Screens have been a huge part of our lives, mostly with TV and movies and things, but the analog version of plays and the digital stuff can be too.
TV, for me provides or rather well made TV can provide, certain emotional and cultural touchstones and overall feelings/thoughts in mind. Lately, I have not been impressed, though the canceling of Honey Boo Boo is a good sign if you ask me. I don't like reality TV in general. I think stories have drastically changed in both design, tone, and message. Some of this is good and some of this isn't if you ask me.
Take our vision of the future, it used to be more optimistic. We viewed futuristic cities as full of tall well planned sky scraper buildings and society as progressing. Think Star Trek, the Next Generation. Now, our vision of the future is pessimistic at best and often our visions of the future are either disutopias, smoking craters or both. Even Disney is in on it with Wallie. Optimism used to be overdone and oversimplified, and that is the justification of today's "darker and grittier" version of entertainment. It seems that if things aren't portrayed as dark and depressing, that it is thought of as too poppy and fake. It's sad that things can't be slightly upbeat and address issues/solve them, even in fantasy stories.
Prime example: The Walking Dead. Let me specify, I like the show, but damn is it depressing. There is a reason the show is called "The Walking Dead," and it isn't the zombies: it's the survivors.... The comics and the show aim to deconstruct things by tearing apart society and showing how people interact with one another without society functioning. It's a useful tool, and I get it, but again, depressing as hell. I get the drama creation, I do, but it seems to my (perhaps slanted view) that everything is depressing today. The optimists are portrayed as naive and even if they aren't, then they're doomed. What's sad is that it's a sadly realistic portrayal of how a lot of people would react to societal collapse.
Compare and contrast to Battlestar Galactica, the newer series. Similar premise if you think about it... Societal collapse, limited resources, various factions struggling for control, and robots instead of zombies. There's even the long term goal of reaching some far away place (won't ruin it if you haven't seen).... The difference, though there are factions and fracturing discipline,
you've still got people pulling together. You've also got your hero characters, who despite struggling through some pretty heavy shit, pull through it: Starbuck, Apollo, etc. You even have complex looks into the enemy cylons who now look like us, and some of them don't like what they are and have to deal with that to the point where it becomes a major plot point.
See the difference in tone between The Walking Dead, and Battlestar? Sure one's in the future and robots instead of zombies, but it's the tone. TWD is more grusome, perhaps partially by nature, but Battlestar deals with some pretty bad stuff too including complicity with the enemy to commit nuclear genocide upon billions.... They're both pretty well written series if you ask me, and pretty complicated, but one is far less depressing and hopeful.
Groups seem to play a far lesser role in recent media than they did before. The tone is far darker too. I miss that.
Edit:
Tempest:Tempest was another view of the human soul by Shakespeare and adapted, I thought, a view of a tri soul for humans much like Freud's ID Ego and Superego. Ariel was the Main Character's higher nature, while Caliban was seen as his baser nature. As the play ends, he is both able to accept his brutal nature ("this thing of darkness I acknowledge mine" he says when taking responsibility for Caliban) while letting go of his connection with higher, powerful forces ("then to the elements be free, and fare thou well" he says, setting Ariel free). I thought it was pretty well done, especially considering the time frame in which it was written.
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Topic: TV, movies shows, plays and other cultural things (Read 1314 times)