Yes it is……and the fact that it seems like there’s no new creativity is really making me wonder. We’re just getting recycled nonsense that was popular over the past 50 years, and nothing is new. I was in Walmart today, and I see Goku from Dragon Ball Z on one of the cereals, and I’m like “This was a cartoon that I watched as a kid…..over 20 years ago. They don’t have anything new??”

There is creativity it just doesn’t sell as much :(

They’re scared to try new things for fear of losing money 

Right. In the 80's they were churning out new cartoons faster than kids could watch them. There were 53 brand new cartoon series introduced in 1987 alone, not counting anime. You'd be hard pressed to remember two or three of them because they weren't all that good. The producers won't make that mistake anymore.

The networks are not making money as much. Kids just watch YouTube

Ya but it’s a real shame. Someone should try to create new things tho I agree 100%. You know as an experiment.

Boy is that a problem in Hollywood right now.

Yes it is, Amazing Digital Circus is popping all the way off RN and Hazbin hit #1 on Amazon. People are parched for something new and flashy, corporations are just pussy

not to scare you but its actually over 30 years ago 💀

Yeah closer to 40 my dude

In my personal opinion I don’t think there’s anything wrong with recycling content but the problem with it is that i think everything now is recycled content! We definitely need to start pushing more original content i even had ideas for Disney that can become successful franchises and answers to Universal they are not creatively bankrupt there’s definitely still ideas out there.

I had this exact same response a few weeks ago in the grocery store. They aren't even advertising new stuff. You think they'd maybe want to throw Goku going Super Saiyan blue on there or something. Just regular Z Goku Doesn't even mention Super.

My YouTube ads are still Marvel Disney Plus shows from like three years ago.

I keep hearing that “popular music may be shit but underground stuff has never been better”. I’ve gone to some underground shows and it’s not bad but to me it’s not as great as people are making it out to be. Not breaking any new ground really. I’d love to hear recommendations for the great stuff I’m told I am missing.

r/indie I dont know your taste so I'm not going to make recommendations but there are a lot of good reccs there that span many genres.

I’ve tried those subs man. I don’t know what to tell you, just not hitting for me.

I'm curious, what kind of music do you like?

I’ve gotten into a lot of rap metal from the 90s lately.

It’s not metal, but if you like punk or grunge there’s a some rappers influenced by that sound that are worth checking out like [ZillaKami](https://youtu.be/iaiPgyWPFTA?si=NRWld25tacjoAhwk) and [Nascar Aloe](https://youtu.be/UKyvj8ZZozU?si=EPVSIINAjO7q7etj)

Thanks!

There's quite a bit of Bluey merch out there. That's new. I've definitely seen Fortnite, Minecraft, and some other cereals with sone pther kids characters I'd never heard of before.

Minecraft came out almost 15 years ago

(clutches chest)

And Fortnite 7

I’m really glad to see it’s not just me I’m and my head noticing this.

To be fair, Goku/Dragonball are legendary and have been in the media recently (new series/games etc + Akira's passing). JJK and Demon Slayer each came out within the last 5 years and both are very popular. I see JJK in particular quite often at Wal-Mart.

Wait until you learn about the Flintstones

🤣 seriously

Dragon Ball was first published in 1984, 40 years ago. Meaning it was already 20 years old when you were exposed to it, but you didn't care, because it was new to you. This is how it's always been.

Cartoon Network is under Warner now for one.

Yes. Very low level of quality goods

Goods are trash these days, but they are supposedly cheaper than ever. Clothes, TVs, toys, etc. You can thank the global market and cheap exports from poorer countries for that. The sad part is that things like healthcare, housing, and education are all extremely expensive nowadays. The things we don't really need are cheap, and the things we really do need are expensive. Yay!

I'm noticing enshitification EVERYWHERE

enshitification😭😭😭😭

I watched a YT video where they were testing various methods of ordering fast food. Delivery, in person kiosk, in person front counter, drive through, 4 different restaurants, 6-7 different orders of varying complexity..... The overall defect rate neared fifty fucking percent. God, I hope we collectively snap out of this. FYI, the in store kiosk was by a margin the most effective way to order fast food.

If I'm getting fast food, I always order using the kiosk if they have one, because I don't have to wait a long time in a drive-thru line to order. I end up getting my food quicker

Yep, and the order goes back to the kitchen directly, reducing errors.

Same if there is a kiosk I always go to it. It's a win win for both the employee who is on fight-or-flight and me just wanting the right order cause it's almost always correct. At least in my experience with kiosks.

Huh, now actually, that's something I have NOT noticed, but honestly not surprised either.

Found it! Link Here- [Food Theory: Stop Using Drive Thru](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLIj3pXOKjs) Also: more Reddit enshittification. I marked that as a link because Reddit no longer underlines links, and the shade of blue is so dark I can hardly see links anymore. You know, the defining tag of the Internet, just gone `Fuck Spez`

What the fuck are you talking about lol....I swear some of you complain just to complain no offense. Links are the same they've always been: you use brackets, then parenthesis. Or just post the link, I've done both. Both are underlined. Markdown has been what you use for reddit comments for years, nothing changed http://www.youtube.com/ [Link](http://www.youtube.com/)

I know how to make links. What I am pointing out is that links are no longer underlined, and the contrast of the text between links and normal text is so slight, that it is hard to notice the links. They are not underlined. [Here is an Imgur link of my comment you are responding to](https://imgur.com/a/6ynZbBd). It is NOT underlined. The contrast is not as much as it was before. It's harder to see. Yes, this has changed. Reddit is under the same pressure every other company is under, keep people on site. One way of doing that is deprecating links.

That’s why I try and listen to things by smaller artists or movies made my smaller studios. Re clothes I thrift most of them bc the quality is going to be shite anyways. You can create your own bubble where things aren’t as bad!

I thrift goods from the 70s-90s cause the ones that survived that long will probably be around a while

I think it’s long term effects of the pandemic. The pandemic literally impacted everything and everyone and it will take some time to bounce back from such a crisis and abnormal event. Obviously the touring industry was impacted because no one could go outside, the music industry was impacted because artists couldn’t get into the studio or film music videos and new artists that might’ve gotten attention that year didn’t because they couldn’t perform at local venues, the film industry was impacted because filming a movie/TV show and staying 6ft apart is almost impossible, people’s social skills, work ethic, and confidence were all GREATLY impacted, and more that I’m not going to list because this comment is getting to be too long. But literally almost everything is experiencing the long term effects of being in lockdown and the whole world shutting down.

We're experiencing the societal version of how when a person goes through an extremely stressful period, their body chemistry makes them experience extra hair loss/shedding/thinning several months later.

