My son has a theory that you can tell a society is dying when everything is a “cover” of something already done. Movies are all copies of something from the past, as is most of the music put out. I fear his theory has a lot of credence.
I find myself watching a lot of foreign shows now, I watch a lot of Russian stuff, because frankly, Russia isn’t into PC BS.
I'm not so sure of that. Even in the United States' best, most thriving and vigorous eras, there were strong revivalist movements in art, architecture, literature and music...which were all "covers," of past trends.
Further, it would be hard to explain the Renaissance, which was in many ways a great hearkening back to the classical ideals of Greece and Rome. Architecture, philosophy, sculpture, literature, etc. of the period generally idealized and largely mimicked that of Greece and Rome, but western Europe was anything but "dying," at the time; to the contrary, it is generally seen as coming out of the dark ages (though that can be argued as an overly broad generalization."
Sort of like how Rome started “reusing” older established monuments and temples?