OPINION: Traditional Entertainment is On the Decline

OPINION%3A+Traditional+Entertainment+is+On+the+Decline

If you go and see a movie, one of the best parts are the trailers that come before. You get to see upcoming movies come to life on the screen, and it’s exciting and thrilling to see glimpses of movies before they come out. However recently, with each trailer we see in the theaters, that feeling of excitement seems to have disappeared. Movies like The Smurfs and Boss Baby make the excitement of upcoming movies decrease. No longer do we sit in theaters, excited to see the new movies coming out this year. Instead, we feel apprehension for which series Hollywood decides to ruin next.

This new apprehension seems to come with each new movie remake that floods the theaters. Some of them are good, but most aren’t. Hollywood decides to resurrect series that were perfectly fine without being resurrected. Entertainment is meant to do just that: entertain. But it seems like movies nowadays are doing the opposite, making us sad to go see the new reboot. There are only a few movies in the next few years that people are actually excited to see. For example, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as most Marvel movies. Even with the hype, those movies might not live up to our expectations. For instance, there was mountains of hype surrounding DC’s Suicide Squad, but it was only a sub-par movie. With these new problems surrounding upcoming movies, it’s no wonder people are losing interest in seeing movies.

With each new movie announcement, there’s more and more suspicion and less hype. Will this movie be good or disappointing? Questions surround each new trailer. Especially in this time of social media, judgment and bias affect our opinions on new movies. Read any movie review on an upcoming movie, and you’ll find that you may not want to see that movie because of the bad things going on behind the scenes. Especially with the the video that came out for A Dog’s Purpose, which depicted one of the main dogs being ‘forced’ into the water. The scandal horrified many people, and some even boycotted the movie. No movie is safe from this time of suspicion and disappointment. Entertainment has started to fail to do the one thing it was created for: entertain. With streaming sites like Hulu and Netflix growing in popularity, the classic visiting-the-theater to see a new movie is falling in popularity.

Sure, there are a few movies this year that have people really excited. Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are incredibly hyped for. It’s starting to feel like there’s only one or two movies each year that really impress people. Entertainment seems like such a solid thing in our lives, ranging from sports to social media, but traditional entertainment, like movies and cable T.V., are losing their familiar fun. It’s easier to stream something from our computers or phones than to go out and see something at the theater.

But the worst thing about the movie industry is its attempt to erase diversity from movies. The ‘Oscars So White’ trend especially hammered this in. Most movies decide to cast white actors and actresses instead of embracing the vast diversity of other actors and actresses. The new Mulan remake is being criticized for casting white actors instead of remaining true to the origin of the story and casting Asian actors. Also, the Ghost In The Shell movie is especially being criticized for completely white-washing the cast. While a lot of African American movies have come out in recent years, there is still a lack of Asian, Hispanic, and LGBTQA+ representation in western movies. People want to see movies that they can relate to, not just movies that show the majority. We are tired of being forced to relate to the boring, white actor in every movie.

The entertainment industry needs to step up their game if they want to have people go out and see what they produce. They need to start making movies that people want to see, like more representation and not the same old movies that have started to become predictable. Those movies are boring, and no one wants to sit in a theater for two hours to be bored. Entertainment needs to go back to entertaining before it dies, or else streaming services are going to take over, and movie theaters will be a thing of the past.