Hollywood Has Become Lazy Town

My little girl loves this show, Lazy Town. In it there’s a villianous character that tries to keep the status quo of Lazy Town; being Lazy. However, his plans are thwarted by a new little girl who moves into the area. She also brings with her a sports-oriented sorta super-hero. They teach an active life style to the kids. Nice, huh.

Then I saw Taken at the cinema and realized just how bad our entertainment values have slipped. We’re all in Lazy Town from that perspective. Taken offers nothing new. Not even a spin on traditional formulas.

Now I don’t mean to pick on the film or its makers. It’s really just the latest example of the routine our entertainment has gotten into. Why try to make something new? Dust something 20 yrs. old off and ‘update’ it. There’s a whole new generation around that hasn’t seen it. (I don’t happen to share that opinion, nor do I automatically condesend to a new generation by branding them idiots. If young people are interested in film, they will search out older offerrings.)

Television offers the same problems. Sure, there’s still some spark of originality there, (and occassionally in film) but the vast majority is recycled pablum.

Now that comics (or graphic novels if you prefer) have been invited to the party they wasted no time in joining the march of mediocrity. (To be honest, the two major comic companies have always gone in cycles creativity-wise. It’s their nature in order to keep decades old characters marketing concerns.)

Perhaps this is entertainment’s last defense though. Money is really what seperates them from the public now that the barriers of entry are erroding thanks to the Internet. If we all just follow their leads then we protect their extravagant lifestyles and deny ourselves the real entertainment that’s being made possibly just down the street. (Any absolutely nowhere near Hollywood or New York.)