Are The Standards Of Entertainment Dropping?

UsernameInUse

The internet is wonderful - it allows billions of people to spread their talents and their opinions but has this new influx of "talent" discredited the real abilities of the few? I mean, take music for example - the Bob Dylans, Beatles, Eric Claptons, Michael Jacksons and countless others are substituted for Justin Beibers and Rebecca Blacks...wtf?

The same with entertainment in general - everything is gone PG kinda. Now we have crap like X-Factor on every ten minutes and as soon as it ends, Britains Got Talent starts. Then it's on every magazine and newspaper front page..

The standards of entertainment is severely slipping - or are we going backwards in our evolution to the point that anything literally entertains us...

TheZohanS

The movie Idiocracy hit the nail on the head.

Napper Hawkins

You could do what I do and stop caring?

Crap is easily avoided and it's not going anywhere no matter how much you complain.

FatherLen

no way the standrads will always be at a high standard

Pauleta

Not slipping, just diluted.

Adam

the standrads? never heard of 'em, are they any good?

dolphin city

its a dumbing down method for the masses - so they won't be watching what is really going on in the world - get them more interested in the latest "brat" of the season.

Its all manipulated that way - you are told how to think, both in the news and in the entertainment and every other aspect of life. You are monitored through various "social" networks.

thats why you should question everything and believe nothing until you have seen actual proof.

first thing to do is to stop watching crap and believing is anything other than a large business making tons of money from dumbed down entertainment. How do they make their money - by idiots and kids throwing their money at whatever brat they are "promoting" on any given day.

Nodin

Can't see how the internet is to blame. Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced a stable full of atrocities without it. And a lot of the stuff from the seventies was dire - Bay city rollers? The Osmonds?

If people buy/watch the shite it will flourish. Blame the people.

Napper Hawkins

I liked their early work but they've let their standrads slip as of late.

The Waltzing Consumer

dolphin city wrote: »

its a dumbing down method for the masses - so they won't be watching what is really going on in the world - get them more interested in the latest "brat" of the season.

Its all manipulated that way - you are told how to think, both in the news and in the entertainment and every other aspect of life. You are monitored through various "social" networks.

thats why you should question everything and believe nothing until you have seen actual proof.

first thing to do is to stop watching crap and believing is anything other than a large business making tons of money from dumbed down entertainment. How do they make their money - by idiots and kids throwing their money at whatever brat they are "promoting" on any given day.

I have noticed that the most obsessive, zombie-like, manipulated, masses tend to be the ones who spew out this type of nonsense and definitely not the ones who watch/follow x-factor and such.

dolphin city

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

I have noticed that the most obsessive, zombie-like, manipulated, masses tend to be the ones who spew out this type of nonsense and definitely not the ones who watch/follow x-factor and such.

as you wish. carry on.

J. Marston

You obviously haven't watched Jersey Shore.

wurzlitzer

Standards will slip for infinity

The Waltzing Consumer

J. Marston wrote: »

You obviously haven't watched Jersey Shore.

So what? It is trash, but for everyone Jersey Shore, you got a Boardwalk Empire. The main reason people think standards are dropping is simply because of the amount of tv stations and programs there are. How many channels are there now compared to twenty years ago? There used to be one mtv, now there about ten.

Cupcake_Crisis

They probably have...but i'm so easily amused that its hard to tell

UsernameInUse

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

So what? It is trash, but for everyone Jersey Shore, you got a Boardwalk Empire. The main reason people think standards are dropping is simply because of the amount of tv stations and programs there are. How many channels are there now compared to twenty years ago? There used to be one mtv, now there about ten.

