from HN).
      • nebula8804 5y ago
        I think this audience is there but they are watching these films on Netflix. I observed this phenomenon from 2019 to today when I got a monthly AMC movie pass that allows me to watch any three movies a week every week. What I observed even pre pandemic is that any film that is not a major established blockbuster (Superhero films, James bond, etc.) has little to no people coming out to see them. I further tried to understand this trend by writing a data collecting tool that leverages AMC's API to better understand who is coming out. It showed me that there are tons of empty screens for many smaller films going on. Finally to help control to see if this is a AMC thing, I also signed up for Cinemark(a competitor) and observed basically the same results. It sucks because this harms directors I actually want to see succeed like Edgar Wright. Edgar is a big proponent of watching movies on the big screen so he designs his films to be primarily viewed on cinema screens and pushes for the longest release window he can get. Unfortunately, outside the cities, I observed little uptake for his latest film. :/
• MontyCarloHall 5y ago
  How much of “why modern X sucks” is attributable to survivorship bias? There were plenty of horrible movies/music/art/etc. made in years past; today, we only watch and remember the ones that were good enough to survive the test of time.
  • the_doctah 5y ago
    OK, but those weren't the ones setting box office records either. The new Star Wars were terrible, still made truckloads of money, and will also be remembered 50 years from now, just because of the franchise.
  • aliswe 5y ago
    To be honest the author makes a pretty solid case (albeit opinionated) spanning over multiple clips - its not possible to use survivorship bias against most of his arguments IMO.
  • hwers 5y ago
    This argument doesn't really hold up if you look at e.g. the year 1999 compared to pretty much any year in say the last decade. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40538583 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40538583. Choose any year and pick the 'survivors' of that year (the top 10 or so movies) and will you really argue that those are better than that list?
  • ekianjo 5y ago
    most good movies of this decade still suck compared to good movies 20 or 30 years ago.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• lordnacho 5y ago
  For me the noticeable thing about modern movies is the pace. It's like something must happen all the time, if there isn't something moving or someone talking, it isn't a modern movie. I feel like been conditioned to not be able to watch older movies anymore, my brain is just like "huh why isn't something happening?".
  • Strawhorse 5y ago
    Juxtapose this with a movie like Lost in Translation, where as much of the progression comes from just observing characters and actions as comes from dialogue and interaction. That movie was a modern masterpiece and spits in the face of most Hollywood junk.
  • Krasnol 5y ago
    Those cuts! I know I grow older and my brain probably has some issues with that too but my god, there are too many cuts. Even in (US made) documentaries they introduce this artificially creating fast pace where there is none. I got a headache from watching Star Trek Discovery which pretty much was peak madness.
  • JKCalhoun 5y ago
    There was this film called "2001: A Space Odyssey". You won't be able to stand it.
    • vidanay 5y ago
      The Gods Must Be Crazy has even less.
      • mcphage 5y ago
        I love that movie, it’s just wonderful.
      • toast0 5y ago
        I watched the Gods Must Be Crazy recently... I don't recall any long drawn out scenes with no dialogue? But maybe I took a micronap.
• throwaway4220 5y ago
  off topic but is there a tool that just lets me read a YouTube videos transcript?
  • jdougan 5y ago
    Yes. Youtube Comment Search and youtube-dl (and others) can do so. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30566470 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30566470
  • aembleton 5y ago
    Yes - https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=Dnuqp4_K7ik https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=Dnuqp4_K7ik
• version_five 5y ago
  As another post mentioned, this really only applies to big budget blockbusters. Just to summarize what I've observed: 1. Every movie is basically the "Mattel-Mars Bar quick energy chocobot hour" at this point, basically just an empty ad 2. Studios are currently falling all over themselves to show how ideologically correct they are
  • bendergender 5y ago
    Wait till you hear about the history of shows like Transformers, HeMan, Gundam, etc. Media has more or less been an ad for 50+ years at this point, that's hardly a new phenomena.
  • y3sh 5y ago
    "Ideologically Correct" is the perfect description I've been looking for
• ZYinMD 5y ago
  I have a different problem with the modern movies - modern people have pretty much seen everything, but still ask "show me something I haven't seen before", so movies try their best to create "novelties", and end up with crazy plot twists that make the story worse. But then the novelty wears off quickly as we've seen everything yet again, so movies have to find newer and crazier shit to keep us entertained, and deviate father away from the best stories. Sooner or later we'll run out of stimulus, meanwhile our children are exposed to crazy shit from day 1.
