the thing is, also... every discussion about Whether The MCU Is Garbage or Is Disney Irredeemably Evil or Has Star Wars Gone On Too Long or Why Does It Feel Like There's Been Just Three Shows On American TV For The Past 3 Decades inevitably ends up at "hey but don't shame people for wanting to have fun and escape the continuous nightmare of late capitalism for 2 hours a night" and like. fair. being effortlessly entertained is a valid desire that deserves to be fulfilled. but the thing is. and I really don't wanna be That Guy but. if you're coming back home from your soul-crushing corporate job into your alienated nuclear household, tired from a busy day of doing some bullshit to make a living, and you feel dead inside, and your idea of escape is to tune into the next installment of something that's not really cinema as much as like, a long serialised commercial for the fast fashion items with the popular character of the month, then I'm sorry bro but you're not really going anywhere. you're not escaping, you're sinking deeper in. and look. it's your god given right to watch schlocky TV and then go read fanfic about it. but if you're wondering why all this dazzling entertainment still leaves you feeling so empty you just wanna scream and scream and scream, then you might actually have an acute case of going too long without consuming any media that has an intent beyond draining your money and time and a formula beyond regurgitating what sold best last year
Oh please, sneer at me some more and tell me which art-house film will fill the void instead because they were only trying to make a couple hundred million with their film instead of a billion!
i think the idea that some art is made to generate revenue for shareholders while other art is made out of conviction and creativity is worth some consideration. i don’t think the point of this post was “everybody who watches marvel movies is a dork,” more like “if all you watch is mass-marketed swill created in lockstep with the united states military and you feel like something is missing in your life, maybe explore other avenues of artistic expression”
thank you @adz for your reading comprehension yes yes yes exactly!! I am a normal goddamn human being. I don't aim to only consume high art because I think I'm so above you all common people. like everybody, I often come home from a hard day's work and I wanna have a laugh or look at two hours of well choreographed violence. I wanna be entertained! but if every new blockbuster feels like I've seen it a thousand times already because same music score same colour scheme same camera work same style of one-liner dialogue same same same, I'm sorry I'm bored! this does not entertain me! it doesn't pass the threshold of holding my attention! feel free to sneer at me for that, @cataclysmosis!
also? I think there's something seriously wrong with the idea that there's *nothing* between the schlockiest action figure commercial cinema and the snobbiest arthouse cinema. there's a whole goddamn world of cinema of every possible genre in there, Jesus Christ on a bike, seriously guys?? look even at what's popular on tumblr, the studio A24 type of horror, the woman-centered period pieces, whatever. that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about! yes their creators want to make money too. nothing wrong with that! as long as they also have anything else to say apart from "open your goddamn wallet"!