Netflix Is Telling Writers to Dumb Down Shows Since Viewers Are on Their Phones
www.pcmag.com
Amid a push to perfect 'casual viewing,' creatives say streaming execs are requiring them to remove nuance and visual cues, and do things like announce when characters enter a room.

No nuance and characters are saying the obvious stuff, because viewers are looking at another device while watching. We’re so cooked.

  • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    19 days ago

    I remember reading about the making of Stranger Things, on Netflix, by that pair of brothers. They swore to themselves to do exactly 2 things when they made and sold the show: (1) never sell out for the sake of money - especially don’t make stupid CGI animations that suck rather than staying true to the art - and (2) don’t keep the show going longer than like one season, or basically don’t just make them for the sake of making them, but instead keep it tight and only make something with a purpose in mind, you know?

    And that explains why the show went off the deep end immediately, after like the first season. The brothers had a fight and I think split up even over it. One wanted the purity of the show, while the other wanted the cold hard cash.

    Money isn’t wrong. Even the love of money isn’t wrong. It’s wanting it above all else that leads to the enshittification of everything that that attitude touches.

    Fortunately there are other things to enjoy, besides TV:-).

    • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.orgEnglish
      2·
      19 days ago

      I still enjoy watching the final(?) season, but I was very late to the Stranger Things train (watched it ~anyear ago) and the break between season 1&2 was there and quite obvious, especially when you watch them back to back. At the start of season 3 I was like “they’re trying to make the same story arc again, but bigger and escalate it even more right?”

      Now, I’m more interested in how “deep” they manage to go with it and how much they can escalate while retelling basically the same story arc again and again.

      • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        19 days ago

        Easier said than done.

        More generally, human nature is prone to biases, and unless we resist them we will continually fall prey to them.

        For example, just because chasing after money to the exclusion of all else is bad doesn’t make communism good, and even if it were, well I don’t want to get banned from this community by going further there, talking about contemporary and recent examples of nations that tried to implement that:-).

        Stay curious!