  • TipiKoivisto 5y ago
    I agree 100%. A movie doesn't have to be great, but it should be different. I made a short film and even the people who didn't get/like the jokes said: "At least it was different and not boring." BTW, you can watch the film in https://youtu.be/LkclVXofHbU https://youtu.be/LkclVXofHbU
  • jasperry 5y ago
    I think what you're getting at is that novelty is being sought as a (poor) substitute for real substance. Give me a movie made by someone who has really thought about an aspect of the human condition and explores it from their own point of view, and it will have true originality and keep you riveted, even if the theme has been treated thousands of times. There aren't that many different themes, but they are inexhaustible if treated well. Movies bore us not because of lack of novelty, but because they're just tropes stitched together to fit a formula rather than representing a real creative endeavor.
  • Markoff 5y ago
    I dunno, I watch couple hundreds movies per year for decades and still Manchester by the sea (2016) or Jagten (2012) hit me hard without any crazy plot twists. It also helps to switch away from Hollywood, lot of great Iranian movies for instance.
• hwers 5y ago
  My take is slightly different than what I'm reading here. I think movies is somewhat similar to engineering in a way. There's a ton of brainpower and talent actually required to come up with innovative and striking stories and screenplays etc. And I believe the limited reserve of people with this talent aren't given the fuck you money needed to achieve it. There's basically a talent shortage and the modern culture in Hollywood no longer boosts the innovators to the top as they did in previous decades.
• Bancakes 5y ago
  On the other hand, we have movies you don't need context to watch; don't need to care or emotionally invest - just sit back and passively enjoy the sounds and colors. Like a 3 hour long cigar. We need movies like this because a lot of people have enough drama and action in real life, and need audiovisual media to wind down and stop thinking If I wanted to take a lesson, I could read the plot summary - it's the same information. For a 3 hour movie, I could resume all of Dostoevsky's works.
• cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
  A quick note: this is part of a series of "Why Modern Movies Suck" with different subtitles by the same person.
• tomohawk 5y ago
  There used to be 2 categories: character driven and plot driven. Character driven movies require good writing, which is in short supply. Plot driven movies - you just need a cool plot idea, and then throw in some actors to service the plot. The characters personalities morph to suit whatever the plot demands. With the rise of woke, a different category has experienced a resurgence: ideology driven. It's kind of like plot driven, but instead of characters being malleable in service to some plot, they are malleable in service to woke ideology. This makes the characters unrelatable and inhuman.
• baking 5y ago
  For anyone not familiar with The Critical Drinker's work, this should be considered to be part of an ongoing series: Why Modern Movies Suck - Setup And Payoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmOZgSyQjtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmOZgSyQjtA Why Modern Movies Suck - They're Destroying Our Heroes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-GLeHS0Ik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-GLeHS0Ik Why Modern Movies Suck - The Soft Reboot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyU63LJV3AE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyU63LJV3AE Why Modern Movies Suck - They Teach Us Awful Lessons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnuqp4_K7ik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnuqp4_K7ik You can probably include earlier videos along the same theme, such as: What Happened To Our Villains? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRP7SKzOgk&t=22s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRP7SKzOgk&t=22s
  • AckmanDESU 5y ago
    Because of this comment I went ahead and watched all of these videos as well as some more that were popular. While I agree with some of his points about modern movies I feel like he has a huge issue with cherry picking old classic movies and comparing them against new movies with generally bad reviews. If you ignore good movies just to make a point then you’re not being genuine. If that was my only gripe with his content then I’d probably watch it some more but I’m blocking his channel instead. He tries to come off as an objective reviewer but he’s actually a sexist, antiSJW asshole. He’s basically thunderf00t if al he did was talk about movies. Not every video of his is biased against women and “woke” people but when he does mention the topic you quickly see his real colours. Some of his videos are completely mask off but in most of them it’s just a sentence or two, which is why at first I kept watching just in case. But at this point I can’t tolerate him tbh. I recommend anyone who is a legit fan of his to take a step back and analyze what this guy is saying on his videos and why. If he aligns with your political views that is fine but I can legit see a regular person being sucked into the alt right side of Youtube using this channel as a gateway for it. It starts with a few comments on how woke feminists are ruining movies and you slowly desensitize yourself and start agreeing with this bs.
