Hollywood: Culture, Collapse, & Creative Bankruptcy
- Owen Kanienberg
- Mar 21
- 5 min read
By: Owen Kanienberg
The entertainment industry has long been a staple of American culture in addition to being a market commodity for most of the world. Since the creation and publication of its first commercial movie in 1910, Hollywood has served as the quintessential place where art, acting, and expression thrive best. As of recent note however, these themes have taken a backseat while ideas like repeatability and commercialization have slowly crept their way into the limelight. Hollywood has long since left its “golden age” and is inching slowly towards a future of reboots, remakes, and a lot of stagnation in regards to public perception.
When Did This First Start to Happen?
While lazy cash grabs and shameless reutilization of ideas has always existed in the business world of movies and television, it can be hard to pinpoint where exactly the overall decline in quality began. I for one believe that part of Hollywood as a whole is inherently drawn to reutilize past ideas or concepts because it is just an inherent part of storytelling. Things such as character archetypes and plot structures have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years in some cases. But I personally think a line can be drawn between inspiration and borderline plagiarism, even if that line is not easily definable at times.
The era of the early to mid 2000s is the point where I believe the quality of movies and television started to worsen. The New Yorker reports, “The apocalyptic vibes are of fairly recent vintage. The 2007-08 W.G.A. strike, for example, didn’t, and couldn’t, anticipate the ways in which the Internet, and then the tech giants, would upend the television industry.” This writers strike, similar to the one of most recent note, was mainly due to the poorer working conditions as well as the unsatisfactory pay that many writing teams were receiving at the time. As time has gone on, most writing teams have condensed into smaller groups leading to more work being done by half the amount of people that should be doing it. And while this may save more money during the production of a piece of media, it can often lead to the deterioration in both the writing as well as the overall quality of the product.
The Advent of the "Cinematic Universe"
Marvel Studios is a name that is known around the world, and for good reason. For nearly fifteen years they wove together narratives and storylines popular in their older comics while giving them a more modern take. Common movie staples today like post-credit scenes were pioneered by them and the whole superhero genre at the time, not to mention the breakthroughs in technology and computer-generated imagery that their movies ushered in. This explosion in popularity lead to the studio making billions of dollars in addition to an acquisition from Disney. The "Superhero" genre was anticipated to be a passing fad similar to that of the western or noir genre. On the contrary, it and Marvel proved that it was here to stay. For better or for worse.
The billions of dollars that Marvel raked in didn't go unnoticed, and before long, several other big name studios were trying to produce their own "cinematic universes". Sony, Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. Absolutely everybody was clamoring for it. It was a one-way ticket to success on a global scale, and it soon became mundane. Superhero movies came and went, and while a few occasionally stood out based on their own merits, many were left to be forgotten in the public consciousness. The superhero genre quickly became very saturated and mainstream, leaving many people to become disgruntled from the over commercialization of what they had once loved for it's uniqueness. Some studios were adamant in the process, shelving the desire to build up their characters or stories in an effort to rush in new ones as fast as possible. In summary quality was starting to be sacrificed more for quantity.
The Employees Suffer. The Business Does Not.
As people growing tire of a brand or a franchise, they spend less and less money on it, leading to droughts in revenue. Mega corporations like Disney tend to just throw more money at their problems in hopes that it will go away. In this case, they turned to creating their own streaming service while sticking to what was considered "safe" by corporate standards. It didn't work, and in turn they began to lose millions of dollars due to overspending and poor budget management. And it wasn't just Disney that was suffering the same issue, but a lot of other big name Hollywood studios as well. Hundreds of employees were fired from their jobs. Many other began to just quit outright due to harsher working conditions or studio interference on their projects. Soon, another writers strike was held because of the tensions brought about between studios and their employees, mainly in part due to the rise in concerns that their jobs would soon be replaced outright.