I think for every BoardWalk Empire, you get at least 20 Jersey Shores.

gargleblaster

TheZohan wrote: »

The movie Idiocracy hit the nail on the head.

it almost did. it proposed a genetic reason for the dumbing down of society. when in actuality the reason for the dumbing down is environmental. that's how i see it anyway.

being smart has never been 'cool' but it seems like now, in addition to the tendency for kids to want to alienate their more academically successful peers, there's also a disturbing trend towards distrusting science in general. maybe it's an offshoot of distrusting authority figures (i.e. 'the man') but whatever it is, it's sad to see the consequences.


back to the topic though, i like a lot of very stupid entertainment, and a lot of very trashy music, and some very stupid and/or bad movies. it's my right as a person and it does not mean i can't think for myself, nor does it mean i'm stupid. so be careful about deciding to determine a person's general level of awareness/intelligence based on such criteria.

smokedeels

UsernameInUse wrote: »

I mean, take music for example - the Bob Dylans, Beatles, Eric Claptons, Michael Jacksons and countless others are substituted for Justin Beibers and Rebecca Blacks...wtf?.

Clapton sucked, Four Tet is awesome, music is as good as it has ever been.

parker kent

The last 10-15 years has been the greatest era for TV with channels like HBO, Showtime etc hosting shows that are the modern equivalent to the great Hollywood 1970s movies. Then in reaction to this, many stations upped the ante and many great shows were aired. It is a cliche to say that TV is where the best writers are these days, but it is partly true.

The Wire, The Sopranos, Arrested Development, Battlestar Gallactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The US and UK Offices, Deadwood, Lost, Prison Break season 1, Mad Men, Freaks and Geeks, 30 Rock, South Park, Six Feet Under etc are many examples of the level of quality TV available. All of the above may not match every persons individual tastes, but they are high quality. There are more high quality shows on TV in this era compared to any other era.

As for movies, it has split down the middle into purely blockbusters and low budget art house movies that are Oscar fodder. Personally, some of my favourite movies have been released in the last 10 years. If you only watch brainless entertainment (and we all need that from time-to-time), it is your own fault for ignoring what else is out there. My only issue with movies is the lack of movies with a medium budget as the effects of the marketplace, reduced movie goers etc has taken place. Also, there are more movies out there than Hollywood movies. France, Spain, Germany are all home to thriving movie industries. As is the rest of the world too. If you only watch Hollywood blockbusters, you only have yourself to blame.

There have also been some fantastic books and songs written in this era. The biggest issue is the sheer amount of entertainment available. There are more hours to fill on TV, so there will be more of everything. Crap TV is often the cheapest thing to produce and reaches the mass market much more than what I'd consider "good" TV. Look at how many people watched The Wire when it first aired compared to X-Factor. TG4 are to be forever thanked by me for showing it!

UsernameInUse

smokedeels wrote: »

Clapton sucked, Four Tet is awesome, music is as good as it has ever been.

Oh no you didn't... :mad:

Vicxas

*fart*

If anyone on the internet laughed at that, then yes the standars have dropped...

ScumLord

TheZohan wrote: »

The movie Idiocracy hit the nail on the head.

The supposed education level of people doesn't really affect the genes they pass on to their children. People aren't really selecting for stupidity it's just education is poor.

Art in general is up against the wall, music is running out of unique combination of notes so melody wise it will get to the stage where every possible combination of notes has been used essentially turning every song made from that date a remix or rehash of some other song.

It's the same with stories, they're all essentially the same as they're all based on human interaction all that changes is the setting.

krudler

Just detune TV3, ITV and MTV from your tv channels and only watch anything made by HBO or AMC, problem solved. Watch The Wire, then The Sopranos, Deadwood, Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire, they'll restore your faith in tv as an entertainment medium and not make you feel pandered to. Let the masses enjoy watching bad singers be laughed at by millionaires and scumbag z list celebrites have their 15 minutes.

parker kent

ScumLord wrote: »

It's the same with stories, they're all essentially the same as they're all based on human interaction all that changes is the setting.

Stories have essentially been repeating the same ideas since Sophocles. Chaucer adapted Boëthius. Shakerspeare adapted Chaucer. David Simon/Roman Polanski/Michael Haneke/Insert Modern Writers Name Here are adapting all of the above. All art forms repeat the same basic story. But the ways of telling the story change with each era and produce unique excellence in their time.

