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Why Many Feel Even The Recent Past Was Better Than Now
mechapop
webcomic artist/musicianNorthern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
webcomic artist/musicianNorthern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
One of my favorite topics I see theorized in articles is the notion of non-time/hauntology, or the idea of culture and things seemingly standing in place. For instance, in many parts of America the fashion of the general public seems decidedly stuck in this sort of 1998-2001 holding pattern. But increasingly I've seen people express how even the recent "Bush era" past was inherently better than now. While gender equality is at the forefront of discussion and solutions, we're looking at gay marriage legal in the majority of America soon and medical breakthroughs are almost science fiction at this point...I *can* see the argument of why even just a few years ago things maybe felt...more organic.
I myself cannot help but shake the feeling something has changed in the post HD/smart phone/social network/text addiction/instagram/hipster/google-apple world that I'd describe as the post 2010/Obama era(using Bush and Obama only as time markers in the way someone would say Reagan or Wilson era)
It isn't just the loss of video stores. Or arcades. Or the fact hardly anyone talks on the phone and it's all text. Or people's very low attention span online(TL;DR, terse twitter style) Or the fact pretty much everywhere you go everyone's walking and staring at their smart phones. It's everything. I feel as much as people, especially a lot of the college demographic want to believe they are more progressive and inclusive...I've seen a lot of (what I see as) negative things emerge socially.
I sometimes feel even in their good intentioned hashtagtivism, some come off in the same 'privileged' way that they preach against without realizing. I also am bothered by how everything in pop culture is now filtered through this Brooklyn hipster chic meets sterile THX-1138 apple store smart screen sameness. We have "nerd culture", which like electronic music and many other things has completely assimilated into bro/pop culture.
Perhaps the most visible symbol of what's wrong with everything in the post 2010 era is the endless, endless remakes/reboots/sequels/prequels/sidequels...all made into pg-13 blurry edited drek. The recent Robocop and Total Recall remakes are a great example of what I mean by this un-creative sterile environment...the weirdness of films like Labyrinth, Total Recall or even Fifth Element just couldn't happen today.
And why does radio pop music sound not much different than the Britney Spears/Eminem era? Just with more autotune and pop dubstep?
You look at what's happening in San Francisco...one might think so called progressive corporations taking over so much of the bay would be beneficial, when its hurting a lot of working class and minority families.
It's absolutely historical we have a black president, but have things even improved in impoverished inner cities? Or for that matter for working class people in general?
Obviously the list is endless for understandable grievances for today. I remember the richly intelligent and community based era of 2000-2006 era Livejournal as an example of what I feel was the last time things weren't so fast food. And you could meet amazing people and have open thoughts and discussions without everything being a #lulz hashtag twitter post.
At least, it's good to see forums still exist:) And I want to be excited about the future. I just royally feel we're thick in some sort of awkward puberty phase in culture.
I myself cannot help but shake the feeling something has changed in the post HD/smart phone/social network/text addiction/instagram/hipster/google-apple world that I'd describe as the post 2010/Obama era(using Bush and Obama only as time markers in the way someone would say Reagan or Wilson era)
It isn't just the loss of video stores. Or arcades. Or the fact hardly anyone talks on the phone and it's all text. Or people's very low attention span online(TL;DR, terse twitter style) Or the fact pretty much everywhere you go everyone's walking and staring at their smart phones. It's everything. I feel as much as people, especially a lot of the college demographic want to believe they are more progressive and inclusive...I've seen a lot of (what I see as) negative things emerge socially.
I sometimes feel even in their good intentioned hashtagtivism, some come off in the same 'privileged' way that they preach against without realizing. I also am bothered by how everything in pop culture is now filtered through this Brooklyn hipster chic meets sterile THX-1138 apple store smart screen sameness. We have "nerd culture", which like electronic music and many other things has completely assimilated into bro/pop culture.
Perhaps the most visible symbol of what's wrong with everything in the post 2010 era is the endless, endless remakes/reboots/sequels/prequels/sidequels...all made into pg-13 blurry edited drek. The recent Robocop and Total Recall remakes are a great example of what I mean by this un-creative sterile environment...the weirdness of films like Labyrinth, Total Recall or even Fifth Element just couldn't happen today.
And why does radio pop music sound not much different than the Britney Spears/Eminem era? Just with more autotune and pop dubstep?
You look at what's happening in San Francisco...one might think so called progressive corporations taking over so much of the bay would be beneficial, when its hurting a lot of working class and minority families.
It's absolutely historical we have a black president, but have things even improved in impoverished inner cities? Or for that matter for working class people in general?
Obviously the list is endless for understandable grievances for today. I remember the richly intelligent and community based era of 2000-2006 era Livejournal as an example of what I feel was the last time things weren't so fast food. And you could meet amazing people and have open thoughts and discussions without everything being a #lulz hashtag twitter post.
At least, it's good to see forums still exist:) And I want to be excited about the future. I just royally feel we're thick in some sort of awkward puberty phase in culture.