• newguy999 5y ago
• pharmakom 5y ago
  I find much better content on TV than in movies these days. My favourite format is probably the mini-series, where a self contained story is told properly, with no openings for a second season or franchise opportunity. One of the best and strangest TV shows I have watched is The Leftovers. If you want something different check it out. Season 3 is sublime.
• thanatos519 5y ago
  I watched "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" with my kid recently, and it was still awesome. I'm struggling to recall the last time I watched a 'modern' movie. I have even downloaded some but I always seem to have something better to do with my time. Oh. Come to think of it, it might have been "Star Trek II: The Type Casting of Benedict Cumberbatch".
• benreesman 5y ago
  In general I’ll watch anything the Drinker recommends (I’ll never stop being grateful that’s he got to me to give the Expanse a second try for example). With that said, there are lot of fantastic movies getting made, they’re just not big budget. You could watch nothing but stuff Pattinson (to name a single example) has been in over the last 10 years and have a, uh, good time. I personally think that these days the most effective way to watch great films is to pick actors that are only in stuff you like. Some actors are extremely picky about what they’ll work on, and that’s great.
  • whycome 5y ago
    So, I should give the Expanse a second try? .... My biggest issue these days is that there isn't actual development within the world created. Superman falls for Lois lane, not because of some sort of event or circumstance that we experience on screen, but because they're 'supposed to get together'. Or it's also bad when movies rely on a wider generalized context rather than actually developing something within the world.
    • benreesman 5y ago
      I mean this is obviously very subjective, but to my tastes the Expanse is a must watch. Almost everyone I’ve asked bounced off the first few episodes. The Drinker’s review is a pretty good place to get a sense of whether or not it’s your cup of tea. I have at least one or two friends who had to kind of power through the first 4-6 episodes before abruptly becoming fanatics. It grabbed me on episode 4 and pretty much never let up. It’s got soft episodes like anything, but I don’t think there’s a soft season.
      • darkerside 5y ago
        I was intrigued by the first few episodes, but found myself not caring towards the end of season 1. Is this just not for me?
        • psyc 5y ago
• mikaeluman 5y ago
  Completely agree with this guy. New movies inevitably seem to teach strange lessons that make you uneasy and kind of feel bad when you leave the cinema or turn of the screen. Superhero movies used to be about growth. Yet now it's more often than not the case that the hero was simply born awesome. Completely uninteresting. Politics also creeps into movies in a disconcerted way. Star Wars is suddenly not about defeating totalitarianism and tyranny, but about some strange mix of feminism and animal rights. I think. Batman has to see Batman become a medic rather than do what Batmam does: beat up bad guys. And of course Catwoman must be with the times and complain about the attention paid to "rich white men" when they get horribly assassinated in gruesome ways by a psychopath - as if murdering the mayor such that his now fatherless son finds him should receive equal attention to some drug deal gone wrong. The latest Bond movie of course had to kill Bond. Something that should just never happen. And then we have to watch this extremely annoying supposed new 007 get an insane amount of screen time even though she is a transparent, vapid character.
  • deanCommie 5y ago
    > Star Wars is suddenly not about defeating totalitarianism and tyranny, It's a massive universe and there's been six movies about this theme already. Why retread old themes instead of trying something new? By the way, I am NOT defending the new trilogy - it is absolutely awful, but it's not awful BECAUSE it's about feminism and animal rights (also, it isn't, it's still about totalitarianism and tyranny). > Batman become a medic rather than do what Batmam does: beat up bad guys. Again, there have been anywhere between 9-10 batman movies depending on how you count of him beating up bad guys. Why do you need more? Why not try something new and really interrogate the psychopathy of the character, and the realization he might go through which is that beating up bad guys isn't the best use of time for a billionaire. > Catwoman must be with the times and complain about the attention paid to "rich white men" Did you miss the part where her mother and her best friend were both essentially sex slaves that got choked to death by the italian mafia? If anyone has a case and a grudge against "rich white men", it's probably her. Also, the whole movie, is about how rich corrupt people let the whole city down. I haven't seen the new Bond movie, but if they actually had the balls to kill him, that's tremendous progress. Why are you so resistant to any change?