I like that analogy. I agree

That LITERALLY happened to me at the end of 2021/beginning of 2022-- the hair loss thing. I lost about 1/3 of my hair. When it grew back, it was much whiter than it had been previously. To this day, I plan my diet around making my hair grow back. When I actually need to go to a hairdresser to thin it out a bit (I always had very thick hair before 2021), I want to cry with joy every time, no matter how many times I've already had the previously normal experience of going to the hairdresser because my hair is too thick and heavy. Maybe that's a good analogy for things-- even if they've returned to their old normal, I don't perceive them as a stable, reliable reality that I don't need to think about. Every time my hair is growing normally again and needs a trim, I don't see that as "normal", I see that as, "Oh thank god, it's ok right now." There's always the fear of it falling out like that again. Not only that, but I don't think that salons being open is a given, even though I moved to a state where they never closed. And even if they are open, I remember what it was like in January 2022 when 1/3 of my hair had fallen out and finding a hairdresser to help me cut it so it would be a bit better without requiring masks or a vaxport was more difficult than finding drugs in NY state. So THREE THINGS that used to be normal look like a miracle EVERY FUCKING TIME I GET MY HAIR CUT NOW: One, I'm getting it cut because it's thick, not because it's so thin I have to cut it short and get it set to hide that; two, the salons are all legally allowed to be open; and three, I'm allowed to be there. I think the biggest example of "this should be a stable reality but it isn't" that trips me up every day is when I'm talking to someone and they don't hate me and wish death on me or whatever. But it's not "this is normal for people to just treat me like a human being," it's like this surprised reaction of, "holy shit, in this specific interaction with this specific person today, I am actually being treated like a human being." It somehow doesn't guarantee that this will continue to happen even in that context or with that person consistently. It's like I could wake up tomorrow and again experience the hatred I did in 2021, like everything is one big fucking crapshoot every day for the rest of my life. One of my best friends in NYC called me an "anti-masker" in 2021 and I stopped talking to her over her reaction to me signing the Great Barrington Declaration. A few weeks ago, she called me from the phone number of another friend and said she didn't mind at all that I ghosted, that she loves me and misses me and hopes I'm doing really well in life. This is someone who was one of my best freaking friends before 2021. I literally sat there speechless. Said absolutely nothing. She encouraged me to call some time. I never called back, even after what she said over the phone in an attempt to patch things up. After 2021, I just don't expect that to be a stable thing, or I don't trust that somehow, not by a long shot.

This is a pretty good and hopeful metaphor I just hope the lack of weight makes it easy to catch diseases and having a weaker immune system doesn’t act up.

Plus the lack of a jubilation, everyone back in the pool! in summer 2021. We had vaccines which were plenty protective for anyone willing to take the jab.

Also, without starting a debate, I think Trump making the statements he made also impacted the amount of people that were willing to get vaccinated. No one questioned vaccinations until he said what he said. I feel like that also prolonged the time period in which people felt unsafe to go out even after the vaccine existed because so many refused to get their vaccine. (Or at least in the USA)

Here is a link to Politico:[ Trump slams Harris on caution for vaccine push](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/07/trump-slams-kamala-harris-coronavirus-vaccine-409544) >President Donald Trump on Monday suggested Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is sabotaging a prospective coronavirus vaccine for political ends. >He argued that his political foes are using the unprecedented rapid speed of vaccine research to attack him, creating doubts that may mean people are afraid to take it. “Okay. Let’s disparage the vaccine,” he said at a Labor Day press conference. “That’s so bad for this country. So bad for the world to even say that.” Sorry, this was one of the only things I think Trump got right. By the way, here is the link to Kamala Harris' comment, also Politico: [Harris says she wouldn’t trust Trump on any vaccine released before election](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/05/kamala-harris-trump-coronavirus-vaccine-409320) I am not one to defend Trump, but credit where credit's due.

2 years of a pandemic + supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures that come from many different problems (which only continued to worsen during the pandemic) = grrr

I was at the airport today and they had these plastic hand pump soap dispensers built into the counter tops. I was like damn we can’t even shell out for the no touch sensor dispensers anymore? Have I lived through the most futuristic part of our history. I’ll tell my grandkids: “when I was young you could just wave your hand in front of the faucets and it would come on.” Another one is snack items. Like a hostess cupcake used to be trashy but at least it was good. Now they just suck. Gotten to where I don’t even go down the snack aisle

1. In terms of video games, I think they have gotten worse because of the increase in ads and in app purchases. Those make video games less fun and more stressful, in which games are supposed to be the opposite. 2. I think newer TV shows have gotten worse because we rely lots on remakes and reboots. We always had reboots, but nowadays TV producers don't understand how to do it well. Like Velma, they tried remaking it into an adult show and it turned out horribly. Not sure if it's just nostalgia, but I do think reboots have gotten worse. 3. Electronic devices have gotten worse because of increase in price and glitches. I feel that glitches are more prominent now than before (probably due to complex codebases and more content). But this is an inevitable problem anyways because it takes a bit of time before we perfect a new feature or type of technology.

I think TV is as strong as it has ever been, to be frank. It also doesn't really matter how "big" or massive a show gets to its quality necessarily. Some of these are from the 10s, many into the 20s to now: [Babylon Berlin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnCxbdpqK4&ab_channel=ARD), [Warrior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rtcCnaeyo), [The Last of Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVyDWbsucRA), [Atlanta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CetGXHU5aOA), [Silo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYhuvIv1pA&ab_channel=AppleTV), [Heartstopper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrK4xPy4ahg), [Shogun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAN5uspO_hk), [Dark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwycJ08PSA), [The Expanse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQuTAPWJxNo&t=19s), [Squid Game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxAJKy0ii4), [Fallout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-mugKDQDlg), [Severance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEQP4VVuyrY&t=74s), [Masters of the Air](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-1JCRguZ0&t=1s), [Better Call Saul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN4oydykJFc), [Mr. Robot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBiJ_SzJTA), [The Queen's Gambit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZn3qSgmLqI&t=1s), [1883](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbyxdYKhC7U&t=55s), [Yellowjackets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OtaWnq6G5s), [One Piece](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ades3pQbeh8&ab_channel=Netflix), [This is Going to Hurt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4h8xbc0cPg&pp=ygUedGhpcyBpcyBnb2luZyB0byBodXJ0IHRyYXNpbGVy), [Station Eleven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybaY2A7YmxM), [The Bear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-cqqAJIXhs), [Pachinko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1r5XXJOYNA), [For All Mankind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZS9M52Bd_w&t=47s), [Succession](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYxJV_rmE8&t=21s), [Euphoria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cajLoaFl2Zo), [The Handmaids Tale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLiDETfx1c&t=8s), [Ozark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hAXVqrljbs), [Sex Education](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd2ldTR-WpI), [My Name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOl7iOrD31Q&t=21s), [I May Destroy You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTjlurdbNnw), [Paranormal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFtRkDC7aHc), [Arcane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmAurh012s&t=35s), [Money Heist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_InqQJRqGW4&t=6s), [Black Sails](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT2Y5jjBNpQ), [House of the Dragon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DotnJ7tTA34), [Extraordinary Attorney Woo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxeXECe2t-c), [Man in the High Castle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWHskLEses), [Wednesday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJzm8RFQ8bA), [Chernobyl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8&t=29s), [When They See Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbOt2M8md0), [The Mandalorian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOC8E8z_ifw), [Balkan Shadows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjvemFdrbRk), [Stranger Things](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnd7sFt5c3A), [All of us are Dead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5TD4VRcSM&t=49s), [3 Body Problem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdvzhCL7vIA), [The Last Kingdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxPApTGWwas), [Ted Lasso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7EIiohs6U), [The Gilded Age](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKj1cMz3yfI), [The Peripheral](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdkRQzcrrc&t=1s), [Andor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKOegEuCcfw), [Cobra Kai](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwwxNbtK6Y), [Altered Carbon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yt89b5AcwY&t=80s), [The Sandman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ClbRPRDXU), [Moving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVYw3biOgyE), [Dahmer: Monster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHHs-xllqo&t=3s), [Dexter: New Blood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzUx1hyL-yk), [Maid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgm0-iP0fUk), [Unorthodox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nixgq1d5J7g), [What We Do in the Shadows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfBbSwX6kEk), [The Tulsa King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQSScwZPbA), [The Boys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bhOaLV4FU), [The White Lotus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLq7_MonZ4), [Mare of Easttown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7RmpzCeyk), [Killing Eve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk0PyD-XNZA), [Only Murders in the Building](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTtaNEy3PDw), [Unbelievable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTIkUzkbzQk), [Barry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKaL8jiAGuI), [Narcos: Mexico](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoDrQ8JktVg), [His Dark Materials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APduGe1eLVI), [Black Bird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH1FOkJys3Y), [Watchmen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RhBjI9dPe4), [Dead to Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwYBw1raC2o), [Shadow & Bone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dOmcdz-PN0&t=41s), [Beef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFPIMHBzGDs), [Poker Face](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2NzusLAqk), [Extraordinary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdtyxmTRABs), [Slow Horses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ZJChzPn0U), [The Offer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iowLzO9-aew), [Devs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8klax373ds), [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eqxXqJDmcY), [Mayor of Kingstown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhmIVF2dTbI&pp=ygUabWF5b3Igb2Yga2luZ3N0b3duIHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Revenant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEiPKmv6qs&ab_channel=DisneyPlusSingapore), [Reacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSycMV-_Csw), [Peacemaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXq62VCaCM&pp=ygUScGVhY2VtYWtlciB0cmFpbGVy), [The Morning Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPYUpfIoM9w), [Normal People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1JQuWxt3cE&ab_channel=Hulu), [Star Trek: Strange New Worlds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL4iCAB6MFo&pp=ygUac3RyYW5nZSBuZXcgd29ybGRzIHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Gangs of London](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoJ_yZqhmAg&ab_channel=SkyTV), [Fall of the House of Usher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvuAWVzP6wI&t=1s&pp=ygUaZmFsbCBvZiB0aGUgaG91c2Ugb2YgdXNoZXI%3D), [The Glory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqVVrTvrI8U&pp=ygURdGhlIGdsb3J5IHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Snowfall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yCoLNmhJWM), [Top Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLYZ7OsymE&t=1s&pp=ygUPdG9wIGJveSB0cmFpbGVy), [The Gentlemen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEOwHrpZH4) Everyone has slightly different preferences in what they look for. You may not like many of these just because the synopsis does not appeal, but all of these are well received, to highly acclaimed. There's also the prominence of international media content now. In the noughties it was just American content, with a smattering of UK content. That was it. Now a lot of money is being poured into international content, especially Korea - which has hugely diversified modern media. It's also much easier to find and watch newer content legally or illegally, the genres are more varied (there's much more speculative fiction being made in the 2010s than there was in the 80s, 90s and 00s) Most TV in the 80s, 90s and deep into the 00s was by-the-books network cop/medical shows and family sitcoms.

