The entertainment industry has developed into a considerable part of human lives and, to some extent, animal lives, too. There is a lot of talk about how bad using the phone is. Wouldn’t movies and television be just as bad? They certainly could be, in large doses, just like phone use.
Why do I care what is happening? Because entertainment is an integral part of being human. It allows us to try different ideas, people, and circumstances in a safe environment. Science Fiction takes this ability up to the next level. Imagine meeting someone or something that didn’t evolve on this planet, or indeed our solar system. Trying to understand our dog, dolphin, or chimpanzee is hard enough. And they have DNA. If we are to continue exploring, we have to be able to use our imagination, emotion, experience, and rational thought to find a way to get through what lies ahead.
Humans are a unique creature on this planet. They have highly developed brains that process information analytically and emotionally. Humans use this processed material to sort out their needs, figure out what to do right now, in the future, and what happened or should have happened in the past. Because of this ability, they have become the dominant creature on this planet.
Not everyone (including some scientists) believes the need to construct narratives and share them with others is a natural part of the development of the human brain. Evolution sorts out what works with what doesn’t, but sometimes small traits don’t interfere with that and don’t influence survival much. This ability to use our brain to think up fiction, though, is too big to be that because it gives us a great advantage. Major traits don’t exist in a vacuum. A large amount of free time, a unique concept in the living world, allowed much experimentation that, when implemented, came up with serviceable solutions to our daily problems. Our ancestors used what they had of free time to push innovation further. They were willing to put aside immediate gratification and try what they had imagined. We keep making life easier for humans (not all, I grant you), but we know the hallmarks of achieving it. All we need to do is implement them. Yeah, right! Humans are human, good or bad.
Our emotional and physical needs led to language, which led to writing. With writing, our ancestors could save their discoveries, thoughts, and imaginings and share them with others. You might think a lot was junk, like now, but initially, it was accounting and, eventually, our inherited tales. Now, they could share legends, myths, religion, and inherited wisdom.
Next was the printing press. The accumulated knowledge can be spread out further. Books to radio, and then to TV. A lot more leisure time exists today because we have figured out how to make our lives even easier, which our ancestors would be shocked at. From here, we go to cable TV, which expands the reach of television. At this point, we are sailing along. Lots of development goes into this new enterprise, and the monetary rewards are high, let alone now we have something to watch when we can’t sleep. What a step forward. Ancient problem solved!
Netflix is a streaming service that has come onto the scene. Initially, streaming was shared with your cable TV provider, but Netflix can stand alone, and others want to get in on it. The citizenry enjoys the number of choices Netflix and its new competitors can provide. This bonanza can’t last, though; there is a finite number of subscribers, and choices must be made. What should I watch? Who should I subscribe to?
In a book review of Pandora’s box by Peter Biskind, Peter Fincham sums it up like this, “So far, so familiar. On one level this is a tale of capitalism in its purest form – innovation, market dominance, complacency, disruption – with the whole cycle being replayed over and again.”
I usually don’t think of a finite supply, like many think in business, but it appears in this instance, they do need more subscribers to keep up at the level they are on. Today, cable TV is crashing. Individual streaming services try to be innovative, catering (to some extent) to their audiences, but more subscribers are needed to finance the whole enterprise. Amazon just announced it will insert a limited amount of commercials in its offerings. Where this will go, who knows, but while I believe that there is a problem, movies and television will both survive in some form, as we’ve seen in the 1980s and 2000s and before 2019, but likely not in the current incarnation.
We must remember that humans are a total package. Not only do the subscribers influence these stories and the vehicles they are presented in, but others who own the networks, streaming services, and studios have their own agenda. You might think they are all about money. It is a factor, but human nature wants to control it, so we get that thrown in with the decisions. It has become very apparent lately, much to the chagrin of people who work behind the scenes.
Will they get their way and go behind the scenes again, or will transparency win the day, and the subscribers have more say? It will be a little of both. Do you doubt it? The poor peasants have had some success in our long history, but it was and will be a tough road. Right now, I am enjoying the abundance but keeping a steady eye on overindulgence and not thinking.
©JM Strasser April 15, 2024 All Rights Reserved
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SOURCES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5763351
https://bigthink.com/the-past/history-is-storytelling
https://www.polygon.com/21515948/what-science-fiction-means-today