• eezing 5y ago
  I never thought Star Wars episodes 1-3 were all that terrible. I struggled to make it through the latest batch.
  • hackerfromthefu 5y ago
    Omg Disney completely ruined it - couldn't believe 7 and never going to watch any after that. Ever.
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• ComradePhil 5y ago
  Cry me a river! Why are adults in the west (I'm not talking about 18 year olds or even 30 year olds... I mean proper adults, like 35+) watching superhero movies clearly written and performed for kids? I do understand nostalgia but I really don't think westerners understand the concept of growing up. Like, at some point, it has to be like "Yeah, I enjoyed this so much when I was 6 and I can see why a kid me would love this... but I am 36 now and while the actual content does remind me the great carefree time when I was 6, it no longer appeals to me as a person I am today... because it is so far removed from the things I know and care about that I can't really relate". When a grown ass man excitedly talks about a new kids movie that came out, I really don't know how to react without cringing. It's way too common and I've had to join to not look like an outcast at times and sit through terrible forgettable overdone movies. Please stop.
  • bendergender 5y ago
    Why are people watching things they enjoy? Because they enjoy them. Stop trying to be the arbiter of what other people enjoy. I'm sure you have some tastes in media others would find cringeworthy, but we're all better if we recognize that taste in media is highly personal and we should let people enjoy things.
    • ComradePhil 5y ago
      • bendergender 5y ago
        > Why are adults enjoying things clearly meant for kids? There are many potential reasons. Abnegation, power fantasy, sense pleasure, social cohesion (being able to discuss with your peers what's in the zeitgeist). I could spend a paragraph on each of these and why they are reasonable for adults. Your attitude is narrow minded, and you've resorted to insults to try to make your point on several occasions, rather than having an investigative, curious mind. You've drawn your conclusion before interrogating the details. Academic research into games has identified 8 or nine broad categories of why people play games, and I'm sure there's something similar for movies.
• jsz0 5y ago
  It's probably been 5 years now since I willingly watched a movie. I've been dragged to a few not by preference which I was bored to death by. I don't want to be a Debbie downer or come off as a snob so I try to make reasonable excuses why I won't watch a movie but the truth is I think most of them are stupid as hell as I generally look down on people who waste their time watching lots of TV and movies. There are better things to do with your life.
• threesmegiste 5y ago
  Modern generation wants sucks
• bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  There are various schools of art criticism that argue that the purpose of art is not to teach morality. I've just noticed in the last few years that the teaching of morality through the arts seems to have come back into vogue, with concomitant disciplining of those that are deemed immoral, but the funny thing with moralizers is the absolute certainty with which they believe that the purpose of art is to teach morality, their morality, and that they do not seem to have any awareness when they talk that there may be other viewpoints regarding art.
  • darkerside 5y ago
    I think the purpose of stories as art is to explore morality, not necessarily to teach it. Find the conflicted decisions people are forced to make in extreme circumstances and follow the result. And in the end, we all learn from that together, so maybe there is teaching after all, but not in a prescriptive way.
  • spywaregorilla 5y ago
    I would go as far as to say movies teaching morality are just bad and tiresome when the moral concept is obvious. Art is most interesting, imo, when it takes a position on something that matters or isn't obvious to those not thinking about it. Birdman still stands out to me as an amazing film. It's messages are so specific and consumable, and it had something to say that felt somewhat novel.
• edpichler 5y ago
  Does anyone else feel that you may know why new movies sucks, but you cannot talk about it?
  • spywaregorilla 5y ago
    No?
  • sniglom 5y ago
    Yes.
  • beeboop 5y ago
    I see this problem more with TV than movies
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
• cryptica 5y ago
  The monetary system rewards compliance and unethical conduct so that may be why many modern movies lack creativity and moral lessons. The people who have the money to fund movies don't have the taste nor creativity to choose good scripts to fund.
• YeGoblynQueenne 5y ago
  Don't forget that Anakin Skywalker was special because he carried more midi-chlorians since birth. He is, after all, "The Chosen One". So he, too, is "born that way".
  • cptnapalm 5y ago
    He was gifted at birth, true. However, this hero does fail. In fact, he fails so spectacularly, he becomes the villain.
