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Tag: movie

  • Are Filmmakers Today Actually Less Intelligent?

    “Are filmmakers today… dumber?”

    Relax. Breathe. Put the pitchfork down.
    This isn’t a hit job on creatives. This is a hit job on the conversation.

    Because the truth is, whenever someone doesn’t like a movie, the default Boomer setting kicks in:

    “Back in my day, movies had real stories.”
    “Everything today is just CGI and noise.”
    “Nobody knows how to write anymore.”

    But here’s the uncomfortable plot twist:
    Filmmakers today aren’t less intelligent — audiences are less patient.
    And the industry has evolved so.

    Let’s break this down without sugarcoating it (because sugarcoating is how we ended up with 14 Fast & Furious movies).

    The Myth of Declining Intelligence

    People romanticise the past like it was some magical artistic utopia. But newsflash:
    Every decade has trash movies.
    Truly, catastrophically bad ones.

    The only difference?
    We forgot the bad ones from the 70s, 80s, and 90s because nobody streams them.
    But the good ones — The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Shawshank — became immortal.

    This creates something psychologists call survivorship bias.
    We compare the best of the past to the average of the present and then pretend it’s a fair comparison.

    It’s like comparing Messi’s best goals to your cousin playing Sunday football and concluding humanity is getting worse at sports.

    Hollywood Didn’t Get Dumber — It Got Scared

    Modern filmmaking decisions are shaped less by intelligence and more by terror:

    • Terror of box-office bombs
    • Terror of angry fanbases
    • Terror of cancel culture
    • Terror of TikTok-brained attention spans
    • Terror of shareholders who think story structure is a KPI

    Studios used to take risks because the stakes were lower.
    Now, a flop can vaporise hundreds of millions of dollars.

    So what do executives do?

    They choose safety.
    Sequels. Prequels. Remakes. Cinematic Universes.
    Nostalgia packaged in 4K.

    It’s not that creators can’t think — it’s that studios don’t want them to.

    Algorithms Now Write Movies (Almost Literally)

    Here’s where things get weird.

    Data now dictates storytelling:

    • “Make the explosion happen before minute 12.”
    • “Audience retention drops when characters talk too long.”
    • “Add a quippy sidekick for relatability.”
    • “End the scene with a meme moment.”

    Basically, movies are now created with the artistic depth of a YouTube retention graph.

    It’s not about intelligence.
    It’s about optimisation.

    Filmmakers aren’t idiots — they’re handcuffed by analytics.

    Imagine telling Scorsese in the 70s:
    “Hey Marty, the focus group says Travis Bickle should floss more for relatability.”

    He would have stabbed someone with a dolly track.

    Audiences Have the Attention Span of a Goldfish on Red Bull

    Let’s be brutally honest.

    People today can barely finish a 30-second reel without checking notifications.

    And you expect studios to make slow-burn, character-driven epics that need actual attention?

    We live in a world where:

    • People watch movies while scrolling
    • Subtitles are on for everything
    • “If it doesn’t hook me in 7 seconds, I’m out”
    • People search “Ending explained” before the ending even happens

    It’s not that filmmakers are less intelligent.
    It’s that audience behaviour has shifted so dramatically that traditional storytelling often doesn’t stand a chance.

    We Still Get Brilliant Films — You Just Don’t Notice

    Every single year, masterpieces are released.

    But they don’t trend.
    They don’t go viral.
    They don’t get 500 million views on TikTok.

    They just quietly exist. They are like intelligent introverts at a frat party. They are overshadowed by the cinematic equivalent of loud, drunk guys doing backflips into a pool.

    Think of films like:

    • Everything Everywhere All At Once
    • Parasite
    • Hereditary
    • Moonlight
    • Arrival
    • Whiplash

    These aren’t “dumb.”
    They’re some of the smartest, boldest stories of the last 50 years.

    The intelligence is there.
    The visibility is not.

    The Real Problem Is That Movies Now Compete With Everything

    In the 70s and 80s, movies competed with:

    • TV
    • Books
    • Maybe the mall

    Today, movies compete with:

    • Instagram
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    • Netflix
    • Twitch
    • Podcasts
    • Dating apps
    • Infinite scrolling
    • Memes
    • News cycles
    • AI-generated dopamine hits

    Filmmakers now have to fight an entire digital battlefield just to keep your eyeballs for two hours. No wonder plots get simpler. No wonder pacing gets faster.

    The game changed.
    And so did the rules.

    So, Are Filmmakers Less Intelligent?

    Short answer: No.
    Long answer: Absolutely not.

    What has declined is the freedom to take risks, not the intelligence to imagine them.