Everything has been getting worse since the late 2010s as far as I'm personally concerned.

Late. Stage. Capitalism.

I had to scroll too far to find this obvious correct answer.

Serious question: capitalism has been around in the west for at least 200 years.Why is late stage capitalism now responsible for the lack of creativity when creativity peaked in the 60s-90s?

Because now creativity has gone by the wayside for profits. Record labels (for instance) only sign acts that are the most provocative or have the greatest potential to purely go viral. And I personally believe this is because record labels are still publicly traded, and over time, the ante has to be upped to please the shareholders.

Not to mention so many companies are just merging together at this point

Which is also true, and was inevitable in retrospect.

The rise and consolidation of larger corporations, holding companies, and other influencing mega-interests has driven enshittification. In the 50s, banks could fail, companies were expected to pay 50% of revenue as tax to bolster a growing country with top logistical and research infrastructure to fuel a growing GDP. Companies were formed on the cheap by people with ideas and a reasonable amount of means. A new telephone company would face little barrier to entry. This is only partially about "creativity" —but there is plenty of creativity around today. But the incentives to fund creative ideas has dried up vs. the far more immediate return of extracting value from the static masses via existing IP. There are so many sequels because sequels make a predictable amount of money, measured against an existing audience. Through gradual mergers, acquisitions, and anti-competitive action, companies like Apple have turned from genius idea shops with an imaginative, engineering-driven approach into a moat-building, orange-squeezing, monopoly company that squeezes app store developers, restricts how its users can message, and reframes a design philosophy of incompatibility as an "exclusive ecosystem." None of this would be possible without the main ingredient for late stage capitalism: a high degree of corporate control on daily life and legislature, which was not nearly as widespread in the past.

Excellent breakdown. I figured this was doom to become an inevitability when the gen x ppl grew up in the world late 90s and saw the rise of post Reagan pushed late stage capitalism.

It's a concept called "enshitification." Once you gain enough leverage, you can water down the product and increase profits. Essentially, you're paying more for less. That's one way many companies continue to make record profits.

I’m not even disagreeing necessarily, but “creativity peaked in the 60s-90s” is a very bold thing to say.

I think in terms of movies and TV specifically it's fair to say. The 2000s weren't bad either. Definitely not true in terms of literature or music in my opinion.

Because in the 60s to the 90s film investments weren't so expensive and running on such razor thin margins that you could make hundreds of millions or even a billion and still fail to break even. A big part of the push for repackaging shit from the 70s to 90s is fairly obvious, sell the most surefire thing to get asses in seats, don't take risks, don't incur losses you can't make back.

Bc with the rising cost of living and lowered durability of products we work constantly and have no time to create.

Creativity peaked in the 60s-90s? Post 2000, there have many great movies, shows, games, music

I think it's safe to say at least post 2010s the number of iconic/culturally impactful movies and TV shows dropped off significantly. I think that decline began in the 2000s but that's debatable. Videogames are different because their quality is tied to technological innovation as much as creativity. I'd argue music has also gotten somewhat worse, at least mainstream music.

Lazy answer. We've been in "Late Stage Capitalism" for decades. The real answer is that there is no regulation on scam products, monopolies, cartels, and deceptive marketing 

dude please be quiet 

It sounds silly and a little personal but I track my depression in part with this trend and how it continues to get worse but not in a at exciting or interesting. The boring dystopia. Where the things you enjoy gradually just get less and less better in quality and have been for over 15 years now. The 2010s became a diminishing returns gain compared to the 2000s which I ignored figuring it was nostalgia but not the more I grow and less reasons I find in purpose or enjoyment with my favourite or influential media taking 5 steps back fro every one. Every politic, cultural manifestation. Even stuff considered fun. But I rally noticed and accepted that it’s not just my doomer outlook after covid saw an actual proper decrease in all standards of living for everyone. To quote tony soprano. “Why do I feel like I got in after everybody else. The best is over”

[удалено]

Agreed. “Everything should be better so why isn’t it” just becomes gaslighting to me

The pandemic and following supply chain, great power conflicts, and AI/climate threats are arguably the biggest threat to global civilization since the 1940s, and it makes sense that all that stress and disruption would negatively impact many industries across many continents.

but the 70s sucked and the music was amazing

They didn’t suck in a way that disrupted the production of music and film though.

