By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
It seems like so much of what is expected to entertain us these days is slop. Many people subscribe to numerous streaming services, as well as possibly cable, but somehow, there is nothing to watch. We endlessly flip channels or scroll through movie libraries, looking for something to scratch that itch, but only finding remakes, sequels, or large cinematic universes that have prerequisite viewing of 30 three-hour-long movies.
Then, like a light in the darkness, that classic comes up.
What You’re Missing In Modern Movies
It might be something really old, like Gunga Din or Gone with the Wind. It could be more recent, like Raiders of the Lost Ark or O, Brother! Where Art Thou? But a classic catches your eye, and you put it on and remember why you thought it was so great. What is it about some movies (or books, television shows, video games, and other media) that draws people to them over and over?
Classics engross audiences because they’re well-written and interesting. They let audiences reach their own conclusions and present visually pleasing sights. Characters have depth and nuance, and the plots are interesting and thought-provoking. Good media doesn’t have to leave us happy at the end: it can leave us confused or even sad, but always fulfilled. It says something to its audience whether it was made last year or centuries ago.
Movies That Capture The Zeitgeist Are Forgotten
Often, movies are popular in the moment. They represent contemporary trends and thoughts that don’t translate very well to audiences of other eras. These dated films only make sense to the people in the time and place in which they were made due to changes in culture. Dated films almost never become classics, even if they are rewatchable.
A clear example of a dated film would be 1995’s Hackers, which is viewable mostly as a curiosity since it was Angelina Jolie’s first theatrical release. It uses “cutting-edge” technology that was obsolete before Y2K. Hackers was a movie that dealt with the specific technology of the 1990s and couldn’t be told today because programming and computer hardware have evolved to make the plot improbable.
Crafting A Movie That Stands The Test Of Time
Meanwhile, the classic Alien has technology that is also very dated, and we are expected to believe that computers even more obsolete than the ones in Hackers are flying people through space. Alien succeeds as a classic where Hackers fails because it feeds on the more universal theme of being hunted, transcending its 1970s origins to continue speaking to audiences today.
The truth is, most media is dated. Classics rise to the top because, like Alien, they have something timeless to say that reaches audiences years later. “Years” can be a very large number, given that Shakespeare, Beowulf, and Homer still resonate despite being ancient works.
Modern Movie Pandering Makes Them Disposable
Modern movies are trying too hard to cater to an audience that is not only a minority, but a very small one. Movies, and a lot of other modern media, are written to avoid offending as many markets as possible, especially since China has become a major movie market for Hollywood. Characters are there to represent ideas and demographics, not to be people in the plot.
This results in one-dimensional characters involved in plots that are either extremely simplistic or deliberately convoluted to hide the fact that they make no sense. The point isn’t to tell a story anymore; it is to preach a moral lesson in a way that ensures that even the lowest common denominator understands. This assumes the movie has a message at all; too much of today’s media has become so mindless that it is entirely forgotten. Movies have become Chinese food for the mind, filling us for a little while but leaving viewers hungry for more shortly after they leave theaters.
Degrading Visual Quality
It doesn’t help that movies don’t look as good as they used to. Even Ray Harryhausen’s worst stop-motion practical effects are not as bad as the Avatar or Disney live-action films: the more CGI has been used in movies, the more they look like cartoons.
Live-action sequences are given treatment in post-production that drown a lot of movies in sepia tones. This mutes colors, making the film look drab. Even superhero movies lack color, despite costumes awash in vibrancy.
The Enshittification Of Movies
Futurist Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshittification,” which refers to how, over time, a website that provided an in-demand service well would deteriorate in quality while increasing in profitability. This concept is not limited to social media platforms and e-commerce sites; almost everything in our lives has become enshittified over the last decade, and especially since COVID lockdowns.
Entertainment in particular has seen a lot of enshittification as it seeks to pander to its imaginary target audience. It treats viewers as though we need everything carefully explained to us several times. It pats itself on the back for pushing agenda-driven slop upon us.
So, when you find yourself drifting over to Turner Classic Movies to enjoy Cary Grant or John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe because the only other thing on TV is the latest regurgitation from the MCU, it’s not just that you’re set in your ways. Classics, whether they are movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, or graphic arts, became classics because they are good. The mountains of slop you ignore will eventually fall by the wayside where it belongs.