    Today’s filmmakers are juggling constraints that directors 40 years ago couldn’t even imagine:

    • algorithmic pressure
    • global controversies
    • massive budgets
    • social media backlash
    • declining theatre culture
    • shrinking attention spans

    The creativity is still there.
    It’s just forced into narrower lanes.

    The Real Question Isn’t About Filmmaker Intelligence

    It’s this:

    Are we still willing to reward ambitious storytelling?
    Or are we too addicted to predictable dopamine hits?

    Because if audiences only show up for easy entertainment, studios will only make easy entertainment.

    And if audiences don’t support risky films, studios won’t fund risky films.

    It’s not stupidity that kills creativity — it’s indifference.

    So Maybe the Real Intelligence Test… Is Ours

    Before blaming filmmakers, ask yourself:

    • When was the last time you watched a movie without multitasking?
    • When was the last time you chose an original film over a franchise?
    • When was the last time you supported a smaller, smarter film?
    • When was the last time you didn’t say, “Eh, I’ll wait for it to go online”?

    Movies show culture.
    If culture gets noisier, movies get louder.
    If culture gets anxious, movies get safer.
    If culture gets impatient, movies get simpler.

    It’s not that filmmakers are less intelligent.

    It’s that the world got stupidly complicated.

    And filmmaking is just trying to survive it.

  • Are We Emotionally Numb from Modern Entertainment?

    There’s a weird heaviness a lot of us feel, an emotional fog. You’re not sad. You’re not happy. You’re not anxious. You’re just… scrolling.

    And one day, you look up at your screen, Netflix pops up the judgmental “Are you still watching?” message, and you have to confront the painful truth:

    You’ve consumed four hours of stories… without actually feeling a damn thing.

    Modern entertainment has turned us into emotional freeloaders, and most of us don’t even realise we’re coasting.

    Entertainment Used to Be a Treat. Now It’s Emotional Junk Food.

    When I was younger, watching a movie felt like an event.
    My family would plan it, discuss it, and debate it afterwards. There was effort involved.
    If a movie was slow? You stuck with it because that was the one thing you rented that week.

    Today?
    If a show doesn’t entertain us within 17 seconds, we bail.

    We’ve become emotional sprinters. We are not capable of running a marathon. We can’t even walk patiently through a story that takes time to unfold.

    Let me ask you this:

    When was the last time you sat with a scene… without checking your phone?
    When was the last time you let boredom lead you somewhere interesting?

    Exactly.

    The Algorithm Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself

    Algorithms have become emotional bodyguards — they block anything that can challenge, confuse, or stretch us.

    The result?

    • No discomfort.
    • No ambiguity.
    • No emotional heavy lifting.

    Everything is tailored to what we already like, meaning we rarely push beyond the emotional diets we’re used to.

    A while ago, a friend suggested a slow, subtle, artsy film.
    You know what I said?

    “Bro, be serious. I don’t have the bandwidth for a movie that takes its time.”

    And in that moment, I realised: I wasn’t tired, I was emotionally unfit.

    We’re Consuming Feelings on Autoplay

    Modern entertainment gives us ready-made emotions like meal kits:

    • Prepackaged suspense
    • Ready-to-eat sadness
    • Instant dopamine
    • Microwaveable romance
    • Factory-produced inspiration

    You don’t have to imagine anything.
    You don’t have to interpret anything.
    You don’t even have to think.

    Just sit, scroll, and let the algorithm drip-feed emotions into your bloodstream like an IV.

    But here’s the cost:

    We get emotional stimulation without emotional investment.
    It’s like having dessert for dinner, great for the moment, terrible for long-term emotional health.

    We Are Losing the Ability to Sit With Ourselves

    Here’s a small but humiliating anecdote:
    One day, I tried watching a film with long, quiet scenes and character development. After five minutes, I felt itchy.

    Not physically, mentally.
    Like my brain was saying:

    “Hey, where are the explosions? The jokes? The random cliffhanger? HELLO??”

    And I realised… I wasn’t bored.
    I was detoxing.

    Modern entertainment has trained our nervous systems to expect constant stimulation. When we don’t get it, we panic.

    But let me ask you something:

    If a story doesn’t grab you instantly… should that really be a problem?
    Or have our attention spans been hacked without us noticing?

    Be Honest: When Was the Last Time You Felt a Story?

    When was the last time a character stayed with you?
    When was the last time a scene made you sit in silence afterwards?
    When was the last time you chewed on a story instead of inhaling it?

    We don’t need more entertainment.
    We need more engagement.

    There’s a big difference.

