I believe movies, particularly Hollywood movies due to their reach, are playing a large role in the decay of popular culture (music plays a big role too). But in film depth, nuance, and authenticity have all been sacrificed on the altar of spectacle and plastic cheap thrills, and of course identity politics.
This issue shouldn't be summarily brushed aside as 'just entertainment' and therefore unimportant. Entertainment is emblematic of the culture, and times, it represents, and goes on to shape. We are all of us, to some significant extent, a product of the times we were brought up in. I am a product of the 70s and 80s. Those were my young days when anything was possible, the future was bright, and a sense of harmless fun still existed. Had I been born in different times with different conditions and with different entertainment – and thus a different popular culture – I would have turned out different.
What sort of people will today's times produce? That is the question here.
I've followed the film critiques and occasional eulogies of the Critical Drinker for quite a while now in regards to what passes for modern entertainment these days. His insights and analyses cut like a knife, and are always exceedingly on-point.
I wanted to share his latest, an exceptional – and in my opinion important – video (14 mins) that interrogates the problem head-on. As one viewer commented, it is "a devastatingly accurate assessment" of the current state of things. I could not agree more.
If you're a Star Trek fan too (or was one) this is especially appropriate.