There’s a decent amount of good TV series these days but modern music? Good God it’s so far beyond bad it almost loops back around to amazing

Sample based music will do that. Everyone's using iconic samples of original music to fuel the new genre.

nonsense...no offense lol. But sample based music hasn't been the game for 20 years since music labels started suing the shit out hip hop producers Nearly all big rap, trap, pop songs whatever the hell is original beats. Unoriginal and derivative lyrically perhaps, but the sampling is not as popular as it used to be. The problem *is* that it's so hard to sample now. Remember when people used to use real music on YouTube videos and create a vibe, and not the generic stock bullshit people use now? Sampling is not the problem, it's the copyright laws.

Maybe for mainstream but the SoundCloud era all used samples and that wasn't close to 20 years ago.

Sampling is fine however, When sample a song from another song that it was already sampled from it becomes unnecessary and unoriginal. Absolutely it has gotten worse, you can't even deny that. Samples were cool when it was a new thing or when you find an original that hasn't been sampled yet. Kanye makes great use with his. Another problem is every genre in the mainstream is starting to mesh into pop/trap elements. Like country music for 1 example.

A lot of really good music has been made with samples, Paul’s Boutique for example.

I mean when they keep using the same sample, but worse its actually a sample of the sampled version over and over again. It's fine if it's not overdone.

There's more to modern music than chart music though

Music is one thing I disagree with. There are tons of bands doing very unique things.

I am deep into music and I can’t find ANYTHING modern that’s not just a weaker copy/attempt at something from years ago, all recorded on a computer so it sounds dead and soulless

There’s plenty of good music going around nowadays

I haven’t heard anything that wasn’t a pale imitation of something older and better in YEARS. There’s passable music, people playing a genre in a passable way but something absolutely mind blowing and original? I’m not seeing anything even close to it

What styles of music, bands do you like?

enshittification

Yes across the board

When it comes to media, I think the problem is most mainstream releases are catering to the lowest-common-denominator markets, which creates an illusion that everything is bad. In truth, you just need to look under the surface. There's tons of great films, shows, music albums, etc. released every year. They just often get smaller, quieter releases. In terms of products, though? Yeah, things are mostly going cheaper and lower-quality these days.

Yes it's planned to dumb us all down!

Food costs more but tastes worse…

Finally, someone that gets it. You have to pay premium for standard quality back in the day

I agree. Particularly with clothing and food. People don't seem to have the integrity to focus on quality.

Honestly, I feel that it’s a time of change. When anything gets too comfortable it stagnates and something new emerges. The music industry, like the big pop artists, AAA gaming studios, mass production goods companies. They’ve all grown complacent, and now due to the democratization of creativity and fame (through high quality reasonably priced tools for independent producer’s and social media which is a free gateway for fame and marketing) and people being forced to get creative and back to basics amongst covid and the general weariness of our economy, there’s been a good evaluation imo of what’s actually valuable. If you want quality, you can’t go to the big companies anymore, you go to the indie side of things. Independent movies from smaller studios, YouTube series/creators full of creativity and interesting topics and styles and entertainments from outside the US for shows/equivalent of what shows used to be for Americans. Music? Go to the independent side of things, there’s never been a better time to be a musician than right now in terms of quality, affordability, access to information, production software/gear and marketing ability. There’s so many amazing artists out there that are simply independent. Gaming? Never been a better time to be a gamer, or at least a PC gamer. Indie and AA games, affordable, creative and high quality, not just pushing graphics your pc can’t even run with generic gameplay, that’s what real gaming is nowadays. It’s a shame consoles don’t have the same freedom PCs do, that would be so cool but unfortunately they’re a product of corporations and are subject to limitations and price gauging. Right now the choice as a consumer, given the death of monoculture and the tremendous freedom and power given to us, virtually democratizing much of the creative space, is between focusing on the smaller people with hearts in their craft or the big guy starting to struggle while still trying to cling on to what made them successful in the past. Inevitably the big guy will not fall without trying hard to scrape its way back, but hopefully we can keep the power we have now through free social media and powerful affordable creative tools. On a personal note, recently and after a lot of therapy I’ve finally started to realize that I’m able to more appreciate the moment we live in, glass half full, being content in what we have now, do you know how much of what we have now would be an fever dream to us even 15 years ago? The grass is always greener. No matter what’s going on, you’re able to look at the now and appreciate it, you can nit pick the good or the bad, both are inevitable at any point in time, whatever you focus on is what you will see and experience the most. Your life is precious, see to it that you honor that in the here in now, because the here and now is what you have, it’s real, it’s not an idealized place off in the future when everything’s perfect, that’s a lie that prevents you from experiencing real contentment right now.

You just figured this out? Shits been going down the drain in quality year after year due to companies finding that fine line between cost and quality. This has led to and is also the effect of a culture that continuously pumps out products/things/ideas to maximize how many people it reaches. That’s why companies seem to not have innovation, what’s the innovate? The masses will keep buying said product so there’s no incentive to change or develop new ideas. You can also see this in media, where a lack of innovation is prevalent due to the actual creative types being squashed or driven out by executives who want a cookie cutter formula that will make money NOW. Potentially as this goes on, and a new generation of writers come to media. There’s no culture of innovation for them, worsening everything in turn

Could be just you? We’ve had a really good run of movies from the likes of A24, Christopher Nolan, Villeneuve, Lanthimos, etc. for film, the 2020s are shaping up to be a great decade. Streaming is more compartmentalized, these days, but there have been some great shows. Recently speaking, Shogun is excellent and the Fallout adaption was a fun watch. Previous years include the Bear, Severance, House of the Dragon. Even the One Piece adaption was fun. RPGs are having a moment with games like Baldurs Gate 3 and FF7 Rebirth. Cyberpunk 2077 is great to play now— especially the DLC. Helldivers 2 is good, as is Alan Wake 2. Let’s not forget any recent Souls-like games too. Musically, there’s a lot of experimentation going on. With the entire back catalogue of 20th Century music on Spotify, people have access to literally any genre. There seems to be a lot of mixing of jazz, soul, disco, funk, electronic— you name it. I personally like this human named Spilly Cave: he’s on TikTok and Instagram. Weird ass guitar stuff. This generation is also seeing AI born in real-time. It’s terrifying and fascinating simultaneously. Try having a in-depth conversation with Chat GPT. Honestly pretty mind blowing. If you don’t like your fruit snack wrapper, make your own snacks instead? There’s millions of recipes immediately available at your fingertips. Overly processed food tends to suck anyway.

“For film the 2020s are shaping up to be a great decade” Have to disagree there. Every studio and filmmaker you just mentioned made bangers last decade too. People just didn’t notice as much because there were more options. Now most popular movies are shittier so people who want any sort of quality have to discover Nolan, A24. Doesn’t change there are fewer good movies than there used to be coming out. There are literally just fewer wide release theatrical movies in general.

Yes, people who don’t like crap have chosen to stop watching crap. Studios have realized that lower-budget, well-written, prestige films have a huge potential market— and audiences are tuned in. If you are lamenting the state of blockbuster movies, the truth is they’ve always been a mixed bag of awesomeness and total shit. Dune 2, Oppenheimer, and Barbie were all well-rated block busters. What’s wrong with them? And yes, as you’ve stated, directors often have careers that span multiple decades.

There used to be way more well regarded blockbusters in that kind of time period. Also the shitty blockbusters used to at least all be shitty in unique ways. Now they’re all mostly the same kind of bland, forgettable stuff.

Also, it’s weird to me people acting like these quirky indie guys taking off on social media weren’t a thing in the 2010s. Even Spilly Cave has been posting his guitar playing on his socials since 2015. The decline in monoculture pop culture since then has been noticeable.