Lets not pretend we are in some special era where it has all been done before. As I say above, there are more than enough excellent forms of entertainment being produced.

ascanbe

wurzlitzer wrote: »

Standards will slip for infinity

The Skeletor hypothesis.

jackiebaron

Can't remember the last time I saw a really great movie. Seems that good plots and good acting (Shawshank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Good Will Hunting, etc.) all came out in the 1990's and now there's just drivel that relies too much purely and computer graphics e.g. Matrix, Avatar and all the Pixar ones.

Just compare all the Oscar nominations and winners for the 90's compared to the 2000's. The 90's had all great stuff like Silence of the Lambs, Goodfellas, Crying Game, Scent of a Woman, Schindler's List, English Patient, etc. 2000's gave us political sh!t because of Bush/War e.g. Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, etc., etc or all that graphics and animated nonsense e.g. All the Lord of the Rings and Matrix and Crouching Tiger, etc.

For action I did like the Bourne Trilogy but I'm a big Matt Damon fan. You could cast him in crap movie usually set aside for muppets like Kevin Costner or Harrison Ford and I would think it's good.

AhSureTisGrand

jackiebaron wrote: »

Can't remember the last time I saw a really great movie. Seems that good plots and good acting (Shawshank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Good Will Hunting, etc.) all came out in the 1990's and now there's just drivel that relies too much purely and computer graphics e.g. Matrix, Avatar and all the Pixar ones.

:eek: Are you cereal?

smokedeels

UsernameInUse wrote: »

Oh no you didn't... :mad:

Some English lad takes Blues and makes it boring and detached. meh... never did it for me

parker kent

jackiebaron wrote: »

Can't remember the last time I saw a really great movie. Seems that good plots and good acting (Shawshank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Good Will Hunting, etc.) all came out in the 1990's and now there's just drivel that relies too much purely and computer graphics e.g. Matrix, Avatar and all the Pixar ones.

What about The Departed, True Grit, The Fighter, The Dark Knight/Batman Begins, Toy Story 3, Wall-E, Inception, Shutter Island, Kick Ass, Up In The Air, The Wrestler, Changeling, Waltz With Bashir, Brokeback Mountain, The Prestige, Mulholland Drive, Memento, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Gladiator, Before Sunset, Kill Bill? And that's just a stream of consciousness list. There will be lots more.

Then there is world cinema. L'Enfant, City of God, The Lives of Others, Y Tu Mama Tambien and dozens other fantastic films. It won't hurt you to expand your horizons.

The 1990s was NOT some golden age of film making.

Buceph

smokedeels wrote: »

Some English lad takes Blues and makes it boring and detached. meh... never did it for me

Sorry, nope. Cream was one of the greatest bands of all times.

Hazys

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

So what? It is trash, but for everyone Jersey Shore, you got a Boardwalk Empire. The main reason people think standards are dropping is simply because of the amount of tv stations and programs there are. How many channels are there now compared to twenty years ago? There used to be one mtv, now there about ten.

The Jersey Shore and Boardwalk Empire are my two favourite shows.

Yeah Buddy!

clikityclak

Adorno was right!

Spunge

If TV execs realised how much ratings you get from ****ty shows like x-factor and big brother for such little production costs, it would have been done a lot earlier.

krudler

jackiebaron wrote: »

Can't remember the last time I saw a really great movie. Seems that good plots and good acting (Shawshank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Good Will Hunting, etc.) all came out in the 1990's and now there's just drivel that relies too much purely and computer graphics e.g. Matrix, Avatar and all the Pixar ones.

Just compare all the Oscar nominations and winners for the 90's compared to the 2000's. The 90's had all great stuff like Silence of the Lambs, Goodfellas, Crying Game, Scent of a Woman, Schindler's List, English Patient, etc. 2000's gave us political sh!t because of Bush/War e.g. Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, etc., etc or all that graphics and animated nonsense e.g. All the Lord of the Rings and Matrix and Crouching Tiger, etc.

For action I did like the Bourne Trilogy but I'm a big Matt Damon fan. You could cast him in crap movie usually set aside for muppets like Kevin Costner or Harrison Ford and I would think it's good.

