RIP Entertainment
This past weekend I’ve participated in a musical for our school’s fall choral production. I was so excited to be up on stage with fancy lights, cool costumes, and of course the singing. Anyways, before our show began, our choral director opened the show with a little experience she had while on a choral trip to Estonia. She encountered a native, and as they were talking about music, she talked to him about the following:
Teacher: It’s amazing that there aren’t any movie theaters around here. Why is that?
Estonian: A movie is something you observe. A performance (musical, theater, etc.) is something you share.
Even though I don’t understand the meaning of what he said, his answer astounded me. Since I couldn’t find the meaning exactly, I started to ponder around it. I wondered, “Why aren’t there many live performances out there these days?” I know that there is always that video/DVD/Blue Ray option, but visiting something live is just something that you’re in. Even though you’re sitting in the stands, you’re part of the show. You get to see everything unfold in front of you. I even went farther with that statement and wondered…what the hell happened to today’s entertainment?
Back in the good old days, every type of media that has ever been released such as a song or movie had a bit of creativity inside it. I admit that not everything was totally original, but it wasn’t as boring as the entertainment of today. Nothing was ever focused on the “glitz and glamor” of one person/trend/whatever. Everything that was placed out there in the world of entertainment takes us to a different world, yet no matter how things were different from the fantasy and reality, we always end up relating to the different conflicts and experiences that the characters go through. I remember the days when a person got famous because they had talent, not because they were the hottest thing since the sun. Not to mention, people wanted to know more about a certain celebrity because of that said talent.
Nowadays, entertainment sucks. There isn’t a “fantasy world” out there anymore. I know that there are some people that dislike fantasy-type things, but everything entertaining that comes out in the media should relate to us in an entertaining matter. Now, by entertainment I don’t mean things that only make us in a good mood. Real entertainment takes our emotions and experiences, and expresses them in an appealing manner while helping us understand them better.
Everything that is shown today is focused on glamorized drama. Take, for example, the MTV show The Hills. I only watched 15 minutes out of a full episode and I started to get angry because of all the drama and hatred that was on that show. Seriously? If I wanted drama/hatred, I’d start a really nasty rumor about the most popular kid in school. And there you go…instant drama/hatred!
Nobody likes things that have substance anymore. By substance, I mean things that have good quality on the inside. (Almost) everyone just loves how the media portrays people, by turning the most ugliest bitches into superstars because that have that T&A that girls want and guys drool over. Whatever happened to personality? Whatever happened to talent? Whatever happened to both in a person?
Looks are only good so long before the next hottest thing comes in. After that, now what? You’re just washed up without any future opportunity. And this is where drama comes in. Somehow, people are entertained by seeing fights and a different change of mood. Of course things can’t be happy all the time, but why is everyone so fascinated with drama over little things? And that’s how the media keeps making more money.
I honestly don’t know what happened here. Is there really nothing that anyone can come up with to save us from this monotony? A lot of the current media I see is the same…just with a different name and look. This not only applies to TV and movies, but to music, books, etc. that anyone can start. I just hope that in the end, we don’t suffer through a US version of the Dark Ages because of so called “creativity block”.