When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything changed, including the entertainment industry. Productions were shut down, films and series were delayed, and some content was canceled altogether. As the entertainment world tried to work with the circumstances they were given, audiences and fans were much more forgiving if the quality of the work was not on par with material that came before it. Fans were simply happy to get anything at all; however,  the pandemic is mostly in the rearview mirror at this point, but it feels the entertainment we are receiving is still trapped in a weird limbo. Think of the quality of recent films, shows, music, or video games you have either watched or played. It may feel that even if they are mediocre, we have let them slide more and more.

It seems artists are producing quantity not quality. Think of rapper bbno$, who dropped a new album with 14 songs that is only 33 minutes long. Since a lot of musical success is based on going viral as sounds on social media, it seems artists are putting lesser material together and hoping the internet does the rest of the work. Is it a marketing tool or is it lazy?

It is difficult to calculate if lazy is the right word. A lot of recent media is mediocre, but everyone involved in production has invested a lot of time and effort. Things like the MCU may not be top- tier cinema, but they certainly require a lot of work. It might be more of a shift in audience demand. We tend to want more short-form, action packed schlock than slow-burning character studies or dramas. Similar things are happening with YouTube, with a lot of creators shifting from long-form content like video essays to short-form, TikTok-style videos.

Modern media feels too streamlined, too perfect. With the prevalence of data collection and algorithms in Hollywood,every move feels too calculated, and nothing seems to take a risk anymore. Studios know exactly who is going to see what kind of and listen to what album, where so they will generally green light things to meet their bottom line, rather than honor the sake of the art. This is why a growing number of people tend to prefer more authentic media, as there is some semblance of artistry remaining. None of that is to dismiss the true art that makes it through the mainstream as well, as this is more a general observation.

To quote Schmidt from “New Girl,”: “the economy sucks, bees are dying, and movies are pretty much all sequels now.” At first, this quote seemed only partially true, but since films like “Hocus Pocus 2" I can’t help but agree that Hollywood is squeezing every last ounce of charm and originality out of former classics and cashing them in by something completely lackluster. Take “The Kardashians,” for example. since moving from E! to Hulu, the show has gone from candid, salacious celebrity fun to some scripted and, drawn-out performance. The creators are too intent on attempting to make a profit by resurfacing an old classic. 

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