Are movies getting worse?

It seems to me that the more time passes, the more negative comments I hear about the condition of movies. “They don’t make them like they used to!” I will hear from those around my age. But are movies becoming worse than they were when we were kids? Is it even possible to compare movies? Is there such a thing as “better,” or “worse?” 

Just kidding, I am not going down that rabbit hole.

But my answer to this question is a firm “no.” Movies are not getting worse, we are getting worse. I looked up a few of my childhood favorites on rotten tomatoes, and compared them to some of the movies I have enjoyed in the last few years. The averages are around the same. My childhood classics all average scores in the 60’s to 80’s, and guess what? All my modern-day favorites are also in that range. Heck, many of my new favorites are actually even higher! 

So, what’s the difference? I think a big part of it is our need to react with something negative. Growing up, if we weren’t interested in a movie, we just said “nah!” and didn’t see it. Nowadays, that isn’t enough. Watching reality drama isn’t enough anymore, we have to be the ones starting the feud. We have to unload round after round of venomous poison into every target we can find. 

I believe this is happening because we are leading unfulfilled lives and need something to fill our hearts with. Our lives suck and we don’t want to fix them, so we hate on movies instead. We chase after more and more pleasures, only to find they bring pain. The results are diminishing, so we lash out at the nearest target. Ultimately, if we could learn to step away from the need to say anything at all, we may find that the quality is on-par with what it used to be, it is just a different flavor for a different generation.

This is not to say everything is actually a bed of roses. The presence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has its issues, Disney’s uncertainty of how to evolve, and attempts to push agendas for higher profits are all still pressing issues. I am not hiding in a fortress of denial, shouting down at how the murky swamp below looks lovely. I know things are a mess. But if we were to zoom out and look at the bigger picture, we may find that things aren’t as bad as we make them seem. 

I, for one, am still happy to see good action movies floating around. “Nobody” quickly made its way to my personal top 5, “The Beekeeper” seems to have done well, along with some other titles like “John Wick” and “Fast and Furious” doing quite nicely. Things aren’t so bad after all. Negativity has a way of sticking to us like glue. Unfortunately, we have been rolling around in the negativity for some time now, so we have all sorts of gunk stuck to us.

Ultimately, I am actually pretty happy with the state movies are in. We have some good, some bad, and some controversial. I think where before, a bad movie would go unnoticed, it is now put on blast. We are hunters, looking for target after target to shoot at, instead of spending more time doing something productive. In the end, we feed our own addiction to contempt and disgust, getting ourselves sicker and sicker by the day. Let me know what you think of my take on things. I’d be curious to know if you disagree or not. 

Until next time

Cheers.