Pixar movies are great, they're the one movie production company who you know are going to deliver at least a good, possibly amazing movie, if you dint like stuff like Up, Wall-E and Toy Story theres clearly something wrong with you, they all have great stories and writing.

smokedeels

parker kent wrote: »

What about The Departed, True Grit, The Fighter, The Dark Knight/Batman Begins, Toy Story 3, Wall-E, Inception, Shutter Island, Kick Ass, Up In The Air, The Wrestler, Changeling, Waltz With Bashir, Brokeback Mountain, The Prestige, Mulholland Drive, Memento, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Gladiator, Before Sunset, Kill Bill? And that's just a stream of consciousness list. There will be lots more.

....+American Splendour (sorry, but that movie needs props)

parker kent

smokedeels wrote: »

....+American Splendour (sorry, but that movie needs props)

Ah you could write all day. The last 10 years has had so many great movies.

Standman

It's funny how people often mention how great music was back in the old days, mentioning the Beatles and Dylan etc.. You really think there werent shíte acts around in those days too? Of course there was, only nobody remembers them now because they were absolute cack. If you can't find good music/films/tv then you arent looking hard enough. Cop the fúck on

The Waltzing Consumer

jackiebaron wrote: »

Just compare all the Oscar nominations and winners for the 90's compared to the 2000's. The 90's had all great stuff like Silence of the Lambs, Goodfellas, Crying Game, Scent of a Woman, Schindler's List, English Patient, etc. 2000's gave us political sh!t because of Bush/War e.g. Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, etc., etc or all that graphics and animated nonsense e.g. All the Lord of the Rings and Matrix and Crouching Tiger, etc.
.

You left out Titanic and Shakespeare in Love which both won best picture in 90s. Crying Game, Scent of a Woman and English Patient were all mediocre films at best and by no means the best of the 90s.

Likewise, you have given three mediocre films from 2000s, Munich, GNAGL and Crash. So yeah when you pick average films from decades, of course it does not look good.

Oh and the first Matrix was out in 1999 and Crouching Tiger came out early 2000, so I would nearly count both of those as 90s films since they were made in 90s.

eco2live

I don't think that standards are dropping. There is just much more of it. There is fantastic film, art and music as good as anything that has come before. Sometimes it takes time and history to be really appreciated as you reflect back on the past 10 or 20 years the stuff that stands out will stand the test of time and the crap (and yes there is a lot of it) will be forgotten.

Just look at the Oscar winners over the past 10 or 15 years. Some of the best films ever made. There is some great music also but I do think that this area is in crisis at the moment and only because there is no independent, valid and accepted source of information and music.

TV standards have got 10+ better in programming and there are some amazing series out there now. I am not into reality television and I don't watch it.

The things that I think is effecting entertainment of all sorts for me anyway are Marketing (direct and indirect) and access and supply.

This is penetrating our lives in so many ways it is just not funny and we are paying a huge price for so called free content. We are bombarded with brands, images, marketing, big business propaganda and even media and political marketing that it is creating sheep.

The ironic thing is that the only way to avoid most of this marketing is to go the illegal route and download films and music. No adds, pop ups, recorded information, trailers and other crap to deal with.

I think the inevitable solution to entertainment is to put the power back in the hands of the consumer so that they can choose how they spend their time.

The way to do that would be an add free global subscription based model. Consumers would pay a monthly fee to subscribe to a content service. Whatever the consumer watches or listens to would be recorded in a type of ratings system and TV company's, music artists and film company's would receive royalties based on the amount of people using their content. Marketing in this service would only be on request.

We hear loads of bollix about money being lost from downloads etc and there is certainly some money lost but they are still trying to push the same old models. If I download some crappy film that I would never buy just to see what its like a company is not losing any money as I would never have bought it. If it is in the subscription based service and I watch it then at least the creator will get some revenue from it. A word of mouth ratings system would allow content that people have enjoyed to be pushed up in the users charts.

