We used to need movies to escape.
Now we simply turn on the Washington channel.
Think about it - we’ve got the director, the cast, the plot, the twists, all the elements we loved and expected in motion pictures are found instead in today’s media and politics.
Is this why movies are dying — because our current reality is just more engaging?
I made a quick list to test my theory:
Let’s start with ACTION movies.
Escapism is what action movies are all about right? Tom cruise, Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, we love em!
Move over Tom cruise we’ve got Tom Homan and the ICE raids. Goodbye Jason Statham we’ve got gritty battles at the border with cartels and cinematic R-rated violence.
And replace Liam with Daniel Penny - the quiet everyman-hero story we used to get from the studios.
What about Courtroom Dramas
We loved em in the 90’s (and 50’s) — loved to watch insurance companies sweat or big tobacco pay up or yes even government finally forced to admit their sins.
Movies like —
The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury, A Few Good Men
Now we have the left vs Trump.
It’s constant drama, it’s gotcha moments galore, and yes Aaron Sorkin, sometimes the dialogue even matches your best work.
From Fanny Willis’ boyfriend’s sleepovers and gifted Mercedes’ to Letitia James’ open threats, to Rand Paul vs Fauci and Peter Doocy vs Jenn Psaki.. all perfect in best supporting actor roles.
What about comedies?
Please!
We’ve got Gavin Newsom’s podcast, AOC’s staged stunts, Bill Maher’s weekly red pill sessions, Scott Jennings’ takedowns on CNN, and casting straight out of Charlie’s Angels evident in the current press core.
To be blunt, we’re titillated.
Speaking of titillated, what about Rom-Coms?
Don’t need em cause We’ve got Taylor and Travis, Meghan Markle whining about the press coverage she herself demands, and the anorexic singers fighting the patriarchy while singing about - wait for it - finding a good man.
You couldn’t write it any better.
How about a good Foreign espionage flick?
Why would we possibly need one now? We have people falling from planes during Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, a scene so bizarre it HAD to beat Hollywood.
You know Ridley Scott was jealous.
We’ve got characters with full development arcs: Zelensky from comedian to heroic fighter, Putin from enemy you can’t talk to to the enemy you must talk to, we’ve got Xi Xin Ping vs Taiwan, and the Middle East as a Jason Bourne series with waaay too many sequels.
Even Sean Penn’s narcissistic self-inserts are proof - he knows where the action is.
It’s not on the big screen.
Nope, just real life in the leaked war-room chat 20’s!
What about family drama?
C'mon.
As if Biden and Trump’s families weren’t enough corruption and greed for one country, now we’ve got Elon and his cadre of angry concubines coming back for more bars of gold.
King Nebuchadnezzar eat your heart out.
What about disaster movies?
Covered.
L.A. firestorms, Carolina floods, Ohio toxic train derailments.
You get the picture.
What about art house and indie flicks?
In the trans agenda and drag queen displays we’ve got more oddballs and bizarre sex tragedies playing out than the Castro in 1970’s San Francisco could have ever dreamed of.
What about sci-fi?
Yep we’ve got that covered too thank you very much. We’ve got stranded astronauts and rovers on mars and gazillionaire rocket rescues galore.
Great Titles
Fun and great movies start with fun and great titles right?
Think of these modern events as if they were movie titles:
Goodbye California - A narcissistic Getty-trust fund man-child destroys the most beautiful state in the country with slick hair and a winning smile.
Civil War ‘25 - A blue vs red war breaks out on the border of Oregon and Idaho, pitting a small-town militia against a blue haired mob of non binary childless cat ladies.
The Great Gaslighting - Citizen Kane meets 1984 as the mainstream media takes over entire narratives and successfully convinces people that drugs are healthy and inflation is good.
Now see if your own mind doesn’t write these summaries automatically:
- The President vs Mr Smith (courtroom drama)
- Pandemic Panic (dystopian suspense)
- Press Core Girls Go Patriotic (Frat humor comedy)
- Peril in The Palisades (disaster film)
- Subway Killers of New York (terror)
With true life like this, who has energy left to ESCAPE in the movies?
And escape what?
Reality?
Nah - if you want to escape your hum-drum cubicle life just watch the roller coaster of egos and power struggles playing out right now on the daily.
And speaking of reality we have plenty “realities” to go around.
We have twenty different realities available right on our screens.
Take your pick.
The coastal elite reality is a totally different reality from the blue collar sports-watching bros.
The childless cat ladies (yes they exist) are so far removed from newlyweds and struggling new parents they might as well live on different planets.
Truck drivers, plumbers, welders and construction workers live a far different reality than the online personalities and influencers —
You know the ones - who are still trying to prove masks worked during covid, or that Bernie is really just an innocent country bumpkin from the northeast.
And yet
We’ve always had differences right? In fact we made FUN of our differences, as we made fun of each other.
It was healthy.
Healing.
Cathartic.
Gawd was it cathartic!
There’s nothing healing or cathartic in the movies anymore, that’s why a generation may not need them entirely.
We have real life instead.
And even if we wanted escapism like the good old days - who’s got the time for a two or three hour movie, that you have to purchase tickets beforehand and plan out half a day for?
I don’t.
Do you?
I'm not so sure
interest in movies will ever return.
But I know it isn’t as dependent on Hollywood as I used to think, it might depend more on real life going back to normal.
Whatever that is.
