So what spurred me to write this article was watching the new animated series on Netflix Terminator Zero. Why Japanese creators are fascinated with the number zero, I have no idea. It was a thing for a while in comics with ZERO issues being a first issue, but not quite. In Japan almost every thing has a ZERO version, even Godzilla. I digress, so lets get back on track. Terminator Zero was pretty much better than anything Terminator we have gotten since Terminator 2, which as everyone knows is the best Terminator movie. (There is no debate to that last statement. Sorry.)
This series, in my opinion, is on par with T2. What? you can’t be serious? For one it is an animated show and not even live action. I know there is a lot of animation prejudice out there and those of you who refuse to watch animation are truly missing out. The idea that you just can’t get into a story unless it is live action is just an excuse. In truth, it has to do with the societal misconception that animation is for children. This is an archaic idea that no longer is valid in society. Kind of like wearing Superhero paraphernalia. when I was a kid, you got beat up for that. Now everyone is doing it.
All sci-fi is make believe and you have to suspend reality to enjoy it, but you are willing to do it because its not drawn but filmed with live actors. Nothing Hollywood gives us, even historical films, are 100 percent true to life. In fact, most of them are so far from reality, that they have actually hurt society from their influence. Hallmark and Disney being some of the most egregious perpetrators and here’s looking at you Sons of Anarchy and Mayans. Movies such as Braveheart and Kingdom of Heaven are so far from what actually happened they could literally be considered propaganda. Well, kingdom of heaven actual was, but I digress. So this brings me to my first point.
The Message of the Week and Agendas
In America and the UK, which is where most Western content comes from, they are all obsessed with the “message”. In fact, their stories are almost exclusively crafted around the message and political agenda. Everything from the actors they hire, to the characters, to the plot are all there in order to further or promote whatever political ideology is currently in favor. Make no mistake, if fascism became the new thing, these creators would be telling stories about that instead of liberalism and socialism. They are all puppets to this from the studio heads right down to the writers. This is not usually a problem you find in other countries content, especially Asian. I am obviously not counting counting countries where their content is controlled by the government.
Yes, as a creator, I understand that if you want to work in Hollywood you need to tow the line, but it makes for creatively bankrupt stories. it may not be the fault of the creatives working there, but it is the predominant factor of why they fail. It is painfully obvious to consumers that your story has no depth and only exists to preach a message. A few current examples of this are the movie Civil War and Disney’s The Acolyte. Both failed spectacularly and not because of misogamy, racism, toxic fans or any of the plethora of other excuses they use to try and justify failure. People simply don’t want stories that have no merit other than to preach to them. They go to church for that and they are called parables, or allegory if your a fiction writer.
Terminator Zero is a good example of bridging the political divide in a way that is organic to the story. The main protagonists are a black male scientist and a mixed race women. The terminator is still a white male and that serves the story since most of them were. I didn’t feel like they were trying to demonize white males, because he was a robot and not an actual human. Every choice they made towed a certain political line, but it did so organically. The show exists to tell the story of these characters and to add something to the Terminator lore. There is a message, but it is not why the story exists. Can you see the difference. Well modern Hollywood can’t, and in the words of Yoda, this is why they fail. The reason why shows like Terminator Zero succeed is because the creators are not constrained to an ideology or agenda and are free to tell the story they want.
Now, on to my second point.
Hollywood is Creatively Bankrupt
Yeah, Yeah, I know not everyone in the creative sphere is bankrupt. But, lets be honest here, most of what they are giving us is. The lions share of the blame may fall on studio executives and producers, but man is it bad right now. Just look at last years top grossing films. They were Oppenheimer, Barbie and Super Mario Brothers. Let that sink in for a minute. An animated film based on a video game, a propaganda ridden yet kind of funny movie about a toy doll and a historical film about a German scientist who was responsible for creating the atomic bomb.
I honestly don’t have much else to say on the issue, the data speaks for itself. In my opinion none of these movies were exceptional. In fact, a few years ago, they probably would have all made a decent amount of money but would have been quickly forgotten. In todays world, they are the top of the line. The best Hollywood had to offer. Seriously? I did like Super Mario Brothers but to show you how forgettable it was, I haven’t even rewatched it. Barbie made me laugh, but it was literally feminist propaganda and personally I thought Oppenheimer was a bit boring and way to stylized. They were all creative in there own way and that is why they succeeded at all, but they were some of the few truly creative offerings we got last year.
All in all, it really is more than just the “Agenda”, its the lack of real creativity that is the problem. Yes, Terminator Zero is a take on a franchise that has been around for a while, but it has a genuine and interesting take on that story. It’s very creative and the show adds to the greater mythos and lore of the Terminator world. You may not like JJ Abrams take on Star Trek, but it was a very creative way of retelling the story of the original Enterprise Crew for a new generation. Where it went off the rails were 2 and 3, they were both formulaic and forgettable, but the first one was very creative. Terminator Zero is like that. It proves that you can do sequels and prequals and have them genuinely add to the rest of the story.