Well maybe that was OT but what I am saying is that the quality of entertainment is as good as its always been. The delivery and quantity of the content and the penetration of marketing has diluted it a bit.

Mr Benevolent

Ah come on, the Beatles had no talent. They were Oasis with different haircuts.

OP you're just rehashing the oft repeated myth that we're not as good as our parent's generation. By that definition, the entertainment in 1000BC must've been amazing.

krudler

smokedeels wrote: »

....+American Splendour (sorry, but that movie needs props)

Sure does, great little movie.

Dudess

I would say chart music is, yes, but there's also a "movement" that insists on defending the likes of Justin Bieber and Jedward, even though they know they're sh1te, and referring to their detractors as snobs. They're sh1te - it's really simple. And I'm sure Justin's a nice kid, Jedward probably are too, but that doesn't make their recorded output any better.

parker kent

Dudess wrote: »

I would say chart music is, yes, but there's also a "movement" that insists on defending the likes of Justin Bieber and Jedward, even though they know they're sh1te, and referring to their detractors as snobs. They're sh1te - it's really simple. And I'm sure Justin's a nice kid, Jedward probably are too, but that doesn't make their recorded output any better.

I think that has always been the way with chart music. It may have been before my time, but the 80s was the era of the Jive Bunny and other similar crap. Every era has novelty acts or cynical acts to take money from teens.

That being said, there are legitimate issues with the music industry at the moment.

UsernameInUse

Buceph wrote: »

Sorry, nope. Cream was one of the greatest bands of all times.

White Room.

AhSureTisGrand

Confab wrote: »

Ah come on, the Beatles had no talent. They were Oasis with different haircuts.

You've got it arseways

UsernameInUse

Confab wrote: »

Ah come on, the Beatles had no talent.

Let's see what music today lives for the next 60 years and beyond.
Everything today will be utterly irrelevant in five years.

bigmouth writes again

its more than ever a corporate machine which cogs should never be denied the permission to turn, as every new generation of youths are dependent on the the now for social means. however its now a business that improves / an industry that suffers more than ever. an already familiar regurgitating process of recycling but with immensely less effect originality. is it more PG, or less original? things lose the ability to shock over time.. buts its also due to the toning down of extremities that peaked in the latter stages of the 20st century.

lifes good; there is so much to uncover from the then. and some residue into the 21st maybe, last strains of what was left to invent - some remains, but... kudos for striking upon it. i would not have liked to have lived through only a portion of the past and i urge particularly young folk to respect and uncover for themselves as our elders have laid down a vast, vast wealth.

the cool will probably prefer the past (culture) nerds will probably prefer the future (technology) i am torn between

AhSureTisGrand

bigmouth writes again wrote: »

its more than ever a corporate machine which cogs should never be denied the permission to turn, as every new generation of youths are dependent on the the now for social means. however its now a business that improves / an industry that suffers more than ever. an already familiar regurgitating process of recycling but with immensely less effect originality. is it more PG, or less original? things lose the ability to shock over time.. buts its also due to the toning down of extremities that peaked in the latter stages of the 20st century.

lifes good; there is so much to uncover from the then. and some residue into the 21st maybe, last strains of what was left to invent - some remains, but... kudos for striking upon it. i would not have liked to have lived through only a portion of the past and i urge particularly young folk to respect and uncover for themselves as our elders have laid down a vast, vast wealth.

the cool will probably prefer the past (culture) nerds will probably prefer the future (technology) i am torn between

Ye wha?

rossie1977

jackiebaron wrote: »

Can't remember the last time I saw a really great movie. Seems that good plots and good acting (Shawshank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Good Will Hunting, etc.) all came out in the 1990's and now there's just drivel that relies too much purely and computer graphics e.g. Matrix, Avatar and all the Pixar ones

computer generated or not the pixar films especially wall-e and toy story and the first matrix are incredible films storyline wise. wall-e is the most heartwarming story i have seen on film for many a year

UsernameInUse

O' Rly?

Helix

people still watch tv? why on earth would you do that when youve got the internet to watch what you want, when you want, without having to put up with stuff like x factor