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
You're absolutely right about access. There's much I hate about being online, but it's a net good that anyone with an internet connection can explore movies/TV, music, people a world apart, whether they're popular or niche.
My problem is with the inevitable cultural watering down of art that occurs. To your point, yeah, American tweens and teens now enjoy exposure to Kpop . . . but is Kpop really Korean or is it just another version of American/Euro pretty-boy bands? If not, why do Kpop stars get eyelid surgery to look more Euro? Maybe a better example would be a movie like Parasite or Squid Game on Netflix -- not only entertaining but had something specific to say about the class pressures and resentments of Korean culture.
I think the best counter-argument to my post is that art is commercially driven . . . and so what? A huge, huge number of people all over the world seem to be just fine with yet another superhero movie. Maybe I'm just an elite snob LOL.
But isn't that the point? When I was a teen, the idea of an Asian boy being a sex symbol for white Americans was inconceivable. Perhaps it is only possible now because Korean music converged with white music, but the result is a diversity in terms of what is considered attractive. Before, Americans only had access to bland American pop music, now they have bland music from all over the world--the result is an individual expansion of tastes, even if there is a global contraction in diversity.
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 haven’t seen Gallipoli but I love 70s movies. There’s an early Scorsese one, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, that gets overlooked now but was the basis for the tv show Alice. Ellen Burstyn was too kooky for my husband’s taste but I thought the relationship between her and her son was very well done. Plus you get young Harvey Keitel and baby Jodie Foster!
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
You're absolutely right about access. There's much I hate about being online, but it's a net good that anyone with an internet connection can explore movies/TV, music, people a world apart, whether they're popular or niche.
My problem is with the inevitable cultural watering down of art that occurs. To your point, yeah, American tweens and teens now enjoy exposure to Kpop . . . but is Kpop really Korean or is it just another version of American/Euro pretty-boy bands? If not, why do Kpop stars get eyelid surgery to look more Euro? Maybe a better example would be a movie like Parasite or Squid Game on Netflix -- not only entertaining but had something specific to say about the class pressures and resentments of Korean culture.
I think the best counter-argument to my post is that art is commercially driven . . . and so what? A huge, huge number of people all over the world seem to be just fine with yet another superhero movie. Maybe I'm just an elite snob LOL.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/shades-of-gray
But isn't that the point? When I was a teen, the idea of an Asian boy being a sex symbol for white Americans was inconceivable. Perhaps it is only possible now because Korean music converged with white music, but the result is a diversity in terms of what is considered attractive. Before, Americans only had access to bland American pop music, now they have bland music from all over the world--the result is an individual expansion of tastes, even if there is a global contraction in diversity.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/flamme-en-el-lobscurite
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
I haven’t seen Gallipoli but I love 70s movies. There’s an early Scorsese one, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, that gets overlooked now but was the basis for the tv show Alice. Ellen Burstyn was too kooky for my husband’s taste but I thought the relationship between her and her son was very well done. Plus you get young Harvey Keitel and baby Jodie Foster!