Ping for your interest.
I think we tend to put too much emphasis on Hollywood's cultural, moral and political issues. Those are factors, certainly -- but they've always been factors, even during the Golden Age of film in the U.S. The bigger issues, in my mind, are the structural changes that are taking place.
The streamers are currently swallowing the film industry and turning movies into junk tv. That's one factor. The streamers have huge global platforms. They are selling subscriptions, not movies. They are oriented towards generic content for a generic global audience. They are marketing to a low-commitment, channel-surfing, casual audience. Gresham's Law is in full operation. Endlessly revisiting exhausted franchises with stories targeted for 12 year old viewers is one symptom. Quantity trumps quality in this environment. The streamers want to compete in a Walmart/IKEA/McDonald's kind of market. And the streamers are becoming both vertically and horizontally integrated. As they establish control over both production and distribution, the question is where traditional filmmakers -- who, despite all their many faults, were committed to cinema and aspired if possible to make art -- can find a foothold.
The second big factor is writing, and specifically the lack of good writing. The streamers have created an insatiable 24/7/365 demand for content. There are not enough new ideas to go around. And even more important, there are not enough good writers to go around. Writing is hard. No talent hacks are a dime a dozen, but good writers are worth their weight in gold. I have started following the film industry a bit in the last couple of years, and one of the recurring comments from people in the business is that the hardest place to increase diversity is in the writers' rooms. There is a reason for that, but anyone in Hollywood who verbalized what they all know would be vaporized instantly by PC death rays. The industry has a critical dearth of talent in a critical area, and it is hellbent for political reasons on exacerbating the problem.
A third problem is that current technology has put the vast treasure trove of classic movies at people's fingertips. The simple fact is that all the great themes have been revisited many times. That's an inescapable problem and it gets worse every year.
Some filmmakers push into grotesquely weird territory in a desperate search to show something new. Among 2021's buzzy titles, Titane and Annette probably are the best examples. To my mind, both are offensively bad, real freakshow stuff. I doubt that I will ever watch either of them. But critics with a "show me something new" addiction are impressed with them. They are "new," for sure; they are sick and twisted, but they are "new." This is ultimately artistically bankrupt.
Another failed tactic very much on current display is to seek novelty through the identity politics game. The film industry is going through the entire canon of great stories and blackwashing all the great characters. Then they'll make Hispanic and Asian and feminist versions. Then every role will have to be redone as gay, then trans. If the Romulans, Klingons and Vulcans get here in time, they'll get the same treatment. No talent hacks and the braindead subscription pushers in the executive suites think this is a way to do something new. It's actually a way to get anyone with a room temperature IQ to turn off the tv.
I hope quality cinema can survive the current collapse. If it does, I think the future lies with independent, non-Borg filmmakers who start with outstanding writing -- which means it will be their own work, or an adaptation of a quality piece of literature, as opposed to something churned out by a corporate writers' room. It will come from smaller companies that can control their own destiny and execute their own vision without a corporate marketing team telling them what must be done to satisfy censors in China or viewers in Bombay. It will be done by producers small enough not to have DEI committees dictating casting. Such traditional filmmakers still exist. But the Borg controls distribution. Where will the indies find room to breathe?
Oh, well. Talking trash about the trash that is being churned out by the film industry is shooting fish in a barrel. As always, I encourage people to give a shout to the good movies that they come across -- and get out and support the quality films personally, in a theater if possible.
The three best movies I've seen this year, all in theaters: The Most Reluctant Convert (a C.S. Lewis biopic); Old Henry (the best western of the year, and a true throwback to traditional storytelling); and Montana Story (an entirely character driven family drama). None of these films relies on spandex or CGI spectaculars. They rely on good storytelling about attractive, relatable, basically normal people dealing with serious issues in a serious way. Check them out when you can; most of us will like these characters, sympathize with their problem and root for them to win out in the end. That's how to package the retelling of a timeless tale.
My most anticipated upcoming film: After Yang, which will be shown at Sundance. The Sundance Film Festival is going hybrid this year and I will try to get an online viewing. That will depend on whether any spots are still left by the time ticket sales open for commoners like me. Sundance members (i.e. financial contributors) get first dibs, which is fair. The rest of us get what's left over.