Dumbing down

I recently read an excellent and very interesting article by film critic Barry Norman. He discusses the idea that, following the box office and critical flops of certain films, the days of the 'movie star' are numbered and Hollywood is now catering to a certain niche of cinema goers, namely young people who are more attracted to special effects and blockbuster action than good acting and an interesting storyline. It's something that I have noticed myself over the past few years. Unfortunately these days film companies in Hollywood are increasingly more driven by profits and not the art of making powerful and meaningful cinema. The Transformers franchise is a prime example of this. It is film making at its worse but it has still managed to gross millions of dollars worldwide in box office sales. I could go on a rant about how Michael Bay, the director, has ruined what was a great tv cartoon series in the 1980's but my friend Tony has already done that on his own blog so I will not digress. I have noticed this same trend in mainstream music. Two words, Justin Bieber. And two more words, generic rubbish. I think there has been a general dumbing down in both contemporary mainstream music and cinema, but, and it's a big but, this generation is not yet a lost cause. There IS good contemporary film and music out there but these days, with a few exceptions like The King's Speech and Foo Fighters for example, you have look outside the mainstream market to find it. I've noticed on YouTube that people lament modern music and go on about the golden days of the 1960's when music had integrity and genuine talent. There was certainly an abundance of great music from the 1960's but I'm sure there were many generic bands of that time as well, now of course forgotten because they are not worth remembering. The same will be true, I hope, of Justin Bieber and Transformers.