MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Many Of Us Retreat To Art/Entertainment ...

Many Of Us Retreat To Art/Entertainment Because We've Been Burned By Politics

posted a year ago by HarveyManFredSin (4877)
17 replies | jump to latest

So, when political-minded zealots attack pop-culture-obsessed types for 'arrested development', being man or woman-children, and for being petty for complaining about the intrusion of politics into pop culture, they're actually being BULLIES, and forcing their will on the relatively weak, which is what FASCISTS and TYRANTS do.

I have been heavily involved in progressive politics and human rights law, but occasionally I've had to step away, because of the nastiness and skullduggery of some of my colleagues, thus, entertainment/pop culture is an escape from that NONSENSE. Why would ANYONE begrudge that? Weird.

[–] RoboReCop (2882) a year ago

[deleted]

[–] Mustang (5274) a year ago

I am rather Anti Woke and am bored by all the Woke crap that is in TV and films now. It's not even done in a clever way which is even more boring.

So why do they do it? To re-educate and brainwash. These are the classic tools of the Socialist.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Enjoying entertainment. Tough to do these days. Storylines are weak. Too much correctness infused with political ideology.
Sad to think all the great shows have passed. All the great books written. All the great songs composed. All the great movies filmed.
This is why things are written the way that they're written today. How many original premises are left? It appears that we have exhausted our creative ideas.
Animation. Futuristic. Dragons and swords rule the times. Fantasy. A video game without pushing any buttons.
And the dialogue. What gripping statement lately had you dropping your jaw in profoundness?
It's been written. Over and over again. And, the dialogue matches the times.
Today's words will be used in current projects and productions.
That won't change.
60's - cool man. Gotta daddy O'. Peace baby.

I use to hate watching movies and repeat TV shows twice. Not anymore.
I prefer it.

[–] Mustang (5274) a year ago

Yep in some TV shows the characters just spout political speeches that have nothing to do with the flimsy premise and/or wear t shirts with political slogans on them. They don't even do it in a clever way it's just a blunt delivery.

One of my all time fave films is Excalibur (1981) it's about Merlin and King Arthur, you just couldn't make that anymore without making Lancelot or Arthur himself black or Asian, there would have to be some LGBTIQ reference. All in Dark Ages England within a very English story! I don't care if it is fictional it just detracts from the setting of the movie.

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves is similar everyone picks on Costner's accent but Christian Slater sounds like he is ordering hot dogs at a New York baseball game. Different reasoning on casting but the point is these things take from the story.

I mostly watch old films and TV shows too.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Loved Excalibur 1981.
Around that time, me and my girlfriend went to see Mountain Men in the theater. I thought that or hoped that, it was going to be like Jeremiah Johnson. The Native American chick in the film blurted out her lines with an English accent. We walked out! It was a horrible movie! We laughed and joked about losing $12 bucks. Some things just don't work...

[–] Mustang (5274) a year ago

Yep, when the Woke ones hear comments like the ones we have been making they instantly cry "Racist!" but what we are really saying is we want some authenticity. You can only suspend disbelief to a certain point and Indians with English accents in the frontier lands isn't very likely.

[–] Skavau (11266) a year ago

>Sad to think all the great shows have passed. All the great books written. All the great songs composed. All the great movies filmed.This is why things are written the way that they're written today. How many original premises are left? It appears that we have exhausted our creative ideas.

This is easily regarded as a golden age of original TV dramatic content because of high budgets, accessibility, international content and much more niche programming.

>And the dialogue. What gripping statement lately had you dropping your jaw in profoundness?

How can one provide an example here without providing context of the overall series?

Spoilers, Black Sails (obviously): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YmeLQIH2VI&t=119s

Spoilers, Mr. Robot (obviously): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkFZYf2W-ag&t=212s

Not dialogue, but an amazing scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3lT-ch63dA

>60's - cool man. Gotta daddy O'. Peace baby.

TV in the 1960s was pretty much just sitcoms, westerns and war romps. And it was all American.

And music was very different to what it is now. There was no metal, no punk, many pop and rock subgenres hadn't emerged, no electronic music, no hip hop, no industrial. It's very narrow to assume all that one would need is music that had developed in the 1960s.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

I made a generalized observation based on personal taste.
There are many groups or bands I enjoy today. Should I say songs instead.
By comparison an album from the 60-90's had 4-5 tracks that stood out. Many today make one song that is unique and that's it. I'm a fan of Adult Aternative these days. And many of the songs I do like are usually obscure or not that popular.
Almost every song by The Beatles and Stones was good. I love Pink Floyd but there are a few songs less appealing to my ears that they have recorded.
Your knowledge is wide and vast. But I'm having a hard time believing you actually enjoy everything that you've written about. Music and shows.
TV sucks in my humble opinion. The movies today are limited as well, still opinion.
If you do enjoy everything that you wrote, right on...but, you typed a lot of shows that are garbage to me. Just opinion and personal taste. I guess I'm not as diverse as these earth-shattering shows that you mentioned.
Cops. Doctors. Lawyers. Carbon copy sit-coms and reality TV...done to death!

[–] Skavau (11266) a year ago

>By comparison an album from the 60-90's had 4-5 tracks that stood out. Many today make one song that is unique and that's it. I'm a fan of Adult Aternative these days. And many of the songs I do like are usually obscure or not that popular.

This very much depends on the band. Most music I listen to is also obscure.

>TV sucks in my humble opinion. The movies today are limited as well, still opinion.