    How to Rebuild Your Emotional Muscles

    Here’s what actually works, and yes, I’ve tried all of these to recover from my Netflix-induced numbness:

    1. Choose Stories That Challenge You

    Not just the ones that comfort you.
    Discomfort = emotional gym time.

    2. Consume Slowly (Yes, Like a Normal Human)

    Stop binging.
    Watch. Pause. Think. Absorb.

    Your brain is not a conveyor belt.

    3. Read More

    Books demand imagination.
    They force you to co-create the story instead of passively receiving it.

    This is emotional strength training.

    4. Let Yourself Be Bored

    Boredom is not a glitch — it’s the doorway to creativity, emotional clarity, and self-awareness.

    But only if you stop killing it with your phone.

    5. Discuss Stories With Actual Humans

    This turns passive consumption into meaning-making.

    The Bigger Picture: Emotional Laziness Leads to Emotional Numbness

    If we don’t challenge the way we consume stories, we risk losing something essential:

    • depth
    • patience
    • empathy
    • imagination
    • the ability to stay present
    • the capacity to feel beyond surface-level stimulation

    We become spectators in our own emotional lives.

    And that’s the real danger.

    The Final Question And the One That Actually Matters

    Modern entertainment isn’t the enemy.
    It’s the easy path.
    The comfortable choice.
    The emotional elevator.

    But ask yourself:

    Do you want to be a passenger in your emotional life… or a participant?

    The difference between those two is significant. It is the difference between feeling alive and just watching life happen on a screen.

  • The Art of Creative Resistance: Films That Challenge the Norm

    Most of the stuff Hollywood vomits out these days is predictable as hell. Hero gets powers. Hero fights bad guy. There’s a love interest no one asked for. Cue explosions. Roll credits. Repeat.

    And sure, there’s a place for popcorn flicks (I’m not above watching Vin Diesel punch physics in the face), but there’s something inherently ballsy about the films that don’t follow the script, films that flip the bird to convention, and challenge how we see the world.

    Welcome to the world of creative resistance, where filmmakers don’t just tell stories, they make statements. And those statements are often messy, uncomfortable, and, god forbid, actually make you think.

    What the Hell Is Creative Resistance?

    Creative resistance is what happens when artists say, “Screw the rules,” and use their medium to call out bullshit. It’s less about rebellion for the sake of being edgy, and more about lighting a match in a dark, overly-sanitized room.

    In film, this manifests as uncomfortable narratives, non-linear storytelling, or visuals that make you go, “Wait, what did I just watch?” Think of it as cinema’s version of a middle finger to mediocrity.

    Films That Slap You Awake

    Let’s talk examples. Because abstract concepts are fun and all, but you came here for something real.

    1. Parasite (2019) – Bong Joon-ho took the class divide, wrapped it in satire, suspense, and family drama, and shoved it down the world’s throat. You laughed. You cringed. Then you sat in silence because, holy crap, that ending.

    2. Get Out (2017) – Jordan Peele didn’t just make a horror film, he weaponized the genre to dissect racism, white liberalism, and performative allyship. And he did it without preaching. Just layers and layers of, “Ohhh, that’s messed up.”

    3. The Lobster (2015) – A dystopian comedy about a world where single people are turned into animals if they don’t find a partner? Yeah, it’s weird as hell, but it also pokes at the ridiculous pressure society puts on romantic relationships.

    4. Persepolis (2007) – An animated film based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, this one throws the Western lens off completely and shows the Iranian revolution through the eyes of a teenage girl. Political, poignant, and unapologetically raw.

    5. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) – Because sometimes the only way to explore generational trauma, identity, and existential dread… is with hot dog fingers and googly eyes. Who knew?

    Why This Matters (Spoiler: It’s Not Just About Being “Different”)

    In a world addicted to dopamine, where content is king but context is dying a slow, painful death, films that challenge the norm are a f***ing lifeline.

    They slow you down. They make you question. They remind you that storytelling isn’t just entertainment, it’s how we rebel, reflect, and redefine culture.

    So, What Can You Do About It?

    Watch smarter. Not pretentious, not elitist, smarter. Seek out the stories that don’t beg for your attention but demand your introspection. Support indie filmmakers, international cinema, and anything that makes you a little uncomfortable in your seat.

    Because real art doesn’t cater to comfort zones. It breaks them.

    Final Thought:

    The next time you find yourself scrolling mindlessly through Netflix’s latest algorithm-regurgitated crap, ask yourself: “Am I watching this because I want to? Or because it’s what everyone else is watching?”

    Creative resistance doesn’t require a cape or a crusade. Sometimes, it starts with picking a film that doesn’t play by the rules, and watching the world a little differently afterward.