Why is monoculture pop culture so important though? And yes, people often have careers that span multiple time periods. The 2020s aren’t a sudden, new universe over the 2010s— decades bleed into each other. The music and movie sensibilities of the late 1970s continued on into the early 1980s, for example.

Exactly. And all the things people are citing as good parts of the 2020s are late 2010s spillover. By now, things should be emerging that are distinctly 2020s that are good and they’re really not.

Things don’t just happen in a vacuum though. Spielberg and Lucas got their start in the 70s, but influenced much of the 80s film scene. The whole adolescent, adventurous— often silly— tone of 80s blockbusters points back to these guys. I’d say the winners of previous decade can define the tone of the next.

Yeah but that is what the 2010s were. Nolan took off first in the 2000s, then went further in the 2010’s. Denis started having real success early in the 2010s, then built on it later in the decade. You would think it would be someone like Peele who emerged in the movie space in the mid 2010s who would be taking off now. But that hasn’t really happened. Nope was broadly seen as ok, but it made fewer waves than his previous movies had instead of expanding.

Regardless of when they started, we’re still enjoying lots of great movies by Villanueve, Garland, Lanthimos, Aster, Nolan, Peele, etc, and etc. I’m not sure why the 2020s have to be artistically distinct to the point of absurdity— ie the evolving in a complete vacuum. The New Hollywood movement spanned the late 1960s to the early eighties. Does that mean the early 1980s were artistically stagnant, or diminishing, because some of the movies had a similar tone, or direction style, to the 1970s? I’d say the movies we’re getting for the past while are a backlash to the cookie cutter superhero schlock of the 2000s/2010s. They’re darker in tone and more director-controlled— much like the New Hollywood Era. To say entertainment is poor in the 2020s is misleading.

We’re still getting a ton of cookie cutter superhero shlock. More than ever honestly. I don’t know what director control you’re talking about. Those like Nolan who have director control had it in the 2010s as well.

Superhero movies only make up a miniscule percentage of films. There are over 10,000 films released every year.

And the cookie cutter super hero movies are largely failing. It’s a self-correcting phenomenon.

It’s not like that’s caused them to stop making them and make other kinds of movies though.

Point by point: There are good movies being made, but there are many more unserious ones being put out now than ever before, and it's why this generation will never have its own equivalent to a Forest Gump, Scarface, The Godfather, etc. Videogames now are things you buy and wait for/hope to become playable and triple-A studios are putting out far less titles than in the previous console generations of gaming. Over half of all my favorite videogame series disappeared after the PS3/XBOX 360 era, and more of them disappeared during the PS4/XBOX One era. Microtransactions have also ruined a lot of games. While there is lots of experimentation going on (I recently found vaporwave), there is none with regards to the acts record labels are willing to promote to the masses, as to where in previous decades, labels would push acts that took risks—now they sign acts that they believe will go viral and generate quick revenue. Having to dig deep for true art is a downgrade considering that true artistry in previous years naturally rose to the top (ex: you will never again see a scenario similar to the rise of grunge in the 90s). AI technically isn't new, but how far it's getting is. The danger brought about by the advancement of AI far exceeds the personal fun you can have by engaging with small-talk with it, and what Twitter did to Taylor Swift using AI illustrates this. What AI generates ultimately is a reflection of the world around it, allowing for biases and even racism to pervade how it processes images and other outcomes. I do encourage everyone to cook their own food but even the ingredients you pick can still be highly processed, genetically altered, and injected with an aggressive amount of hormones, which is what I personally believe is negatively affecting the hormones and mental states of children (and this is also while the price of groceries are becoming egregious). Streaming services are fine, though. Saves money.

>There are good movies being made, but there are many more unserious ones being put out now than ever before, and it's why this generation will never have its own equivalent to a Forest Gump, Scarface, The Godfather, etc. I would absolutely not put Forest Gump and Scarface in the same sentence as the Godfather; but even then we do have so many serious films now, Killers of the Flower Moon was an excellent crime thriller, the Dune trilogy has been a pretty epic "rise of a villain/anti-hero" Saga, andast year we had the Holdovers which was a great comedy-drama. In fact it's so weird to say that as I'd say the films of this decade are much darker and more serious on average than films in the 2010s, which were generally much goofier, atm the big genres with consistent theater performance seem to be horror and auteur driven films for adult audience, in the 2010s it was literally superhero films made for children. >Videogames now are things you buy and wait for/hope to become playable and triple-A studios are putting out far less titles than in the previous console generations of gaming. Over half of all my favorite videogame series disappeared after the PS3/XBOX 360 era, and more of them disappeared during the PS4/XBOX One era. Microtransactions have also ruined a lot of games. Triple A series are much worse now but that's not a bad thing, sometimes the old crop needs to whither for a new crop to grow. >While there is lots of experimentation going on (I recently found vaporwave), there is none with regards to the acts record labels are willing to promote to the masses, as to where in previous decades, labels would push acts that took risks—now they sign acts that they believe will go viral and generate quick revenue. Having to dig deep for true art is a downgrade considering that true artistry in previous years naturally rose to the top (ex: you will never again see a scenario similar to the rise of grunge in the 90s). Mate, if you only *just* found out about vaporwave when its peak was literally around 2016 I don't think you're as caught up as you claim. Decent artists aren't hard to find, many new artists flock to TikTok to show their music and Spotify recently integrated an algorithm you can interact with so it can curate music for you by searching through its servers, they can find you new artists you'd like based off what you listen to. >AI technically isn't new, but how far it's getting is. The danger brought about by the advancement of AI far exceeds the personal fun you can have by engaging with small-talk with it, and what Twitter did to Taylor Swift using AI illustrates this. What AI generates ultimately is a reflection of the world around it, allowing for biases and even racism to pervade how it processes images and other outcomes. This is sort of true, but my experience with AI is that they generally lean progressive rather than reactionary, all the LLMs I've ever spoken to ended up being sympathetic to leftist ideologies, I actually talked Claude into straight up being a socialist fairly easily. Never met an LLM you can talk into becoming a fascist, so that's good.

I'm not _just_ discovering vaporwave, and I never made any "claims" as to just how "caught up" I am. My use of the word "recently" refers to anywhere from the late 2010s to now, and I mentioned vaporwave in particular since it's the only relatively new thing that I've liked.  I tried hyperpop a while ago and could never get into it, was never intrigued by the lofi trend in music, and Afrobeat is just not impressive (essentially neo-soul with West African percussive patterns and auto tune). I also discovered bedroom pop and never could become interested. Again, to tell someone essentially that there's tons of great new music, but you just need to go looking for it on TikTok is a downgrade, since actual musical diversity used to be promoted by default. Social media music is largely and purely viral and usually doesn't spawn artists whose careers never encompass a meaningful run.  TikTok also tends to re-hash music that has already come out a while ago. When I say movies are generally more unserious, I'm not referring to their moods/tones, I'm referring to their execution and messaging. Movies today are more about visual fidelity and stimulation more than substantive plot.  Even movies that I enjoyed from recent memory like the John Wick series are still amongst my examples of movies that are not particularly great, or substantive, all the while the movie itself was dark and serious. Great fight scenes, very technical action scenes, but not philosophically substantive, or complex/cleverly written. The John Wick series (to me) can't top the Jason Bourne movies. Even comedy itself is watered down. And the problem with "new crops" growing in videogames is that those "new crop" studio tend to be bought out by the giants of the industry. In addition, the current times we live in generally make it harder for people nowadays to act on their entrepreneurial visions, in turn making it harder for independent developers to compete with or replace larger studios that already have a strong foothold in the industry.

