Are movies bad or are we all just getting dumber?

There’s something timeless about the idea there’s “nothing to watch on TV”. In 2025 though it feels particularly ridiculous. How can we complain? , We have near limitless access to movies, television, artisanally (algorithmicly) curated YouTube videos, and an endless stream of “micro content” (TikTok, IG Reels, et al.) We live in an age of plenty.

So why are we all so bored?

Theory #1 : Oceans 11

(It’s all about the team)

One possibility is that quality really has fallen off. In the age before cable there were a handful of channels regulated by the federal government. That tight control meant some limitations on speech and the fostering of a midcentury American monoculture.

But it also meant that the talent in America’s broader media ecosystem all got sucked into just a few places (Midtown Manhattan, Hollywood). Maybe that density matters.

Creativity is the art of collision. Bands are people riffing off one another (literally) and for TV and movies the “writers room” is supposed to be a place where ideas roar, wills stampede, and the best, most awesome, relatable, human, profitable, and entertaining stories win.

If you have great people working with great people, you get great stories.

But what happens if you spread everyone around? Can you still find the magic in our wildly decentralized landscape, where talent is split among endless streamers, micro studios, swaths of unwatched cable drama, and independents trying for their big shot with online content?

Without concentration, do you lose the magic?

It’s true there are plenty of media grandslams birthed from the mind of a solitary genius. To name a few: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (I like sci fi and fantasy, sue me).

Maybe media isn’t like nuclear energy, where you truly do need a big team from the start if you don’t want think to go sideways.

After all no one dies if someone screws up behind the scenes at Young Sheldon (at least I don’t think so).

Basically what I’m talking around is:

What sort of “game” is media?

Is it like soccer (futbol?) where a singular star like Messi or Ronaldo can lead a team to success? Or maybe it’s more like volleyball, where one crummy player can ruin the mojo no matter how hard your big man can spike.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I have two more ideas about what might be going on here. One says something bad about our economy. And the other says something bad about our selves.

Theory #2: Citizen Kane

(Win big, get paid)

For a long time, media was a good business.

Newspapers had wild high profit margins (40% plus, look it up) because they had a natural monopoly on information and people genuinely needed what they were selling.

The same was true of TV, with the early stations entrenched by regulation, and even later cable holding a certain space in the pantheon of the living room. Even movies had studios that operated like oligarchies. There was lots of market power going around.

And so?

People made money.

Now? Not so much.

Of course even in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the low level goons never lived glamorously. And today the likes of Tom Cruise still get paid pretty well.

But let me give you a snapshot:

Of the dozen people I know who work in media (news, print, movies, streaming) all but one or two are currently out of work. Why?

Are my friends just degenerates who can’t hold down a job? I don’t know, maybe. But I think more likely it’s because the industry keeps cutting headcount only to find out it’s not enough.

Media as we knew it is dying.

Movies aren’t just competing against TV, cable, books, and magazines. Now they also have to battle for your attention against  a preternaturally brilliant algorithm designed to sap your attention.

Profit margins thin, people get nervous, and inevitably quality drops.

I’ve often thought that because the most “glamorous” creative jobs are in movies, the “best” minds will tend to flow that direction. After all, most people want wealth and acclaim, at least a little bit. As a result, in America we’re rarely going to get our cultural geniuses migrating to playwriting or poetry.

In the 19th century, Spielberg might have been a composer or a novelist. In the 20th, he was a filmmaker. Maybe in the 21st, he’d end up as TikTok vlogger with a podcast on the side.

Damn that’s bleak.

But truth is, it’s hard to fight the economics. Maybe the cornerstones of American culture just don’t make business sense anymore (for companies OR individuals).

I hope that’s not the case. But what’s the alternative?

Sadly, it’s not much better.

Theory #3 : A Clockwork Orange

(It’s all in your head, and that makes it so much worse)

I’ve recently been spending a bunch of time watching TV with my Boomer parents (such is life). And one of the things I’ve noticed is that they’re just as bored as I am.

They’ll flip between channels, searching for something to watch. Even when I remind them of our handful of streaming services, the energy is the same: endless scroll, no entertainment. Old movies, new movies - it doesn’t matter.

Aside from the rare few shows that catch our interest, most of the time we all end up bored, hapless, and somewhat disillusioned.

Some of this I’m sure is the paradox of choice: If we only had a few options, I’m sure we’d find a way to be content with them. Instead we compare the moment against a perfect theoretical alternative. And then we’re disappointed reality doesn’t stack up.

However I’m suspicious the answer is far simpler: We’re all just addicted to our phones.

How can a bombastic score and a subtle actor’s performance compete against an endless scroll of amazing little moments?

If you spend 20 minutes on TikTok you’ll see wild engineering, unreal gymnastics, perfectly choreographed dancing, impossible car accidents, hilarious skits, delicious and decadent recipes, some crazy AI slop, and endless snapshots of a hundred perfect lives you could be living instead of your own.

The caveman brain is hardly meant to see that much awesomeness across an entire life.

Looking up from that algo scroll can feel like coming out of a drug haze. It’s no wonder people find it addicting.

Personally, that’s why I deleted TikTok way back in 2020. In fairness, I still use Insta reels though. Because the algo is trash.

And I’ve decided that’s a good thing.

Until next time, this has been,

The Weekly One Pager