1. Genre popularity seems to move in cycles of trends. We’ll certainly look back at the Marvel eta as the time when “the nerds” took over and dominated media. My wife often remarks “I never thought I’d live the day when I saw a serious, high budget interpretation of $
{something that seemed totally underground when she was a teenager}.” I’m sure there’s a market/economic explanation for this, where Studio A and Studio B release popular movies of similar genres around the same time so Studios C-Z plan their releases accordingly. If comedy is waning right now (and I’m not sure it is) it will probably swing back around, just as fantasy and action and horror all have.
2. This article strikes me as being akin to the old “music isn’t good anymore, everything after $
{year} is trash” argument. It’s easy to look back at earlier times, pick out the gems, and decide that it was some magical time. All you have to do is forget about all the crap. (See also: Woodstock 1969 and claims of “life was simpler” about any era imaginable.) It’s hard to compare the current comedy environment to past “golden eras” while we’re still living it.
I can’t say I’ve come across too many recent comedies that absolutely killed me but they’re out there. “Booksmart” (2019) was easily the best new comedy movie I’ve seen in years. Profane and hilarious. Nora from Queens is high up there, too. We probably won’t remember this decade for comedy but I’m sure we’ll look back and identify some clear winners.
Hacker Cinema
1 comment on Hacker News
I’m no expert but two things seem likely:
1. Genre popularity seems to move in cycles of trends. We’ll certainly look back at the Marvel eta as the time when “the nerds” took over and dominated media. My wife often remarks “I never thought I’d live the day when I saw a serious, high budget interpretation of $ {something that seemed totally underground when she was a teenager}.” I’m sure there’s a market/economic explanation for this, where Studio A and Studio B release popular movies of similar genres around the same time so Studios C-Z plan their releases accordingly. If comedy is waning right now (and I’m not sure it is) it will probably swing back around, just as fantasy and action and horror all have.
2. This article strikes me as being akin to the old “music isn’t good anymore, everything after $ {year} is trash” argument. It’s easy to look back at earlier times, pick out the gems, and decide that it was some magical time. All you have to do is forget about all the crap. (See also: Woodstock 1969 and claims of “life was simpler” about any era imaginable.) It’s hard to compare the current comedy environment to past “golden eras” while we’re still living it.
I can’t say I’ve come across too many recent comedies that absolutely killed me but they’re out there. “Booksmart” (2019) was easily the best new comedy movie I’ve seen in years. Profane and hilarious. Nora from Queens is high up there, too. We probably won’t remember this decade for comedy but I’m sure we’ll look back and identify some clear winners.