Pandering. And more specifically pandering to a stupid audience. That's the jist in a single sentence. Read to understand this (hopefully) better.
I've seen 10/10's saying, "its just art", "I thought it was well done", "I love the casting", "I love the plot", "in my opinion it's a great remake". It's hard to rebut literally any of these statements while not coming off as elitist or condescending. It's a dead end argument. How am I to convince or persuade someone who simply says straight from the start, "well it's art". Game of Thrones Season 8 was "art". Did that make it good? Resoundingly, no, it was quite terrible and scatter brained. So, to those of you perplexed by why so many things you really like have an astounding amount of negative feedback, perhaps consider the following:
Hollywood and American entertainment THINK YOU ARE STUPID. And the ultimate sad truth is, well, maybe a lot of us are now. Yes, they really do. That's pretty much the summarized theme of the output from Hollywood over the last 40 years.
The difference between UK television and American television couldn't be more obvious. It's a known fact that a large portion of original series actually start in the UK first prior to airing as an American version. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. But almost always, the UK follows a story format more akin to "classic film" story telling, while America follows "classic movie" story telling.
What's the difference between a subjective "film" vs a "movie"? Bladerunner vs. Avengers. The Godfather vs. The Expendables. It's the difference between a motion picture trying to tell you something, versus a motion picture trying to wow you. Two totally different animals. And guess where Utopia (2020) and Utopia (2013) fall?
An instant example is if you compare US Utopia's Arby character alongside the original Arby from the UK. Bring it up on your laptop, just clips from YouTube, playing at the same time in two different windows. US Arby stares after killing someone...and then does a weird moaning scream realizing what he's done. UK Arby only pants in heavy breathes, emotionless and silent let for a single eye twitch. Which comes off as the more psychotic killer to you?
In US Utopia, every character screams, shouts, yells, in response to an event happening or someone getting injured or murdered. They immediately repeat out loud what just happened, or some other quip to acknowledge the moment (seriously rewatch and write down every time it happens). In UK Utopia, everything is much more quiet. Screaming, yelling, are only raw emotions that are delivered in rare bursts. The responses are proportional and realistic, but MOST importantly, information is not repeated. You the viewer just saw UK Arby shoot someone in the head - why would Grant or Jessica need to rehash what Arby just did, in literal dictation to you, the viewer?
The only time "repeating" occurs in storytelling is when a character is in disbelief at what just happened, OR the screen writers are concerned the audience couldn't even absorb the moment it was so shocking or quick. If that's the case, US Utopia's characters have a whooooooole lot of disbelief, shock and awe, all the time, every 5 minutes, every episode, for the entire season - OR, Hollywood literally thinks you are too stupid to follow events within a plot. Repeat this overexaggerated repetition and acting gag for 6 more episodes and congrats, your show is exhausting to watch.
The UK show encouraged and often made the viewer really guess and think as to what's going on. The US show predictably overplays literally everything happening clear as day leaving no suspense or mystery.
Sitting down to watch the "tube" is an expression of plugging in and turning off - it's allowing something else to think, feel, and entertain you for a few hours. Good films, good TV shows, good entertainment stands out as "good" because it doesn't do this - it sucks you in, makes you uncertain, begs you to feel something that comes from within and not from the screen. Unfortunately, the public opinion on "good" has gone south, now anything that you like is "good", regardless of whether or not it has a soul and purpose.
It's a repeated tragedy and slope that Hollywood has slid down into, and likely won't recover from as long as it makes it's audiences agree.
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