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Wyrd Smythe's avatar

Yes! The whole post is quotable; I entirely agree. I think Asian cinema is still telling good stories, but Hollywood seems out of touch. (Compare the Chinese TV adaptation of The Three-Body Problem with the Netflix version.) You mentioned "Everything, Everywhere,...". Another good example.

Modern western storytelling seems to me to have devolved to a narcissistic need for self-reflection. The need people have to "see themselves" in stories. Because modern culture is so traumatic (just scroll through Notes here), this leads to stories centered on our trauma.

Re characters drowning in their own trauma, private detective stories started doing that decades ago (to the point it was parodied). Lee Child's Jack Reacher stories feature a deliberate anti-anti-hero, a good old fashioned Lone Ranger type. We readers and viewers do indeed crave joy as well as sorrow. I'm reminded of the Lucinda Williams song. "I don't want you anymore 'cause you took my joy..."

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Lamar Ramos's avatar

Gonna see anora this weekend finally then I’ll come back to this!

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