• dionidium 5y ago
  It's not a coincidence that all the main characters featured in this video are women. The main thing the filmmakers are trying to show is that these are girl-bosses who can do anything men can do (and more) and it's so important to show that with utter, relentless completeness, that they've created characters that are magical, who don't need to overcome anything, characters who matter mostly as individuals, who have no duties or responsibilities to anyone else (most certainly not to any men). They're just total kick-ass take-no-prisoners empowered women. That's why these characters are good at everything from the start. It's why they never struggle. The overriding point that's trying to be conveyed in every scene is that these women kick ass. That's why the modern Mulan can't be shown as weak and later overcoming her physical weaknesses in other ways. No, she cannot be weak -- full stop. If she encounters a much larger man, then she has to kick his ass. Addendum that shouldn't be required, but of course it is: I want to make it totally clear here that of course women leads can be interesting and dynamic and multi-dimensional. If you think I'm saying otherwise, then please don't even bother engaging, because you will have totally missed my point, which is that this particular approach to featuring women is ham-fisted and risible and probably counterproductive, in the end.
  • 30649814 5y ago
    >this particular approach to featuring women is ham-fisted and risible and probably counterproductive, in the end. Counterproductive in what way? I agree with you (and the linked video) that the approach is boring. But I also think it's effective.
  • wolverine876 5y ago
    Men are portrayed this way all the time. Why would portraying women this way get so much attention and concern?
    • smegsicle 5y ago
      showcasing female heroes as displaying exaggerated masculine abilities (in a sexualized female body) is belittling to actual feminine virtues
• spywaregorilla 5y ago
  I liked this video. With the glaring exception of wandavision. Characters in that series are constantly telling her that what she is doing is wrong. There is no ambiguity that it's an evil selfish thing she is doing. It's also unintentional and subconscious because she can't control her powers and frankly she is weak. Her sacrifice is the loss of her children and husband because she recognizes she has to restore freedom to the innocents. This part of the analysis felt extremely unfair.
  • y3sh 5y ago
    In the early part of my journey into Wandavision I had no idea why things were the way they were, what was real, or what was the point of what I was watching. It was very unsettling to not be able to tell what was real, even in my reality, and for that I LOVED IT. The last time that happened to me was probably the first Matrix in theater.
    • spywaregorilla 5y ago
      Yes the beginning was fantastic. Such a shame about the big budget ending.
• zzzbra 5y ago
  first time I’ve actually understand some of the Last Jedi hate
• stiltzkin 5y ago
  ESG funds is the worst that had happened to the American entertaiment industry: https://comicsgate.org/2021/10/30/ethan-van-sciver-is-right-federal-and-state-governments-fund-and-incentive-trillions-of-investments-into-woke-left-wing-corporations-via-esg-funds/ https://comicsgate.org/2021/10/30/ethan-van-sciver-is-right-...
  • jl2718 5y ago
    You’re blowing my mind. “So, it’s all just government money?” “Always has been.” Click.
• Barrin92 5y ago
  Horrible video in my opinion. Essentially the author demands that works of art put on display a particular moral message he agrees with. i.e. that characters need to thrive through hard work, determination, kind of "American Dream - the movie" or something. But art is not in the business of selling didactic moral lessons, enforcing Protestant work ethics or what else have you. Art should primarily stand on artistic merits. Most of the movies in the video fail on that front as well but not because they don't engage in teaching folk morality. Paraphrasing the end of the video: "movies teach sketchy life lessons, like prioritizing one's own happiness over other people's freedom[...]" From an artistic standpoint there is nothing at all wrong with this, in fact putting a character like this into a framing of a hero makes for a significantly more interesting premise than much else I've seen in the cinema.
• Markoff 5y ago
  TLDW crap movies teach us crap lessons I skimmed through the video which it seems to use as example 4-5 crap movies I'd like to see this video using Falling down, American beauty, Fight club, Se7en as examples, the first three among the movies which formed me the most and taught me valuable lessons.
• fmajid 5y ago
  It's mostly because Hollywood is creatively bankrupt and eking out diminishing returns from strip-mining the Star Wars or Marvel universes. The odd thing is, quality video production has become much more affordable with the end of film and rise of mirrorless video cameras and NLE consoles running on commodity PCs. SFX has gone up in price but is not required for every movie, so you would expect an explosion of creativity, not the industry hunkering down around a limited number of franchises and sequels.