Is Inspiration Kinda Dead?

[Iamslow]

Something that has really been bothering me lately is the seemingly sharp decline in inspired works outside the internet. Maybe it's just me and I'm a critic at heart or something, but the only notable things I've been seeing lately are remakes or sequels of everything- especially with movies -that have been amazingly successful in the past that people are really going for. At first it seemed seriously unfair and insulting to post this, but nothing that's actually new has jumped out and punched me in the face, demanding that I take interest in it, is what I'm saying, and that's why I've basically been using the internet as a primary source of entertainment these days because I'm basically bored with everything else. It's been since the last Star Wars movie that I've actually been to a theater, and my T.V is basically off all day now unless I'm playing Wii on it. Music seems to have gotten away without any problems yet, thankfully.

So what happened? Has everything been done to death, to hell and back again or am I far too picky? Do I expect too much out of people who are supposed to entertain us, or does it only make sense that the entertainment industry is out of new, marketable ideas after such a long run? For that matter and perhaps most importantly, where are the new characters that everybody is going to remember for years to come? I'm not seeing them at all. Anywhere.

Does anyone feel the same way or am I just completely out of touch on this? I'd like to be dead wrong about what I'm thinking right now, but it's really going to take some serious discussion to sway me.

 

[Echo]

I actually think that's it's music that's been going downhill lately rather than other entertainment. Just because there have been remakes/sequels of popular movies, such as Bond, Indiana or Batman, doesn't mean that there aren't any good movies out there. Horror films have got outrageously better in the last few years with memorable characters in them, Jigsaw from the Saw series for example. And how on earth do you know that some characters in today's movies aren't going to be remembered in the future? In my opinion, the first couple seasons of Lost and Prison Break were outstanding and drama series like House are pretty nice as well. So I don't think the TV-programs aren't all that bad either.

Hell, it's a matter of opinion anyways. The creators of entertainment can't appeal to everyone but appealing to the majority is the main thing if you want to make a living out of the business.

The gaming industry has been taken to a whole new level and it's developing constantly as gaming is a huge part of entertainment nowadays. With consoles like Wii and Xbox 360, games have taken large leaps forward as for what comes to entertaining.

Also, I can't really think of any entertainment in the internet that's so much better than other forms of entertainment. Funny Youtube videos, forums, games, social picture-posting sites, and messaging services - I don't get what's the big deal if you consider those better entertainment than (good) remakes of old ideas. I might be missing something here though.

You can close your eyes and think that there's only mainstream, sell-out entertainment or you can open them and actually think about it for a moment.

 

[jamespicone]

Semi-recent innovative videogames you may not have heard of:
World of Goo
Dwarf Fortress

Not sure on the movies front or the music front, because I don't really do either all that much, but as for TV shows, well, depending on your interests, some TV shows that are semi-recent that you may not have seen (And may be slightly different from 'normal' TV)

- Scrubs
Scrubs is seven years old by now, so it might not exactly count for the purposes of this, but it's brilliant. A very quirky comedy set in a hospital, basically. Not sitcom-style - the comedy is closer to Monty Python (Although not nearly as absurdist). I highly recommend it

- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Animu, if you're into it. Sort of a super-robot anime, but really, really, really awesome. You sort of have to watch most of it before you really understand why, but it's easily the best anime I've ever watched - not that I watch much, but still, I rate it highly. No official English translation around yet, though.

- Arrested Development
Another comedy series. This one is from 2003. Very quirky, quite funny. Mixes some extremely subtle humour involving contrasts between various characters and the narrators pronouncements (Think the original version of The Office (Not the terrible American one)) with some more obvious and similarly hilarious wit. Whereas Scrubs is absurdist, Arrested Development is just plain witty.

 

[GoldenRifle]

Horror films have got outrageously better in the last few years with memorable characters in them, Jigsaw from the Saw series for example.

While I agreed with most of what you said, I thought this comment was silly. Horror films are by far the genre that got the biggest beating the last few years. I don't recall any horror movies that scared me shitless recently, no, not even a small jump. Saw is a "good" horror film at best, however the sequels pretty much killed the horror suspense it had.

There has barely been any new ideas in the horror industry, most horror movies are just shameless remakes.

