When Netflix launched at the turn of the millennium, it was embraced as a godsend by many American movie lovers, especially those who didn’t live near a diversely programmed revival house or well-chosen video store. A quarter of a century later, it’s no exaggeration to say that those days are over. 2020’s streaming-only Netflix not only no longer puts movies on DVD and sends them through the mail (a service that’s hard for younger users to even imagine), but it also ranks almost nowhere as a favorite destination for movie fans. That’s partly to do with a much smaller selection than in the DVD era, especially when it comes to movies older than a decade, but also because the brand has suffered from too many bland, formulaic originals.
Unlike the platform’s various acclaimed multi-episode drama series, “Netflix movies” have not garnered critical respect. But it has the potential to appeal to many, if not particularly attentive viewers, at least if the company’s own viewership data is to be believed. The general semi-involvement of Netflix viewers, as discussed in Nerdstalgic video at the top of the post, This is reflected in the quality of the “movie-shaped products” currently being offered to them.
A far cry from the Hollywood hodgepodge we once expected from made-for-TV movies, these are the kind of movies that top the streaming charts. red notification and electric nation is a big-budget production packed with big stars and massive visual effects. They’re also a tissue of algorithmically approved narrative elements, borrowed images, and third-person jokes, all of which are forgotten as soon as the next piece of content starts autoplaying.
above Latest joe rogan experience podcastBen Affleck and Matt Damon showed up to promote their Netflix movie. The Rip. It didn’t take long for them to open up about the unique challenges of working on that platform in this day and age. Damon said that while action movies used to save their explosive set pieces for later in the story, Netflix is saying, “Can we have a big set piece in the first five minutes? We want people to pay attention. And if we repeat the plot three or four times in conversation, it won’t be terrible, because people are on their phones while they’re watching.” According to the filmmakers, Netflix’s studio notes place great importance on the needs of so-called “second screen” viewers. Netflix is a major studio in its own right at this point.
Meeting the obvious demands of Netflix’s metrics creates what Nerdstalgic calls “visual muzak.” The idea is to maintain enough familiarity and prestige for users to press the play button without attracting enough attention that they press stop. This makes Affleck and Damon’s breakout ’90s studio photo look like something from the Golden Age. “There were a lot of really good independent films being made,” Damon recalls. “They were making bold movies, and everyone was becoming more and more conservative.” In some ways, streaming platforms have vastly expanded access to movies in general. On the other hand, it has suppressed artistic individuality and taken risks with actual cinema. As director Quentin Tarantino pointed out,Because of technology and economics, mainstream cinema frequently falls into periods of creative retrenchment, such as the 50s and 80s. Whether there’s more ’70s or more ’90s ahead, today’s movie buffs can only hope.
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Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages and cultures. he is the author of the newsletter books about cities books as well Home page (I won’t summarize Korea) and korean newtro. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
