This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Yes. I fully agree with these criticism of the modern movie industry. That said, I think TV is getting interesting again; after the Golden Age of the 2000s (The Wire, The Sopranos, The West Wing, Six Feet Under) and the Silver Age of the early 2010s (Breaking Bad. Mad Men, early Game of Thrones), we’ve had a rocky few years, with far too many streaming services chasing too few eyeballs. But The White Lotus, Ted Lasso, and Severance are both excellent and are new IPs, if I’m not mistaken.
Is Ted Lasso still good? Cause I've heard awful things about the last season (I was going to binge after it ended) and this doesn't inspire confidence.
Shit. That accords very well with the Atlantic review I saw that claims it's confused itself for prestige TV.
I can't fathom how anyone thought that was a good idea.
Perhaps the natural extension of treating prestige TV as a movie alternative?
Perhaps. Exceedingly silly idea to take something that makes sense for Game of Thrones and apply it to a comedy.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Do you mean season 3? I haven't watched season 3 yet (because I haven't felt like being sad), but my brother has been watching and said he has been enjoying it same as usual.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
A reason for why people feel like there has been such a decline in visual storytelling I think is due to how it has declined.
Firstly, while some kinds of "prestige" shows and movies have been made throughout this entire period but in contrast to earlier eras some genres have been practically abandoned, like comedy.
Secondly, I feel like the some current trends just are much shallower creative wells than earlier trends. The most prominent example of this is irony, meta commentary and deconstruction. This is further exacerbated by a ton of things effectively being serials, which do run out of steam eventually, even if the underlying concepts doesn't.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link