 

[Echo]

While I agreed with most of what you said, I thought this comment was silly. Horror films are by far the genre that got the biggest beating the last few years. I don't recall any horror movies that scared me shitless recently, no, not even a small jump. Saw is a "good" horror film at best, however the sequels pretty much killed the horror suspense it had.

There has barely been any new ideas in the horror industry, most horror movies are just shameless remakes.

Watch The Strangers, which is certainly quite nice. And the shortness of it is something that isn't commonly used in horror movies. The new Finnish horror movie, Sauna, was pretty cool too. Definitely innovative. I always thought the Ring and the Grudge were quite decent as well.

Also, these days horror movies can scare only by annoyingly loud scenes where some monstrosity pops out from the dark. Horror movies can't really even scare people anymore like they could in the era of Halloween/Texas Chainsaw Massacre/others. That was the time when all these special effects and well-made (at that time well-made) horrendous creatures/murderers could scare people because they weren't so accustomed to being scared by something supernatural or the like.

I think today's horror movies aim to entertain rather than try and scare people. The latest horror movies don't tend to follow the same standard horror movie of the 80s -pattern where you have this insane serial killer who can't be stopped by anything. Yet, as I said in my previous post, it's a matter of opinion anyways. Something that seems great to someone, seems adequate at best to the other and terribly flawed to another.

 

[Iamslow]

I actually think that's it's music that's been going downhill lately rather than other entertainment.

If so, I still think the entertainment industry is taking more hits in places that are critical to it's success.

Just because there have been remakes/sequels of popular movies, such as Bond, Indiana or Batman, doesn't mean that there aren't any good movies out there.

I'm fine with remakes and sequels- If you got something going well for you why ever stop? It's just seems that they've been so reliant on making more sequels and remakes now more than ever is all I'm saying. Plus, seeing commercials for the inevitable talking animal movies is really getting old- they've really pushed that down our throats.

Horror films have got outrageously better in the last few years with memorable characters in them, Jigsaw from the Saw series for example. And how on earth do you know that some characters in today's movies aren't going to be remembered in the future?

I just don't see the references to the "classics" disappearing and being replaced with some of this newer stuff. Parody is often the reason why we remember stuff, but if nothing really stands out about it or if there's something more recognizable to parody, nobody is going to take their time parodying it.

In my opinion, the first couple seasons of Lost and Prison Break were outstanding and drama series like House are pretty nice as well. So I don't think the TV-programs aren't all that bad either.

Okay, I've seen House. It's a great show. I haven't watched Lost or Prison Break at all, though, because nothing really interested me about it from watching the commercials. I'll have to look into those.

Hell, it's a matter of opinion anyways. The creators of entertainment can't appeal to everyone but appealing to the majority is the main thing if you want to make a living out of the business.

I find that to be true.

The gaming industry has been taken to a whole new level and it's developing constantly as gaming is a huge part of entertainment nowadays. With consoles like Wii and Xbox 360, games have taken large leaps forward as for what comes to entertaining.

Also true.

Also, I can't really think of any entertainment in the internet that's so much better than other forms of entertainment. Funny Youtube videos, forums, games, social picture-posting sites, and messaging services - I don't get what's the big deal if you consider those better entertainment than (good) remakes of old ideas. I might be missing something here though.

It's more of a convenient last resort when I'm bored or need a cheap laugh, but it's shear convenience is what makes it so entertaining despite being an artificial universe of helpful information.

You can close your eyes and think that there's only mainstream, sell-out entertainment or you can open them and actually think about it for a moment.

I'll try.

Semi-recent innovative videogames you may not have heard of:
World of Goo
Dwarf Fortress

I've heard of World of Goo and I've been meaning to take a look at it.

Not sure on the movies front or the music front, because I don't really do either all that much, but as for TV shows, well, depending on your interests, some TV shows that are semi-recent that you may not have seen (And may be slightly different from 'normal' TV)

- Scrubs
Scrubs is seven years old by now, so it might not exactly count for the purposes of this, but it's brilliant. A very quirky comedy set in a hospital, basically. Not sitcom-style - the comedy is closer to Monty Python (Although not nearly as absurdist). I highly recommend it

- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Animu, if you're into it. Sort of a super-robot anime, but really, really, really awesome. You sort of have to watch most of it before you really understand why, but it's easily the best anime I've ever watched - not that I watch much, but still, I rate it highly. No official English translation around yet, though.

