Why is today's media and music so depressing?

[Deja Q]

In 1981, things seemed new and fresh. Even if it looks "dated" now, there's still a feel of freshness to it.

Today, it's all naff. The same tones, the same looks, the same feel, the same jokes... all rehashed from things already made. And while ideas can come from innovation, the "remakes" made have nothing special at all to offer.

I think people want more. Yes, the same people who are born and raised to be part of the mass-consumer gestalt with the pied piper illness that tells them they should all have ____ to be cool rather than to be one's self with one's own interests.

But it's more risky to try something new than to remake something old and liked for nostalgia value. Including sequels. And sequels of remakes (e.g. M:I 3 :eyes: though I've gathered it's not doing so well...)

And nothing should be niche because the masses won't enjoy it and the most money is made from the masses.

Consumers are not the problem. Consumerism, as it has been warped into, is.

Of course, Western philosophy also says "there is no problem, tinker with the symptom." A futile gesture.