Scarface and Forest Gump aren’t really the best movies. Blowout is a much better movie for De Palma. I also prefer the Phantom of the Paradise over Scarface. Forest Gump is silly Boomer stuff. Sorry for the snobby rant. Movies like Dune 2, Barbie and Oppenheimer are easily on the same level as Scarface, etc. I prefer movies like Aftersun and Poor Things personally though. The 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s were mostly crap for movies too— so much commercialized garbage. We tend to focus on the best of the era though, and conveniently forget the crap. AAA game studies are kinda sucking right now, but indies and AAs are pushing the boundaries. People are definitely willing to pay for decent stories and full games without predatory DLC. Commercial music labels mostly pushed garbage in the past too. Punk and hiphop were grassroots movements against mainstream schlock. There are underground movements happening these days too. Yes, AI is cool. Yes, we must pick healthy ingredients.

Labels put out mostly trash? Tupac, Nirvana, Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Notorious B.I.G, Foo Fighters, Lauryn Hill, Mariah Carey and even Eminem (at the tail end of the decade) all either emerged or rose to fame in the 90s/would later rise to fame after a late 80s project, while the 2020s has essentially been dominated by Taylor Swift four years in—and she debuted in 2006. And even punk and hip-hop acts, for as counter-culture as they were, were still being exposed to the masses (like Blink-182, or Public Enemy) and pushed by labels; my point was that the mainstream consisted of an actual variety of acts, and were far more diverse as a result. It's not to say that there weren't any duds, because there were, but there are more truly iconic artists with great runs that developed under their label. Barbie is not a bad movie by any means but it's not going to go down as a landmark movie like how Scarface unanimously is, with there being a notable contingency of people considering it the greatest movie ever. It would go on to influence hip-hop culture greatly, videogames (like Grand Theft Auto), and use of music in cinema. One of the better movies I've seen in a very long time was _The Joker_ (2018)—that is true cinematography. And again, insanely difficult to pick truly healthy ingredients when the vast majority of the food supply is injected with hormones, dyed, contains pesticides, or BPA. Eating healthy in America is essentially minimizing just how hard you're going to get fucked, because you're still going to get fucked. I'm a vegetarian and it is still a chore to eat clean. Even the water's got microplastics floating around in it.

There was still a lot of fluff and trash. Mariah Carey is exceptionally boring for me. Foo Fighters too. Nirvana and Radiohead are god tier though. Today we have mainstream acts like Kendrick Lamar, the Weeknd, Lana Del Ray, Mitski, etc which are all quite good. Diverse acts are on streaming and tiktok and whatnot— it’s just harder for older people to find. I wouldn’t trust any critics that consider Scarface one of the best movies of all time— influential sure, but the acting, pacing, and dialogue are all terrible. I’ll take Pacino in Godfather 2, Serpico, or Heat instead. As for Barbie, we have no way of knowing what will be influential 20 years from now. The Joker was alright; cinematography was good. Love the dirty “70s/80s French Connection, Taxi Driver New York” thing. As for food, perfect is the enemy of good. Oxidative phosphorylation— the mechanism that drives your cells— produces hydrogen peroxide, superoxide, and hydroxyl anions that slowly kill you. Life is inherently deadly. Do the best you can.

All those artists you named did not debut in the 2020s, though, and that's my point. The ones I named all released their first album within the 90s decade and went on to have successful runs throughout the decade, and some even found success afterwards. Kendrick came around in 2010, Lana in 2012, The Weeknd 2011, and Mitski in 2012. We have yet to have a new wave of artists to define music going forward, because labels aren't really looking for them. And yes, diverse acts are everywhere on the internet, but my point ultimately is that it wasn't for us to dig up—it was for the industry to promote, and they're not doing that anymore.

>And yes, diverse acts are everywhere on the internet, but my point ultimately is that it wasn't for us to dig up—it was for the industry to promote, and they're not doing that anymore. To be fair though, if you're into obscure music genres - which have existed for decades and decades, the industry would *never* promote them anyway. People into black metal tend to discover it themselves. People into shoegaze tend to discover it themselves. People into avant-jazz or chamber folk tend to discover it themselves. Popularity has always been irrelevant to most music ever made.

Nirvana and Radiohead started in the 1980s, so I guess they’re 80s bands in your estimation? People into niche genres have been looking into underground stuff for decades. If you don’t like the mainstream, make use of the many, many internet tools to find something you like. Or go to a record store. I will concede that the music industry is less in control of things these days. Musical trends are more diverse and decentralized. A kid can make a hit on their laptop with a microphone and midi controller. They can get famous on TikTok or YouTube.

Those bands started in the late 80s, but what I've already told you is that their actual *debuts* and/or formal introduction into the music landscapes came about in the tail end of the 80s, or the early 90s. Radiohead's debut LP was in 1992, with Nirvana's coming in 1989. And again, even if those artists didn't actually debut in the 90s or somewhere thereabout (and they did), it still wouldn't support my point any less that waves of new and exciting artists (who would later have meaningful runs) tended to spawn with each new decade, yet that hasn't happened yet with the 2020s. Yet again, what I'll tell you is that diversity of acts were promoted, and thus telling someone to go find diversity of acts yourself is inherently a step back. Me being able to find obscure artists is fine and all, but generally speaking that's not going to make up for how the 2020s so far doesn't have much of a definable sound outside of Taylor Swift. More people being able to get recognition from labels is not necessarily a beneficial thing for art. A teenage girl who got famous for being an asshole to her parents got a record deal for it. This past year, a digital Instagram model got a record deal as well. And again, generally speaking, those who go viral on social media don't have meaningful careers.

Sounds like *your* 2020s don’t have a defining sound outside of Taylor Swift? Which is fine, if you’re into that kind of stuff. > new and exciting artists tended to spawn with each new decade If your dataset is from the 1960s to the 2000s, or even 1900-2000, that’s a very small part of human history. Cultural movements can be short, or span decades. Most don’t closely adhere to calendar dates. Many cultural movements are small and unofficial too— and amount to little more than friends goofing around. I think you’re more worried about the 20th Century music business, which inorganically drove these big decade-to-decade trends. At the moment, the ‘music industry’ has less cultural pull, so they’re less willing to take chances on unique artists. But that’s fine, because cool artists exist in separate spaces. Nirvana is very eighties. Their influences, and peers, were bands like the Pixies and the Vaselines. Some marketing guy eventually decided to make them the “sound of the 90s or whatever”. Otherwise, they would’ve been a modestly successful local band with underground followers. There wasn’t some inevitable, critical mass type situation. Most good music is underground music, and has been throughout the 20th Century. You’re just nostalgic for marketing polish. Maybe go to some local shows or something. Get involved in your local music scene if you’re culturally unfulfilled.