- Arrested Development
Another comedy series. This one is from 2003. Very quirky, quite funny. Mixes some extremely subtle humour involving contrasts between various characters and the narrators pronouncements (Think the original version of The Office (Not the terrible American one)) with some more obvious and similarly hilarious wit. Whereas Scrubs is absurdist, Arrested Development is just plain witty.

I've heard alot about Gurren Lagann everywhere as though it's best Anime, so I'm definately going to look into it. I haven't enjoyed one since Death Note. However, comedy really seems to be holding it's own just about everywhere I look.

While I agreed with most of what you said, I thought this comment was silly. Horror films are by far the genre that got the biggest beating the last few years. I don't recall any horror movies that scared me shitless recently, no, not even a small jump. Saw is a "good" horror film at best, however the sequels pretty much killed the horror suspense it had.

There has barely been any new ideas in the horror industry, most horror movies are just shameless remakes.

I'm agreeing with you- Horror movies are really getting weak, especially in concept, but even worse in their definition of what's supposed to scare us.

I'm thinking we've just been desensitized to the idea of horror that's it's actually just weird now and not really scary.

 

[Peachfuzz]

Well, both the movie industry and the videogame industry tend to go with what is "safe". Hopefully you realize exactly how much money is put into a game or a movie, and most companies aren't willing to take that risk (only if you're Nintendo will that risk work...), especially now that consumer spending is constantly decreasing. Companies will make safe games like rehashed shooters and uninspired racers, because they know that people will buy it no matter what. A huge profit is rarely met when a novel game comes out, and companies kind of just lose hope.

 

[DM]

Re: horror movies... Horror is horror, but suspense movies are what make you jump. There has been a very glaring lack of good suspense movies recently, and I can't stand the Saw's and Hostel's and all that slasher garbage. It doesn't frighten me, it just tries to gross people out and push the boundaries of filth.

I do agree with Echo about the decline of music. I believe a lot of that can be tied into the way MTV (and by extension VH1) has been managed over the last 15 years: greed. Instead of pushing artistic integrity, they cater to the less intelligent consumers and now the product is just trash. When was the last time you saw a music video on an MTV channel that didn't have a number on it?

Yes, I do believe inspiration is markedly decreasing. It seems like every other movie is a remake, another bloated action movie, an overworked and unnecessary sequel... it sickens me.

 

[Iamslow]

Well, both the movie industry and the videogame industry tend to go with what is "safe". Hopefully you realize exactly how much money is put into a game or a movie, and most companies aren't willing to take that risk (only if you're Nintendo will that risk work...), especially now that consumer spending is constantly decreasing. Companies will make safe games like rehashed shooters and uninspired racers, because they know that people will buy it no matter what. A huge profit is rarely met when a novel game comes out, and companies kind of just lose hope.

I realize lots of money goes into these things, and yes, it's never bad to stick with a winning plan, but I doubt it would bankrupt these companies to give something entirely crazy new a shot once and a while more.

Maybe if they did something that made them stand out really well once, people would identify them as an interesting company that did interesting things, even if things that came after the best thing they did disappointed greatly.

Re: horror movies... Horror is horror, but suspense movies are what make you jump. There has been a very glaring lack of good suspense movies recently, and I can't stand the Saw's and Hostel's and all that slasher garbage. It doesn't frighten me, it just tries to gross people out and push the boundaries of filth.

I'd like to see more suspense myself.

The last thing I'm thinking of that I thought was really suspenseful was a certain Resident Evil movie. I can't put a name right now to which one I'm thinking of, but that was definitely horror/suspense done right and, for the first time ever, I actually questioned the main character's mortality, whereas with most other movies I just knew they would live...

I do agree with Echo about the decline of music. I believe a lot of that can be tied into the way MTV (and by extension VH1) has been managed over the last 15 years: greed. Instead of pushing artistic integrity, they cater to the less intelligent consumers and now the product is just trash. When was the last time you saw a music video on an MTV channel that didn't have a number on it?

I guess I never thought about it that way, but that does make sense.

Yes, I do believe inspiration is markedly decreasing. It seems like every other movie is a remake, another bloated action movie, an overworked and unnecessary sequel... it sickens me.

It's definitely not looking good, but I'm starting to feel a little better after reading through this thread again. Though yes, they're still are lots of things to be discouraged by.

