I just watched the first episode of the new Futurama season and the running gag was their attempt to make fun of the Hulu streaming network (Fulu)… in the year 3023. Not only that, but they also parody Black Mirror which itself parodies Netfix (Streamberry) in their latest season.
What is up with all of this meta stuff? Does anyone actually enjoy it? Is this really the quality of TV prior to AI taking over the writing?
I feel like an old man yelling at the clouds right now ☁️, but look at how they massacred my boy, Futurama!
I think it’s a combination of lazy writing, trying to be ‘in’, and also trying to be smart.
If you want a breath of fresh tv air, let me recommend a brilliant show that has a dedicated cult following and was cancelled after 2 seasons because Netflix gets more subscribers by adding new shows and advertising them instead of pleasing their current audience. The OA. I loved it.
Yes, The OA was quality. Another show I liked was starring Hillary Swank about a first manned mission to Mars and the challenges both the astronauts, their families, and their societies faced.
Cancelled after one season?? It must be amazing! Fuck I hate netflix for their BS. Shitty tv shows get more seasons while the gold gets discarded.
I’ll check it out. On IMDB I was reminded she was in I Am Mother which is a great sci fi movie. At least movies can’t suffer the same fate as series. Kind of. Still want to see a Dredd sequel.
Hillary Swank is one helluva fine actress. I like her because she isn’t typically Hollywood beautiful. She has an imperfect beauty about her that positively radiates.
I really liked The OA, but I thought the end of season 1 was the absolute worst, most cringe-inducing nonsense I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not even being hyperbolic. It almost completely ruined what I thought was a great show before that. Haven’t given season 2 a chance because of it.
Wow I really had the exact opposite reaction, I thought it was great. Heartbreaking and unexpected. If you enjoyed the rest of season 1 you will probably enjoy season 2, the ending is very different to s1 and a bit more mind-bending.
It’s not really lazy writing. It’s just one more symptom of capitalism. Why spend more money to develop ideas when it is cheaper and there are higher profit margins to keep recycling the same old stories but changing a few things.
I’m fascinated by this line of thinking. Are there good shows that’s are also symptoms of capitalism? Is it all parodies? How does one distinguish a show from “capitalism” from one that’s not?
I suppose from one perspective you do have a point––someone never could have published a satire in the Soviet Union.
someone never could have published a satire in the Soviet Union.
I don’t know if you are joking, but there was definitely satire published in the Soviet Union. See Krokodil, a satirical magazine published once a week for the entirety of the lifetime of the Soviet Union itself.
Oh, yes, a single survivor, who’s Wikipedia article calls it out as rare exception. The one that survived by sticking to safe topics like making fun of alcoholics and capitalist nations. All of it’s other peers died, of course. And that definitely compares to the Simpsons 20-something years long career of poking fun at just about every aspect of American culture and government, not to mention the thousands of other satirical print and media works generated by free Western society.
My apologies, I guess you could publish satire in the Soviet Union, provided you were feeling lucky(and willing to bend the knee).
I guess you could call post-modernism and it’s satire a consequence of capitalism. But I can’t call it lazy. I think it’s more of a “there are few opportunities for social critique and commentary where the source has enough means to survive backlash” issue.
And there’s a lot worth critiquing about capitalism, I’m glad someone is doing it and able to live on it.
Its easy comedy. It’s so much easier to write what you’re thinking about when you’re writing the script rather than actually coming up with a joke or something in-character for someone to say. Right up there with references and gross out humor in the lazy writers playbook
Futurama is literally a comedy about everyday life (in the future), and black mirror is literally a commentary on modern day life. Perhaps watch stuff that isn’t focused around parodying or doing comedy on real life stuff?
That said, a lot of metahumor and political commentary ends up in western media these days because the people making and controlling the stuff have this fetishization of deconstruction and attacking everyday things. Hence why it’s so rampant, even in places it doesn’t belong.
I just watched the first episode of the new Futurama season and the running gag was their attempt to make fun of the Hulu streaming network (Fulu)… in the year 3023. Not only that, but they also parody Black Mirror which itself parodies Netfix (Streamberry) in their latest season.
Up front I’ll say I haven’t seen the new futurama or black mirror so I can’t speak directly to these examples, however …
What is up with all of this meta stuff?
On the very specific level of a new Futurama season, I might guess that they’re chasing the Rick and Morty meta success that happened while they were gone, which brings us to the next question:
Does anyone actually enjoy it?
I think in some cases the answer is fairly objectively yes. Rick and Morty is one of the high ratest comedies of recent years, as was Dan Harmon’s prior creation, Community, which are both quite defined by their metaness, as was Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, which won Best Picture and was widely beloved. However…
I think it’s lazy writing. … Is this really the quality of TV prior to AI taking over the writing?
I think you’re entirely correct here that in many many other instances it is lazy writing that quite often ruins itself or whatever it’s grafted onto.
The real satisfying answer that I think you’re looking for though is this one:
Why Do Movies Feel So Different Now? - Thomas Flight
It’s one rooted in cultural trends, and is what would be described as moving from the Post Modern age to whatever we call the post-Post Modern period (the video refers to it as the metamodern period).
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=5xEi8qg266g
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