TV has never been as diverse and well produced as it is now in dramatic content. And I do not mean "diverse" in the sense of racial or sexual diversity. From the last 8 years:

The Expanse, Better Call Saul, Succession, Barry, Yellowjackets, Black Sails, Mr. Robot, Dark, Stranger Things, Severance, Babylon Berlin, Chernobyl, The Boys, The Mandalorian, Westworld, Money Heist, The Queen's Gambit, Narcos, Ozark, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Mindhunter, Ted Lasso, The Handmaids Tale, The Crown, Big Little Lies, Euphoria, Cobra Kai, Mare of Easttown, Altered Carbon, Yellowstone, Fleabag, The Night Of, Taboo, After Life, Dahmer: Monster, Reacher, Andor, When They See Us, Killing Eve, Only Murders in the Building, Unbelievable, The OA, The Morning Show, Sharp Objects, Billions, American Crime Story, The Night Manager, 1883, The Bear, Unorthodox, Maid, Narcos: Mexico, What We Do in the Shadows, Atlanta, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Black Bird, Paranormal, Extraordinary Attorney-Woo, Godless, Beef, Dopesick, Travelers, Kingdom (Korea), The Terror, The Young Pope, Devs, Humans, Slow Horses, Sneaky Pete, Poldark, 1923, Station Eleven, Years and Years, The Offer, Tokyo Vice, The Exorcist, Warrior, Undercover (My Name), I May Destroy You, Perry Mason, Trapped, The English

I can keep going. These are all well rated TV shows (some not American) from across the genre spectrum.

>Cops. Doctors. Lawyers. Carbon copy sit-coms and reality TV...done to death!

I'm not talking about cop shows or doctor shows, or reality TV.

And sitcoms have been dying now for about a decade.

[–] Skavau (11266) a year ago

TV has never been as diverse and well produced as it is now in dramatic content. And I do not mean "diverse" in the sense of racial or sexual diversity. From the last 8 years:

The Expanse, Better Call Saul, Succession, Barry, Yellowjackets, Black Sails, Mr. Robot, Dark, Stranger Things, Severance, Babylon Berlin, Chernobyl, The Boys, The Mandalorian, Westworld, Money Heist, The Queen's Gambit, Narcos, Ozark, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Mindhunter, Ted Lasso, The Handmaids Tale, The Crown, Big Little Lies, Euphoria, Cobra Kai, Mare of Easttown, Altered Carbon, Yellowstone, Fleabag, The Night Of, Taboo, After Life, Dahmer: Monster, Reacher, Andor, When They See Us, Killing Eve, Only Murders in the Building, Unbelievable, The OA, The Morning Show, Sharp Objects, Billions, American Crime Story, The Night Manager, 1883, The Bear, Unorthodox, Maid, Narcos: Mexico, What We Do in the Shadows, Atlanta, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Black Bird, Paranormal, Extraordinary Attorney-Woo, Godless, Beef, Dopesick, Travelers, Kingdom (Korea), The Terror, The Young Pope, Devs, Humans, Slow Horses, Sneaky Pete, Poldark, 1923, Station Eleven, Years and Years, The Offer, Tokyo Vice, The Exorcist, Warrior, Undercover (My Name), I May Destroy You, Perry Mason, Trapped, The English

I can keep going. These are all well rated TV shows (some not American) from across the genre spectrum.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20766) a year ago

Why don’t you try only talking about movies here and leave politics out of it?

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

The irony is, I'm trying to take the politics *out* of the movies, but it seems to be unavoidable right now.

So, if anything, my thread is *anti-politics*.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20766) a year ago

There are enough great films out there made before this current era of “politically motivated” movies to last a lifetime. One great thing about the present is that with streaming, these older films are more accessible than ever.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

I'm mostly watching films from 1981 right now, and I'll soon move onto 1982.

Also, my complaint wasn't about modern movies per se. My complaint was about the type of people who bully others for questioning political content, or preferring films that allow them to *escape*. It's the attitudes I object to; not the content per se.

[–] Kowalski (63817) a year ago

POLITICS

[–] jriley555 (7239) a year ago

A political thread bemoaning politics. OK. I can sort of see it, because it does bear upon movies thematically, or in the social context of the characters, their interactions.

Here's the problem. People don't see eye to eye on lots of things, and lots of aspects of modern life might strike another as contrived or preachy. OTOH, satisfying THOSE people would mean suppressing the views of the others. I definitely see both sides of it, am both irritated by ham-handed 'lessons' along with those who think coloring even slightly outside the lines is the worst sort of imposition.

I think just about everyone would agree that our culture has gotten vastly more vulgar & base than, at least, the time of my youth - certainly. Much less class. But perhaps even that is a popular mandate - perhaps the vulgar outnumber us, and vote with their eyeballs for dreck.

Its not like there isn't quality out there- you just just to look for it. Most of the 'woke' stuff comes from low-brow boilerplate projects anyway. conceived/produced/written by mediocrities.

I do not admire the broad sweep of American culture, nor have any faith, on long experience, in its warp given the materialist capitalistic drive of it, which seems mainly exploitative/reductive - but I do admire the freedom remaining to speak our own peace, those expressing it more to our liking. Quality & taste are minoritarian virtues.

[–] Luffy (850) a year ago

Art meant for consumption just fills the coffers of the rich. Going to sports games is meant for the working people to take their minds off their professional lives. What it does more is make the rich richer. If the Colosseum back in Roman times charged their subjects a fortune to get a seat, made uninteresting and cynical spectacles that were introduced by a small number of out of touch people, while also bombarding the viewers with ads, that would be what happens today.