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I think it very much depends on which media circles you travel in and that the main problem is that there's been a very clever subversion of a certain type of outsider image (silicon valley start ups "disrupting" things is just mainstream PR packaging at this point) that is giving that impression.
Culturally, things are a lot more interesting these days: the barriers to entry for things have lowered by an incredible amount. We're getting incredibly well produced indie productions across all sorts of media. If the mainstream seems bland, it's because it's mainstream - the movies you refer to weren't exactly considered that at the time they were made either.
That's an excellent point I didn't highlight. User and super indie created content. Be it DLC games, Vimeo short films, soundcloud/bandcamp bands. Heck I think a lot of my favorite bands these days are unsigned soundcloud acts and as a lover of the SNES era I'm still pleased such a high volume of truly independent created 2d/2d.5 games have been flooding the market.
Which is why despite all this, I don't get why internally I feel so estranged from this era. Where we now can connect to and create the media we always wanted to, and can completely sever ourselves from corporate content.
http://slapzappy.tumblr.com/
We're never in any 'phase' in culture. Things come and go, what was profane becomes valorized, innovations occur and the process repeats. There isn't really any best or worst, more or less interesting, time in culture.
I mean, you're mixing around diverse aspects of our society in the OP, there isn't really unity between all of these things you've mentioned - politics, media, whatever. To use notions like eras or some other unifying concept, I think is somewhat understandable, it feels like it makes things sensible but it probably doesn't really.
You use 'we' a fair bit in your description of how you see things, but who is we? You position we outside of the corporate, but isn't the corporate part of we?
(I don't want to sound dismissive, I just think this is such a diverse and broad area of interest that your language is kind of trying to put in a jar)
Weird and inventive films are being made all the time right now. For one example, just look at the critical darling of this past summer, Richard Linklater's "Boyhood". Regardless of what you think about the film, the filming of the movie took 12 years to do, watching the actors age over a decade. That's pretty freaky. There is no deficit in creativity or invention right now in the present. You mention a Philip K Dick-based movie, Total Recall... well, those movies based on his stories are still being made now (The Adjustment Bureau). And the superlatives that people were espousing for The Fifth Element when that was released are being used today for Guardians of the Galaxy, which is no less inventive or creative for a space opera romp (down to the "Love is the Answer" message at the end).
Movies are a touchstone for the generations that we live through, and we associate strong emotions with the movies we remember. But this doesn't mean that the current movies of today are any less valid or creative than the movies of the past. Every year will have its own forgettable movies and sequels and remakes, but they will also have the movies that inspire and uplift, if not our own generations, then the generations to come. And yes, they will complain about how "movies aren't as good as they used to be" when they grow older, too.
Why would it?
Anyway it could be the case that we are currently in a slump, I don't know and don't have much data. The idea of ever-increasing continuous progress is most likely a fiction. However people are the worst at guessing whether or not they are doing worse or better than the past, as evidenced by the frequently held belief that film now sucks (and props to Hahnsnoo1 for pointing that one out).
And yet, despite 2014 sucking kinda hard, things are getting better all the time and there is no denying it. All we need are better batteries and photovoltaics and we'll suddenly not have to worry about the climate destroying everything before 2100. That will give us enough time for other technologies to develop and make things better and will also hamstring the butthead nations like Russia and the Saudis.
It's because the argument that corporations are the problem was always a lie.
The film industry has absolutely changed for the worse over the last 10 years. The best writing is on TV these days, it's also where the traditionally middle budget films have migrated to. There used to be low budget, middle budget, and blockbusters. Now it's just indies and blockbusters, barring a small number of exceptions.
Music, more than anything else, seems to have become stale in comparison to previous eras in recent history. What musical scene in the 2010s is comparable to the creative bursts of past decades?
It goes way deeper than that, and X-Men was basically leading the charge on the brand new comic book films craze. There was still a lot of other stuff out there, the Young Adult franchise mania didn't hit till around 2010 either.
The "Young Adult" mania has literally been around since the 30s.
Not convinced at all.
I'm not saying they were necessarily better, just that the market wasn't as oversaturated with them. "Shared cinematic universe" is exactly what I'm talking about, they have multiple shows running and a roadmap for 10 more years worth of films with at least one or two films per year.
The YA blockbuster craze is regarding Hunger Games and the litany of other attempts to start huge budgeted franchises based off that market. This has not been happening since the 30's at this scale, I don't even know what you're talking about.
Edit: But more to the point, once again looking at the box office back ten years ago and again last year, I am not impressed at all with one over the other.
you had Harry Potter followed by the Twilight movies and now hunger Games
of course you look back and there's usually one of every type of movie every year since the beginning of time. the newer focus has been on longer series rather than stand alone movies
I'd say there's a mild uptick though in my opinion it's just a different genre for teens being focused on by theaters. Before fantasy movies it was comedy (X Movie, ugh) before which was romcom before which etc.