 

[Glen]

it's not that inspiration is decreasing, it's that people are getting stupider by the fucking second.

they want the same boring bullshit that they're used to because 'new = bad', and the market capitalizes on it by filling every medium up with trite nonsense.

the consumer culture we are a part of is based on passively absorbing entertainment, not on actively appreciating it. people are scared of new things.

 

[Thunderpup]

While I agreed with most of what you said, I thought this comment was silly. Horror films are by far the genre that got the biggest beating the last few years. I don't recall any horror movies that scared me shitless recently, no, not even a small jump. Saw is a "good" horror film at best, however the sequels pretty much killed the horror suspense it had.

There has barely been any new ideas in the horror industry, most horror movies are just shameless remakes.

It says in your profile you are fifteen years old.

Is it possible that it's just a side-effect of you growing older that movies scare you less?
As you get older, you get scared less.
Watching SAW at age 20 isn't as scary as SAW at age 8.

 

[GoldenRifle]

It says in your profile you are fifteen years old.

Is it possible that it's just a side-effect of you growing older that movies scare you less?
As you get older, you get scared less.
Watching SAW at age 20 isn't as scary as SAW at age 8.

Possibly, I think the scariest movie I saw when I was a kid was Child's Play just because my imagination was running wild at that age and all of the possibility that came in my head after seeing that movie...no fun at all...

But you know, I think horror movie all together sucks when you watch too much of it. Most horror movies I see now, I know "How it'll play". I know that most suspense scenes aren't going to give the fright I should have and the fright appears in a random scene in which you kinda had a hunch it would come.

That's just me though and I've watched plenty of horror movies because my parents and friends would always force me into these type of movie to see how scared I could be (and believe me anything could wet my pants when I was younger).

 

[Iamslow]

it's not that inspiration is decreasing, it's that people are getting stupider by the fucking second.

they want the same boring bullshit that they're used to because 'new = bad', and the market capitalizes on it by filling every medium up with trite nonsense.

the consumer culture we are a part of is based on passively absorbing entertainment, not on actively appreciating it. people are scared of new things.

You've really got something here.

I haven't seen anyone really sit down and talk about a movie or anything and tell people why it's so awesome. They just say "It's awesome" when they have so much time to say more about what it meant to them.

I can see why people are scared of new things, because if they know nothing about what they're getting into they could see it as a waste of time or money. They want something they're pretty sure they'll kinda like, but taking the risk of finding something new feels so much more rewarding if you turn out to like it- it can really stick to you sometimes over something that's practically everything else but with different names for characters.

 

[M4GNITUDE]

The horror genre is a hot topic with me. It's not horror anymore, as above people have said. It's now just senseless:
"Look at how many ways I can kill you. Why? Who cares!? It's scary dammit!"

I can't stand horror movies. Plotless gorefests with dumb people who get killed.

If I wanted to go see hot blond chicks scream I'd watch porn.
Actually....that seems like a good idea right about now.

 

[CaptKirby]

Inspiration is never dead. If you want a good site to see inspiration daily, check out http://boingboing.net/, which covers a wide variety from books to videos to general principles of thought to daily interesting gadgets, or just anything interesting and slightly unique, really.

Innovation and replication will both always occur, oftentimes together, but there will always be new ideas or reinterpretations of ideas. Super Mario Galaxy may not be that fun for you, but its system of play was pretty unique, I would think. Mars Volta - Bedlam in Goliath came out last year and was unlike anything I had ever heard before (and not very similar to their preceding albums in anything but vocals).

Even if it does not necessitate innovation in the aspects of the work, the impetus of new technology always drives forward new products that are probably better. All new anime seems to be coming out in 720p high definition rips, whereas old stuff like Trigun is 480p or whatever. New stuff is being done with art in anime because of this that could not be done before! Whether the art styles are that different or not, whether they are 'newly inspired', which I doubt, they are able to produce a different looking and superior product that is different than what has come before because of technology. Similar advances will keep coming :) For every Michiko to Hatchin that does not take advantage of the new art, you have a Soul Eater that does.

(Tengan Toppan Gurren Lagann is not that inspired or anything, but it is worth watching).

 

[Iamslow]

I see what you mean.

Thanks for that link. I'll be visiting that site alot I think.