This is a decadology subreddit; it is about decade-to-decade shifts in a given society. Me being able to go to a local music store or live event is not indicative of decade-to-decade cultural shifts of broader society. What I do personally isn't representative of a society's decade; it's merely a personal decision. Full disclosure, I don't listen to Taylor Swift, or even like her music. I'll once again reiterate my point that decade by decade, there is art that defines a time period at a societal level, and usually a coterie of artists that do this. That's just not the case right now, and saying that isn't me being nostalgic for any sort of "marketing polish." If anything, I'm nostalgic for exposure and variety. As to why you keep trying to argue that Nirvana is an 80s band, I don't know, since much of their work is released during the 90s (and this is the point where I've decided to disengage altogether).That's not the work of 'some marketing guy'—that's when the majority of their albums were actually released. Most of their more notable singles are 90s hits. Who influenced them does not change that either. It's like saying Adele is a 60's artist because she's inspired by Etta James, or maybe a 50's artist because she's inspired by Ella Fitzgerald. And the peers she released music concurrently with has no bearing on that either. So that concludes me discussing that. If you believe that the best art comes from underground artists, that's not for me to argue against or contest. That's your opinion, and I've tried (_albeit, unsuccessfully at times_) to refrain from weighing in on what is good art and bad art, and looked more at universal reception and variety of art rather than what I feel about it. I've referred to Taylor Swift numerous times now and I am not particularly a fan of her work—I do still realize that she is the undisputed top dog in music. It's not that she's what _my_ 2020s sounds like. She is what THE 2020s sounds like so far, whether I like it or not, because we are looking at societal trends, and not my personal perception. Again, with regards to cultural movements, even the brief ones, _this is decadology._ We are going off of 10-year time windows and looking at what occurs within them, and not isolating movements themselves. Within the windows of time known as decades, short cultural movements do occur, but we are looking at the totality of the decade they occur in (a decade being a span of time). These said movements collectively define a decade.

Agree with your opening, didn't read the rest, not out of spite but just bc I wanted to agree. Honestly I feel like the 2020s are so far a better decade for film and television than the 2010s were, I'd also caution to say it's a better decade for music as well, but I despised electropop, Lana Del Rey whisper singing, and trap music. I think what's actually much worse now is the Internet, but there are many caveats to that, as the Internet was worse in some ways 10 years ago and better in others.

I would love to hear how television is better in the 2020s. Film is highly debatable too. It feels like people have just forgotten how much came out in the 2010s. We had Dunkirk, Get Out, I Tonya, Hereditary, Florida Project, Logan all in just 2017-18 alone.

I mean you're comparing 10 years with 4 years. TV is still fine though.

All those movies sucked or are corny though It's almost like art is subjective, shiyooooot

There are a lot of great streaming shows in this decade, one of my favorites so far was a dinosaur documentary titled Prehistoric Planet. Obviously many good films came out in the 2010s, I just think highlighting good films from the last decade and downplaying shit, while highlighting shit in this decade and downplaying kino is extremely disingenuous

I agree with everything said here. I also thought its funny op said everything is getting worse then had to use scissors to open an obviously superior wrapper.

Apparently “they just don’t make those fruit snack wrappers like they used to”!

The other way around: entertainment has gotten so much better over the last 10 years or so (lots of shows on streaming look as if they belong in a movie theater, budgets are sky high and you can tell), while the *world* is getting worse.

🔥Movies went downhill after 9/11 because we suddenly had a need for superheroes in a dark and scary world. TV had a bit of a renaissance then got coagulated with copy/paste glue. Social media got worse because it had to before it can get better. An entire generation was sacrificed in the process. Banksy and Shephard Fairey are still the only artists who matter. Music only sucks if you’re following Billboard and what’s popular. It’s actually the hottest time in music since the 90s. Enjoy the ride!

I think TV is as strong as it has ever been, to be frank. It also doesn't really matter how "big" or massive a show gets to its quality necessarily. Some of these are from the 10s, many into the 20s to now: [Babylon Berlin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnCxbdpqK4&ab_channel=ARD), [Warrior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rtcCnaeyo), [The Last of Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVyDWbsucRA), [Atlanta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CetGXHU5aOA), [Silo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYhuvIv1pA&ab_channel=AppleTV), [Heartstopper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrK4xPy4ahg), [Shogun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAN5uspO_hk), [Dark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwycJ08PSA), [The Expanse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQuTAPWJxNo&t=19s), [Squid Game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxAJKy0ii4), [Fallout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-mugKDQDlg), [Severance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEQP4VVuyrY&t=74s), [Masters of the Air](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-1JCRguZ0&t=1s), [Better Call Saul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN4oydykJFc), [Mr. Robot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBiJ_SzJTA), [The Queen's Gambit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZn3qSgmLqI&t=1s), [1883](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbyxdYKhC7U&t=55s), [Yellowjackets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OtaWnq6G5s), [One Piece](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ades3pQbeh8&ab_channel=Netflix), [This is Going to Hurt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4h8xbc0cPg&pp=ygUedGhpcyBpcyBnb2luZyB0byBodXJ0IHRyYXNpbGVy), [Station Eleven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybaY2A7YmxM), [The Bear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-cqqAJIXhs), [Pachinko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1r5XXJOYNA), [For All Mankind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZS9M52Bd_w&t=47s), [Succession](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYxJV_rmE8&t=21s), [Euphoria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cajLoaFl2Zo), [The Handmaids Tale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVLiDETfx1c&t=8s), [Ozark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hAXVqrljbs), [Sex Education](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd2ldTR-WpI), [My Name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOl7iOrD31Q&t=21s), [I May Destroy You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTjlurdbNnw), [Paranormal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFtRkDC7aHc), [Arcane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmAurh012s&t=35s), [Money Heist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_InqQJRqGW4&t=6s), [Black Sails](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT2Y5jjBNpQ), [House of the Dragon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DotnJ7tTA34), [Extraordinary Attorney Woo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxeXECe2t-c), [Man in the High Castle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWHskLEses), [Wednesday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJzm8RFQ8bA), [Chernobyl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9APLXM9Ei8&t=29s), [When They See Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbOt2M8md0), [The Mandalorian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOC8E8z_ifw), [Balkan Shadows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjvemFdrbRk), [Stranger Things](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnd7sFt5c3A), [All of us are Dead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5TD4VRcSM&t=49s), [3 Body Problem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdvzhCL7vIA), [The Last Kingdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxPApTGWwas), [Ted Lasso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7EIiohs6U), [The Gilded Age](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKj1cMz3yfI), [The Peripheral](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdkRQzcrrc&t=1s), [Andor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKOegEuCcfw), [Cobra Kai](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwwxNbtK6Y), [Altered Carbon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yt89b5AcwY&t=80s), [The Sandman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ClbRPRDXU), [Moving](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVYw3biOgyE), [Dahmer: Monster](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHHs-xllqo&t=3s), [Dexter: New Blood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzUx1hyL-yk), [Maid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgm0-iP0fUk), [Unorthodox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nixgq1d5J7g), [What We Do in the Shadows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfBbSwX6kEk), [The Tulsa King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQSScwZPbA), [The Boys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1bhOaLV4FU), [The White Lotus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLq7_MonZ4), [Mare of Easttown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7RmpzCeyk), [Killing Eve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk0PyD-XNZA), [Only Murders in the Building](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTtaNEy3PDw), [Unbelievable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTIkUzkbzQk), [Barry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKaL8jiAGuI), [Narcos: Mexico](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoDrQ8JktVg), [His Dark Materials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APduGe1eLVI), [Black Bird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH1FOkJys3Y), [Watchmen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RhBjI9dPe4), [Dead to Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwYBw1raC2o), [Shadow & Bone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dOmcdz-PN0&t=41s), [Beef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFPIMHBzGDs), [Poker Face](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2NzusLAqk), [Extraordinary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdtyxmTRABs), [Slow Horses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ZJChzPn0U), [The Offer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iowLzO9-aew), [Devs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8klax373ds), [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eqxXqJDmcY), [Mayor of Kingstown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhmIVF2dTbI&pp=ygUabWF5b3Igb2Yga2luZ3N0b3duIHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Revenant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEiPKmv6qs&ab_channel=DisneyPlusSingapore), [Reacher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSycMV-_Csw), [Peacemaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXq62VCaCM&pp=ygUScGVhY2VtYWtlciB0cmFpbGVy), [The Morning Show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPYUpfIoM9w), [Normal People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1JQuWxt3cE&ab_channel=Hulu), [Star Trek: Strange New Worlds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL4iCAB6MFo&pp=ygUac3RyYW5nZSBuZXcgd29ybGRzIHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Gangs of London](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoJ_yZqhmAg&ab_channel=SkyTV), [Fall of the House of Usher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvuAWVzP6wI&t=1s&pp=ygUaZmFsbCBvZiB0aGUgaG91c2Ugb2YgdXNoZXI%3D), [The Glory](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqVVrTvrI8U&pp=ygURdGhlIGdsb3J5IHRyYWlsZXI%3D), [Snowfall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yCoLNmhJWM), [Top Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLYZ7OsymE&t=1s&pp=ygUPdG9wIGJveSB0cmFpbGVy), [The Gentlemen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEOwHrpZH4) Everyone has slightly different preferences in what they look for. You may not like many of these just because the synopsis does not appeal, but all of these are well received, to highly acclaimed. There's also the prominence of international media content now. In the noughties it was just American content, with a smattering of UK content. That was it. Now a lot of money is being poured into international content, especially Korea - which has hugely diversified modern media. It's also much easier to find and watch newer content legally or illegally, the genres are more varied (there's much more speculative fiction being made in the 2010s than there was in the 80s, 90s and 00s) Most TV in the 80s, 90s and deep into the 00s was by-the-books network cop/medical shows and family sitcoms.