The fact that comic book films are so successful that they've locked in so many for so many years in advance is unprecedented. The market is oversaturated as in they're fucking everywhere and affecting studios outlook towards the entire industry. YA wise - Twilight, Maze Runner, Fault in Our Stars (not a franchise but massively successful). The success of each of these genres is systemically making the industry become really boring.
But yeah, you don't have to look very far to see multiple examples of Young Adult stand-alones made into movies from the past. See Black Beauty, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlotte's Web, etc. Young Adult books made into movies have been pretty popular. Wikipedia has a good list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_children's_books_made_into_feature_films
There was a whole decade of sequel-itis in the 80s, too. Rocky almost made it into double digits (I exaggerate, of course
Boring for you maybe.
And the explosion of crime movies and westerns and teen comedydramas made other decades just as boring.
Nostalgia is a powerful siren, but it'd be best not to steer into the rocks.
If that doesn't disprove the whole idea that "back then" was a glorious time where only amazing, different, clever, novel movies were being made then I don't know what possibly can.
Isn't part of that though due to having a much larger potential workforce, with jobs no longer simply being split between white men?
But that's a small microcosm of the wider global state of man.
While it's harder to find work in Des Moines, there are people making more money in Dubai than they ever have. Certainly not perfect, nor easy, or without cost, but even so.
Some of the world's oldest writing is a bit of scribbling on a Sumerian column about how kids today have no respect and society is going into the shitter.
The comic book movie genre has never been so varied. Before it was Batman and Superman now we have this
Space opera
Pulp World War II movie
Techno-thriller
"Realistic" Superman being a dick
X-men in the 60's during the Cold War
"Realistic" post-War on Terror Batman
And many, many more. It's wonderful time to be a comic fan.
It's some sort of strange and weak substitute for human interaction, the need to develop a personality or people skills is replaced by tweeting and hashtags, there is no longer a need to describe what an amazing meal you had, or how nice a place was, or what unique thing you experienced when out and about... because you took pictures of all of it, every second of your day has been turned into selfies and empty images. So busy updating your status on twitter, facebook and your blog you forgot to actually do anything worthwhile with your day.
I've come up with an opinion that humans are creatures of indulgence. If a little of something is good, a lot of something is great... even if to get that a lot of something you have to boil it down and drain it of context. It just seems lately that the narcissism and complete unwillingness to self-regulate some behaviors is turning people with interests I share into an anomaly. I don't hate the people for changing with the times, but I am starting to see peoples reliance on technology as an addiction that's widely acceptable.
Personally? I'd rather we went back to when people just drank and smoked but could carry a conversation. Not having 24/7 contact with all of your friends is a healthy thing, and when I see a 9 year old with an iPhone I want to punch their mother in the ovaries, their dad in the testicles and do a touchdown dance after spiking the cell phone.
Edit:
The next time you go to the store, leave your phone in the car or whatever and see how many people return eye contact or a friendly smile or nod. You'll be lucky if even the cashier manages to do so. It's fucking terrifying.
I mean like, the wage within industries is lower than it used to be
in service industries, not manufacturing
assistance for the poor is less substantial in about half the country since the 2010 tea party wave and subsequent demonization of the poor (Which of course isn't the first time that's happened), but the rich poor divide and ability of the American worker to get by has gotten worse in the last few decades while the tax liability of the companies responsible has dropped
I think this is probably a temporary state of affairs, but the US is going to be in a shittier place by the time the winds change
edit: I put a lot of blame on this supreme court, a more citizen friendly court wouldn't have done what they did with CU, gutted the VRA, and would be taking on all these voter ID laws
Because my phone's battery is pretty crappy and I have no time to charge it, I tend to turn it off except for when I'm using it to listen to podcasts on bus rides or I need to make calls.
Literally haven't had a single problem interacting with anyone, nor have I had people unable to carry on a conversation while buried in their phones.
Alt post: It's like when we invented paper and everyone had their noses in paper and had no idea how to carry on with life without reading shit. Man that ruined society allright.
Alt alt post http://xkcd.com/1227/
I'm not trying to be snarky, but this whole post condensed is "Kids these days".
It's not really kids. Teenagers actually seem to still be interested in hanging out with each other, 20 year olds are busy being 20 year olds... it's folks that are the same age I am ( late 20's+) that I notice. Walking by a bunch of people in a hospital who are on the clock as they giggle about this thing on youtube huddled around someones phone instead of... you know, doing fucking medicine is insane.
They don't have thoughts anymore or ideas, they have "Did you see that thing?", "Did you see on facebook?", "Do you want me to friend you?"... die in a fire.
Oh please, they aren't everywhere at all. Top 10 box office for last year includes 2 super hero movies. Four if you reach in to the top 25. 5 if you reach in to the top 100. 5% of movies is not everywhere. And as Dresden rightfully pointed out, "super hero genre" is starting to get broader. The other films you listed also make up a comparably small number.
Still nowhere close to being convinced.
Disillusionment is convenient.
What are we calling it?