'Well, That Happened' - The Death Of Sincerity In Blockbusters

A video essay about the rise of "Well, that happened" humour, and its effect on modern blockbusters.

[othosos]

Glad to see such big stars from dune discussing this topic thank you!

[evanrutledge-szyo]

The problem with most movies is that, instead of leaning into the universe, it constantly makes fun of its self in the worst possible way, by breaking immersion.

[KaiserMattTygore]

Too many people are afraid of being called "cringe" and thus they can never take things seriously ever. :/

[Tzill]

The worst part about it is that this kind of thing also influences the general public attitude towards sincerity in the real world, too. There's been so many times where i've been open to my friends or who ever, be open/vulnerable just to be met with disgust in their face lmao

[rosariomontoya]

I don't remember where I saw someone say this "A problem with modern action movies I that every character talks and acts like Deadpool"

[JesseCuster]

Be nice if they treated Thor's PTSD and guilt with respect. His scene with his mother in Endgame was touching. Imagine how powerful that whole arc would have been with sincerity. Instead we get fat joke Thor.

[dfmrcv]

Oppenheimer and the Los Alamos scientists watching the footage of the Hiroshima bomb and aftermath.
The projector shuts off and the lights come on.
Everyone is silent.
Oppenheimer slowly turns to the camera.
"Well, that just happened."

[Canadish]

It hit me in the D&D movie that came out recently. The team is down on their luck and Bard starts to sing a song to cheer everyone up.
The big barbarian girl looks up and him and I'm almost certain she is about to say something about it and threaten to shove his lute up his backside if he doesnt stop singing, or something to that effect.

But then she didnt. She smiled and joined in. They cheered up. And of course they did, these people are dear friends. But it was so so damn refreshing and totally unexpected.
Made the ending way more impactful as well, those of you who have seen it know what I mean.

Damn that was a good movie.

[thingusbingus]

I think the biggest issue is how little a scene is allowed to breathe. Shots don't sit on something anymore because instead they focus on something happening them quickly cut away to a lame joke which undercuts any bit of tension and emotion.

[Zinkolo]

Forespoken feels like the movie industry leaking into the games industry and that is honestly the most terrifying thing imaginable

[TheMagus]

I speculate that part of the reason this humor took off is because people are afraid of being judged for taking "nerdy" things seriously, and they see ironic meta-humor as giving them an excuse to enjoy things without being seen as lame for it.

[iamathousandapples]

it's wild if you follow counterculture spaces one of the biggest trends I've noticed as of recently is genuine sincerity and vulnerability. You have to imagine it's in direct reaction to the infestation of Joss Whedon dialog and any number of insufferable twitter randos that proclaim themselves as "fluent in snark". I hope we can look back at sarcasm nowadays like we look at fart and gross out humor in the 90s.

[lordsrednuas]

The flip side of this is how often children's cartoons are well received by adults. Actual cartoons aimed at children can have very emotionally deep and sincere messages, that aren't hurt at all by whatever goofy stuff is happening.

The cartoon dogs can do silly things all episode, and be very emotionally serious.

[FlyingFocs]

You know, for all it's flaws, it was refreshing to walk away from Avatar 2 and think "man, it's nice to have a movie where the characters take their goofy ass world seriously, and don't constantly make jokes about it." Because really, if you grew up there, why would you?

[spiderleenie]

Oh my God, THANK YOU. This is my biggest problem with media today, and why I think so much of it is garbage. The vast majority of it is so meta, cynical, and lazy. Many writers think that they can get away with bad writing as long as they appear “self-aware, ” and it’s incredibly annoying.

[foxboy]

I think that's why the scene in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish where Perrito was comforting Puss during his panic attack was so loved and talked about so much.

There was no dialogue or quippy jokes. Just a friend helping a friend in need.

[HeadCannon]

There's a term for this: bathos, which is defined as "an effect of anticlimax created by a lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous." While it can be used effectively, it's overuse in parts of the story that should be serious can signal that the author doesn't trust the story to capture the audience emotionally, and it can have the effect of teaching the audience that any emotions they may feel are silly and that they shouldn't actually car about anything happening in a piece of media

[nicholashouse]

It feels like so many people who are into nerdy things act like there's some 80s jock following them who is about to make fun of them if they are too sincere about their passion, so they have to call everything "silly" and "corny" or drench it in multiple layers of irony so that no one will make fun of them.

[a-man]

Self-referential humour is definitely a growing problem.

[ChadAV]

The last decade of movies has trained viewers to be so nihilistic that literally any sincerity is looked at as corny. At least by younger audiences.