Artificial Intelligence is starting to be incorporated more and more into many industries today. A small piece of it has always been there, like a sorting algorithm or an assistant. But the recent technological advancements in generative A.I. has led many Hollywood executives and studios to consider it's use somewhere in the movie making process. This has not resonated well with a lot of people and has been criticized as being another lazy move to help cut costs. Artists as a whole are not too fond about it and personally, I'm not either. Mainly because it something that still very new to a lot of people.
What Awaits For The Future of Entertainment?
Concepts like remakes and sequels of an already established franchise or setting have existed and will likely continue to exist for a long time. They have pretty much embedded themselves into the popular zeitgeist and while people may see them as lazy or uninspired, they still have their fans. Younger audiences especially can often be drawn to the newest or latest movies and television.
However, I believe that lower budget movies and television are the future of what the industry could look like. Not to mention content creation on the internet and such. Lower budget production allows for a team's creativity to truly flourish with the incessant requirements or interference from studios or executives. Studios such as Blum House and especially A24 help to fund passion projects that are started up by individuals or teams of people. Television shows and movies alike are bolstered by them and are able to make a much larger profit due to being much more cheaper then your average Hollywood movie.
Passion and creativity in an idea or a project is something that can't ever really be snuffed out. With both the internet and many other ways to communicate, fans and critics alike are able to state their concerns or opinions about projects or movies that are still in productions. The best way to invoke change is to vote with you wallet after all.
On a final note, I want to make something clear. There are still people, studios, and franchises that are bringing something fresh to the table, and there are still many great movies and television shows present in our world today. Some of these include remakes, reboots and sequels funnily enough. It's not all "doom and gloom" when it comes to the future of entertainment for the masses. Additionally, there are hundreds of pieces of movie quality media that can be seen for free on the internet. Video-essays, fan-created media, and even critiques on already existing franchises or movies are abundant. With that said, I think that while the future of Hollywood may be a little uncertain, it is ultimately up for us to decide.
Hi Owen, I really enjoyed your perspective on this topic. So many franchises are producing stale and unsuccessful shows/films lately. Many of the remakes and live action" films have become the sole producer of reliable profits for these big companies, but how sustainable is that? Like you said, the lazy cash grabs have illuminated the fact that we are in a moment of fatigue in the TV industry. Hopefully, like you said, other artists and creative outlets will continue to produce thought-provoking work that will inspire us to move away from the same old stuff. This was a very timely and interesting read!
Owen, this was such a well detailed post! I liked that you were able to provide dates and sources for your evidence. I too, am tired of remakes and never ending sequels. I feel like GenAI will only exacerbate the lack of creativity further. Just as my grandfather always says, “they don’t make them like they used to anymore!”
Owen, this was a very inspiring read! I think this issue primarily affects Hollywood but definitely extends beyond it when it comes to big corporations. They overestimate how much money can buy, really - at some point, a heartfelt production is what reaches the audience more. I believe that's how movies used to be until they all began to steal ideas from each other. And you're very right about the employees - the worst part about it is that they're viewed as 'replaceable' and there's nothing that can be done to change that, depending on the role they play. Your blog post really brings awareness to that and it's important that we value all the voices and hands that go…
Hey Owen!
This was a great read! I enjoyed this topic because it is something that I have noticed recently. I am a pretty big Harry Potter fan, having read the books and watched the movies. When I heard that they were re-making the movie series I was livid! Well the original movies aren't perfect, they are still done every well. To think that they would chose to re-make them instead of creating new content was frustrating. Like you stated in your blog, project like this seem to be lazy cash-grabs in the grand scheme of things. I hope that in the future companies will realize how their actions are being perceived by the public.
Hi, Owen!
This was a very insightful post—I am not much of a movie buff, nor do I watch much television; I’m primarily a reader. Your post brought to light many things I’ve been noticing—the lack of creativity and authenticity, along with the constant recycling of themes and archetypes from past works. Given GenAI’s continuous growth, I fear it will only exacerbate these issues—just as you mention in your article. I do like how you end your article—it is up to us, the people, to see and dictate Hollywood's future!