It makes me think of the 1978 movie "The Wiz" starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor. Despite the big stars, it isn't generally regarded as a very good movie. Maybe updating "The Wizard of Oz" with disco music wasn't a good idea after all.
I tend to think that the 90s actually did see its analogue to psychedelics in the internet. No need to be a psychonaut and fry your brain anymore; just surf the web. It's the same sort of ideal of connecting with universal knowledge.
There's even a heuristic to track these kinds of awakenings, roughly, and I'm absolutely certain you're not going to guess it. Got it in your head? Okay, wrong, it was "landmark black cinema." The Wiz came out in 1978 after 4 years of the musical. In 1995, we had The Lion King, followed by the Broadway play in 1997. If you look for something repeating the pattern, you find Black Panther in 2018 (alongside a glamour around a specific component of the web, social media and the mature smartphone).
I don't mean to make any sort of causative connection, but perhaps there is something about a widespread desire to "move forward" and "embrace openness" that also benefits the funding of these sorts of productions (and then the subsequent public enthusiasm for them upon release). And there's always a collapse back to conservatism shortly thereafter (Disco Demolition Day and Reagan; Bush and 9/11; COVID and its backlash, and the subsequent failure of Bernie Sanders to beat Joe Biden, and then Joe Biden/Kamala Harris to beat Donald Trump).
The other day I saw Netflix promoting they were streaming the WIZ (The 1970s movie With Michael Jackson FFS)... No new edit of the movie even, just a 40 year old movie that is now re-released for the 120th time, on streaming.
There is often little to no value in new media, it's just rising costs in light of no alternative options for entertainment. Any other business doing that would fail, but these companies are having a field day on re-runs and low-effort content because social media encourages everyone to be isolated indoors on the Internet 24/7 when they're not working for large companies. A lot of the independent films being released rival that of major studios now, and no one is really citing the disparity in quality amidst the rising costs of online entertainment.
I still kept most of my DVDs and a DVD player for the same very reason... I'll replay old movies if there are no new options forever and be happy if I need to. Most modern movies and shows are low-effort and rehashed ideas anyways, especially as Ai editing comes into play, the quality will decline in volumes of lazy work IMO...
The single best way we can send a firm message is by not playing into funding the corruption. Instead of gamified Wall Street investing, high yield saving accounts and gambling on my own business ideas is still risky, but potentially far more profitable and stable than the markets in this new capitalist model.
Don't play the game if the field is skewed for you to lose.
Hacker Cinema
5 comments on Hacker News
It makes me think of the 1978 movie "The Wiz" starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor. Despite the big stars, it isn't generally regarded as a very good movie. Maybe updating "The Wizard of Oz" with disco music wasn't a good idea after all.
I was worried it was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiz_(film)
Exhibit #432 in "Why Punk Happened", just after the Bee Gees movie based on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and right before "The Wiz."
I tend to think that the 90s actually did see its analogue to psychedelics in the internet. No need to be a psychonaut and fry your brain anymore; just surf the web. It's the same sort of ideal of connecting with universal knowledge.
There's even a heuristic to track these kinds of awakenings, roughly, and I'm absolutely certain you're not going to guess it. Got it in your head? Okay, wrong, it was "landmark black cinema." The Wiz came out in 1978 after 4 years of the musical. In 1995, we had The Lion King, followed by the Broadway play in 1997. If you look for something repeating the pattern, you find Black Panther in 2018 (alongside a glamour around a specific component of the web, social media and the mature smartphone).
I don't mean to make any sort of causative connection, but perhaps there is something about a widespread desire to "move forward" and "embrace openness" that also benefits the funding of these sorts of productions (and then the subsequent public enthusiasm for them upon release). And there's always a collapse back to conservatism shortly thereafter (Disco Demolition Day and Reagan; Bush and 9/11; COVID and its backlash, and the subsequent failure of Bernie Sanders to beat Joe Biden, and then Joe Biden/Kamala Harris to beat Donald Trump).
The other day I saw Netflix promoting they were streaming the WIZ (The 1970s movie With Michael Jackson FFS)... No new edit of the movie even, just a 40 year old movie that is now re-released for the 120th time, on streaming.
There is often little to no value in new media, it's just rising costs in light of no alternative options for entertainment. Any other business doing that would fail, but these companies are having a field day on re-runs and low-effort content because social media encourages everyone to be isolated indoors on the Internet 24/7 when they're not working for large companies. A lot of the independent films being released rival that of major studios now, and no one is really citing the disparity in quality amidst the rising costs of online entertainment.
I still kept most of my DVDs and a DVD player for the same very reason... I'll replay old movies if there are no new options forever and be happy if I need to. Most modern movies and shows are low-effort and rehashed ideas anyways, especially as Ai editing comes into play, the quality will decline in volumes of lazy work IMO...
The single best way we can send a firm message is by not playing into funding the corruption. Instead of gamified Wall Street investing, high yield saving accounts and gambling on my own business ideas is still risky, but potentially far more profitable and stable than the markets in this new capitalist model.
Don't play the game if the field is skewed for you to lose.