I’m from (what used to be) rural Tennessee. All the towns looks the same now. All over, every state that I know of. The cheap box stores (Michaels, a pet store, etc...) get a foothold and in a short time, we’re all ugly buildings with China inside. You have to go way out to find anything with character and then you have to be content to be far from “everything.” I hate it. We just don’t know what is good for us.
I'm not totally convinced by this. It's true that there are a lot of very bland, deliberately censored/globalised blockbuster movies.
But there is also a flourishing of some very weird and niche types of content too. If you want werewolf smut with omega tropes (kindle novels) or in-depth cartoons that deal with generational trauma and mental illness (Bojack Horseman) or thoughtful sci-fi epics (Dune) or weird Korean class movies (Parasite) or zombie post-apocalypse (The Last of Us) or a video game about rebuilding community (Stardew Valley) or a cosy novel about a tea princess (kindle) or an anime about Japanese shape shifting racoons (Pom Poko) ... you can find it!
It's true that there is a flattening of *place* but I think we're actually seeing the opposite in media, where we are nostalgic for specific times and places, and these get evoked in media even as they vanish in the world.
Globalization might result in a worldwide flattening, but from the individual standpoint there is increased diversity. Was there any equivalent in 1973, for instance, to American teenagers' obsession with Kpop and Dramas? People today can actually access the world's diversity. There might be fewer languages, but an individual hears more of them spoken. Fewer genres of music, but you will hear more of them in your life.
Just saying, if intellectual diversity is valuable, then isn't it valuable on an individual level? What profit is diversity if nobody can ever experience all of it
After watching Peter Weir's Gallipoli this weekend, I realized how somewhat older movies tend to have much better narrative arcs than most of the new ones. So i sent out a post today asking for recommendations of great older movies.
I’m from (what used to be) rural Tennessee. All the towns looks the same now. All over, every state that I know of. The cheap box stores (Michaels, a pet store, etc...) get a foothold and in a short time, we’re all ugly buildings with China inside. You have to go way out to find anything with character and then you have to be content to be far from “everything.” I hate it. We just don’t know what is good for us.
I'm not totally convinced by this. It's true that there are a lot of very bland, deliberately censored/globalised blockbuster movies.
But there is also a flourishing of some very weird and niche types of content too. If you want werewolf smut with omega tropes (kindle novels) or in-depth cartoons that deal with generational trauma and mental illness (Bojack Horseman) or thoughtful sci-fi epics (Dune) or weird Korean class movies (Parasite) or zombie post-apocalypse (The Last of Us) or a video game about rebuilding community (Stardew Valley) or a cosy novel about a tea princess (kindle) or an anime about Japanese shape shifting racoons (Pom Poko) ... you can find it!
It's true that there is a flattening of *place* but I think we're actually seeing the opposite in media, where we are nostalgic for specific times and places, and these get evoked in media even as they vanish in the world.
Globalization might result in a worldwide flattening, but from the individual standpoint there is increased diversity. Was there any equivalent in 1973, for instance, to American teenagers' obsession with Kpop and Dramas? People today can actually access the world's diversity. There might be fewer languages, but an individual hears more of them spoken. Fewer genres of music, but you will hear more of them in your life.
Just saying, if intellectual diversity is valuable, then isn't it valuable on an individual level? What profit is diversity if nobody can ever experience all of it
Your post rang a bell with me!
After watching Peter Weir's Gallipoli this weekend, I realized how somewhat older movies tend to have much better narrative arcs than most of the new ones. So i sent out a post today asking for recommendations of great older movies.
https://robertsdavidn.substack.com/p/how-serious-are-you-about-movies
robertsdavidn.substack.com/about