Between games like Space Marine 2 and Astro Bot, and movies like Twisters bucking "modern audience" chasing trends, could we finally be seeing the early signs of Western entertainment healing?
Perfect timing! Literally waiting for Space Marine 2 to download as we speak! I'm like you, my last bought game was Halo Infinite which despite having great potential, sucked ass. Would be awesome if this was a sign the tide is changing. But you're right - one benefit of crap games is getting more reading done. And certainly I've done a lot more reading lately. In fact, I'm quite skeptical of video games even being a net positive for society - given all the atrocious hours I've spent playing when I could have doing a range if more productive things. In saying that, I do have magical memories of exploring virtual worlds with my friends, so I decided a while ago that I would only purchase a new game if I could play with friends ... And Space Marine 2 looks like that game, for now.
I’m not a gamer (pretty sure my endless rounds on Fishdom does not count as there’s no storytelling really) but I’d like to see something in the movie theatres that isn’t some constant action rubbish. As much as I might enjoy both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman mugging the screen, I haven’t seen any of the other films so I would definitely not get any of the meta.
I suspect that the DEI problem resides in the writers room. A lack of diversity there means a lack of diversity, of nuanced characters, on screen.
I skew left in my politics (I won’t say how far) and I don’t like obvious politics inserted into a character’s mouth — unless it is something they would say anyway. Show me the story, the characters, the adversities, etc so there’s empathy. I may agree with what’s being said but I still twitch when it’s overtly delivered.
I mean, this is why I watch Korean drama. Nobody looks like me, or thinks like me, the culture is very different, but the characters and stories are so rich and fascinating, even if the parents or bosses sometimes devolve into tropes. And I can tell when Western influences creep in because then I get a shoot-em-up gang of stereotypes vs something with actual depth. (“Space Sweepers” (top of the line Korean cast, absolute rubbish script although it had some moments) vs “Sisiphus” (top cast, brilliant in depth look at post-apocalyptic life and how it all happened). Honestly, if they’d made “Space Sweepers” a series it might have been better, but I have seen the hand of Western media companies in some of the K-Dramas lately. It’s like they’ve forgotten what made these good in the first place.)
That was one hell of a parenthetical. Anywho, just my two cents.
I think I mentioned this when Royce first uploaded his video on DEI, but it's worth saying again. DEI is a weapon used by thise who want to demoralize Western society. So, blaming DEI for media failures is like blaming a gun for killing someone. It's involved, as the tool used, but we need to look deeper. Anyway, good article. I'm always very glad I found this circle of the internet, because it does give me a bunch of new things to read.
Perfect timing! Literally waiting for Space Marine 2 to download as we speak! I'm like you, my last bought game was Halo Infinite which despite having great potential, sucked ass. Would be awesome if this was a sign the tide is changing. But you're right - one benefit of crap games is getting more reading done. And certainly I've done a lot more reading lately. In fact, I'm quite skeptical of video games even being a net positive for society - given all the atrocious hours I've spent playing when I could have doing a range if more productive things. In saying that, I do have magical memories of exploring virtual worlds with my friends, so I decided a while ago that I would only purchase a new game if I could play with friends ... And Space Marine 2 looks like that game, for now.
I’m not a gamer (pretty sure my endless rounds on Fishdom does not count as there’s no storytelling really) but I’d like to see something in the movie theatres that isn’t some constant action rubbish. As much as I might enjoy both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman mugging the screen, I haven’t seen any of the other films so I would definitely not get any of the meta.
I suspect that the DEI problem resides in the writers room. A lack of diversity there means a lack of diversity, of nuanced characters, on screen.
I skew left in my politics (I won’t say how far) and I don’t like obvious politics inserted into a character’s mouth — unless it is something they would say anyway. Show me the story, the characters, the adversities, etc so there’s empathy. I may agree with what’s being said but I still twitch when it’s overtly delivered.
I mean, this is why I watch Korean drama. Nobody looks like me, or thinks like me, the culture is very different, but the characters and stories are so rich and fascinating, even if the parents or bosses sometimes devolve into tropes. And I can tell when Western influences creep in because then I get a shoot-em-up gang of stereotypes vs something with actual depth. (“Space Sweepers” (top of the line Korean cast, absolute rubbish script although it had some moments) vs “Sisiphus” (top cast, brilliant in depth look at post-apocalyptic life and how it all happened). Honestly, if they’d made “Space Sweepers” a series it might have been better, but I have seen the hand of Western media companies in some of the K-Dramas lately. It’s like they’ve forgotten what made these good in the first place.)
That was one hell of a parenthetical. Anywho, just my two cents.
I think I mentioned this when Royce first uploaded his video on DEI, but it's worth saying again. DEI is a weapon used by thise who want to demoralize Western society. So, blaming DEI for media failures is like blaming a gun for killing someone. It's involved, as the tool used, but we need to look deeper. Anyway, good article. I'm always very glad I found this circle of the internet, because it does give me a bunch of new things to read.