This is where Disney says to the rest of the world, “hold my beer!”, and then fails spectacularly. The up coming Mufasa movie is just one more example of Disney’s lack of creativity. And that leads me to my next point.
Sequels, Prequels and beating the Dead Horse
The undisputed king of beating the dead horse is undeniably Disney. It is so bad, that anyone with even an ounce of creativity is leaving them for greener pastures. Look what they did to Pixar by forcing them to make endless sequels instead of allowing them to be the creative geniuses that they hired them for in the first place. All of the people who made Pixar successful have now left and are doing their own thing elsewhere. They even managed to kill Star Wars which everyone said was impossible. Marvel is quickly following in Star Wars’ wake and has given us nothing substantial since Spiderman No Way Home. Well Guardians 3 was good, but nothing truly spectacular.
It isn’t just franchise fatigue, but rather the inability to create anything new. Even the stuff that they make that could be considered new are just repackaging of the same old stories and tropes. Disney is king of the formulaic story, though they didn’t use to be. Pixar was perfect example of this. Don’t get me wrong, archetypes and tropes work because they make sense and people respond to them, but there is a way to do it without them feeling old and tired. Anime, Sitcoms, procedurals and romances do this very well. Most of them are similar but you can still find ways to make them feel fresh. You really are missing out if you don’t watch Anime. I’m just saying.
Yes Disney was always a bit formulaic, but they also made the formula feel fresh. The Disney Renaissance is proof that you can tell these formulaic stories but also be creative and interesting in how you do it. Now, they are so lost that everything they do is either a remake, sequel or prequel. Sure, they have offered up some original content, but most of it feels stale or generic. All of Hollywood has the same problem. Everything is a bad remake or sequel of content we either didn’t ask for or didn’t need. This made money twenty years ago, so it should make money now right? How about another Batman movie or maybe another Fast and Furious? Come on Hollywood let it go already and stop beating that horse, it’s already dead.
Of course, we are also being bombarded by so much content that anything that might standout gets lost in the sea of the mediocre. And, that leads me to my last point.
The Overwhelming Tide of Content
There is just way too much content. This is also a problem in the literary world. Thanks to Amazon self publishing has now become a viable option for everyone. I am thankful for that, but I also get lost in the overwhelmingly vast sea of content. Not only does it foster mediocrity, but it also can be overwhelming to consumers. There are just too many choices out there. I think all of us can relate to the fact that there is so much to watch on TV that we spend most of our time surfing for something to watch and then just end up watching the same stuff. Not because the new content is bad or uninteresting, but there is just way to much to choose from.
Everyone has a streaming, network, or free content service and it has become impossible for them to fill their dockets. It has become so bad, that anyone can create a show and someone will put it out their. I have watched some unbelievably bad content over the years. Stuff that would never have been broadcast twenty years ago. Well, maybe on cable access. Sure, it can be a good thing and bring fresh interesting content to the masses, but most of the time, it just gives us a ton of mediocre or bad content we must sift through to find the few gems that are out there.
Even Anime suffers form this problem. Literature as well. Sorry, all of my indie writer friends but putting out two million average books a year instead of a good one every three years is a problem. Now, I’m not saying that anyone who writes more than one book a year is mediocre, but it really has become a problem. I can’t tell you how many times I have started a series and found that 90 percent of it is mediocre and formulaic. It has to do with the system that has developed due to the easy availability of content. Yes it can be good, but it also brings a lot of bad with the good.
This is an issue that is facing all forms of entertainment not just Hollywood. There is just too much out there. Sure, it allows for some really great stuff that otherwise would not have been made, but it also gives us a crap ton of forgettable stuff. As much as I hate to admit it since I am an indie author, the old way of doing things really did weed out the mediocre and the poor.
Yes, gatekeeping was and still is a thing, but is that weakness in the system any worse than having every Tom, Dick and Harry’s content swamping the world and choking out the actual great stuff? There are weaknesses in both systems, but corporations like Disney, Netflix and Amazon are all suffering from too much mediocre content and not enough great. I actually agree with Bob Eiger that maybe Disney should lessen the content on their streaming service and give us a few good shows and films each year instead of bombarding us with a plethora of mediocre garbage.
All in all, even most of the content from overseas is significantly better than what we are being given here in the west. Such countries as Korea, Japan, and Norway manage to churn out lots of amazing content without falling into the traps that have snared western media. Anime over western animation and Manga over comics is a perfect example of this. These few issues I have mentioned are just a few reasons why Hollywood is losing the creative race, and unless they truly learn from their mistakes and change their ways they will continue losing.
let me know if you agree or think I am a complete moron in the comments below. I always love to hear from you all no matter your side of the debate.
J
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