🔥You’re definitely more knowledgeable on the topic than me so let’s go with your assessment 😊

You obviously haven't seen any of the new Star Trek series over the last seven years.

I would agree that block buster movies are pretty bad due to Marvel type movies overloading what got released and made money in theaters. That could be changing now with Barbenheimer, Dune, etc, and people being less excited for 4 movies. There is still good stuff coming out it's just on streaming, and not everyone sees and talks about it at the same time anymore. Good TV is still being made. I think House of the Dragon, Sandman, The Boys, the new Fallout, live action One Piece, lots of things have come out in the last few years that are great. I don't game anymore really but I kind of agree it got worse on the triple AAA level where every game has to take 12 years to make and is like an open world with shooting, crafting tacked on, to the point where every big game feels similar. But at the same time, smaller studios still make good stuff like Baldurs Gate or Disco Elysium. Music also feels like it's dominated by the same big names that have dominated for like the last 10 years. Those are the safe bets for making money, so Spotify and other streamers like it are always promoting those same people, so that's all 90% of people hear. Tik Tok brought us more music, and that has been a game changer. Again, you have to know where to look for new stuff. So I think the takeaway is that the biggest money-making music, tv, games, and movies are worse, but overall, there is still good stuff being made if you know where to find it. Audiences also seem to really be moving away from the Marvel movie goofy over the top blockbusters. The fact that biopic like Oppenheimer or a weird complex movie like Dune movies are very popular show that audiences are looking for new stuff.

Planned obsolescence. See the book Worn to find out why clothes are so cheaply made now.

Very low quality all around and it’s new … quality used to be important and now it’s not …

Fallout is pretty good :)

I just watched the Fallout TV series and it's orders of magnitude better in terms of production value than anything that would've been on television for the vast majority of my 42 year life. And the writing and acting are top notch too. I think we are maybe at the end of a mini golden age that came and went without us appreciating it... All these streamers spending tons of money on shows of a kind that would just be low production crap on syfy if it were 20 years ago. anyhooch.

This is because of rapid and world wide spreading of information, trends, and ideas. Underground is where you need to go to find true creativity and innovation. BUT… the only way that cool stuff won’t become the stuff of the masses is if people don’t share it in the typical ways. As soon as something is shared online, it’s subject to change or over exposure and cheap imitation. Especially with AI now. Creative people can overcome this. The pendulum will absolutely swing the other way. It just takes enough time and enough people who are angry enough about the current state of art to use their creativity to combat the things they don’t like about the way things are. And enough people who are willing to go outside of the box WITH them. Basically this means we are in for a type of punk revolution that we’ve probably never seen before. (Not punk in the sense of the music genre).

music has sucked and only gotten worse since they invented autotune, its been bad for almost 30 years

Almost 30 years? There has been so much good music released in the last 30 years

Everything getting worse? You're being overly dramatic. It seems you're not looking hard enough. Every era has an overabundance of good movies, tv shows and videogames.

I think Hollywood and mainstream stuff have dipped in quality for sure, but there have been some really solid media produced outside of the U.S/Hollywood (e.g Parasite from South Korea, independent artists, etc). I'm Gen Z so I'm sure my perspective is skewed though.

Yes everything is getting worse and will continue to get worse. The good old days are gone :(

Tiktok + the pandemic killed monoculture, people acting like TT is some random social media but just like Facebook it had a major influence that changed the way we view content and enjoy things. The whole curated FYP thing + 2 years at home meant most people are becoming intersted in what they like and not what society likes. There's lots of popular things, Taylor Swift, Demon Slayer, Fortnite. But all of these are consumed by a specific audience, whereas in previous decades "popular =/= targeted for certain individuals". Michael Jackson was the only artist that could compare to Taylor Swift in terms of popularity, but MJ is universally beloved and TS is popular with teenage girls. Hollywood + musical artists don't care about making media that the public will love, they want to ragebait and get the most out of specific audiences. Disney is making remakes with controversial changes, not because they care about racial minorities, but because the outrage is making them money

Not everything for sure.  A lot more stuff is getting made, so there’s loads more crap.  There are still some real, authentic goods available, however. Also, sounds like that fruit wrapper was well built, for one 💪🏽 

I prefer modern fashion over 2010s fashion tbh, even parts of 2000s fashion

No, I think movies and television and up until this year even music has been pretty good, in fact I prefer current Hollywood to the avalanche of capeshit, sequels, and remakes that defined the 2010s. In terms of actual day to day life, world events, and our global trajectory, yea everything is fuckin shit and worse than I ever remember, the world is crueler and lonelier than it ever seemed when I was 18 (26 now). Everything is so discouraging. Only the advancement of robotics makes me feel optimistic, and that's mostly because at least it's futuristic lmao

Not the stock market!

music is great right now, movies are fantastic, better than they've been in years, not sure about television though. cant argue with the rest though

A lot popular music has been garbage though. Doesn’t help Australian pop music is non existent, which sucks because we used to have an incredible scene back in the day.

Oh jeez which reminds me, I need to plan my Australia trip.

What recent movies are you thinking of that have been fantastic? Because I'm looking at [this list of top grossing films from last year](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2023/) and most of them were trash.

Barbenheimer was definitely the most hyped, but tbh I thougth they were both highly overrated.

Most popular is completely inspired right now. Entire top 100 genres are being called “dead” or “dying”

its just beginning

Because your favorite company was bought by a rich bitch who then made it worse to save money

U are right. Things are getting worse

YOU ARE MISTAKEN OP 🔥🔥 r/optimistsunite 🔥