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Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

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Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those lines are from a song, and a significant part of the audience at the time wouldn't be listening in their native language; it's not really a fair comparison.

? It was written in German for the German-speaking audience in Vienna.

Vienna was an international city; and Mozart and Shickhander were seeking international fame. The Magic Flute was a relatively low-brow 'singspiel' in the native language but its creators wanted foreigners to be able to see it and like it. (It was common for the wealthy and educated to speak many languages, not necessarily very well.) In music history you see critics criticize some operas for being difficult to understand, and remarking if the audience seemed lost.

International audiences nonwithstanding, it's just hard for many people to hear song lyrics, and a very common choice to make song lyrics simple, and hearing lyrics is critical for opera in a way it isn't if you're singing Goethe at a small salon concert.

The original point is it's silly to compare opera lyrics to spoken dialogue. Songs with belabored and repetitive lyrics can easily be interesting, spoken word with this property is banal.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#282

Does anyone have recommendations for reliable TV or movie critics whose opinion is based on writing quality in the movie or show rather than the social message it's trying to force on you? Something like the critical drinker but in print form and that covers a wider sample?

If you like him, try nerdrotic. Be mindful of their weird antiwoke MAGA bent though.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you mean by families, but I would be willing to bet that most families today already let their children watch more YouTube family content than Netflix content. And I do believe Netflix introduced a cheaper ad tier recently?

Every parent I know forbids Youtube, for obvious reasons. Even the content on the Kids service is utter crap (I know several who tried the service and dropped it.)

Yep, YouTube is banned for our daughter except for pre-vetted videos as the content and ads can’t be trusted. We tried the Kids app but the content was 99% terrible.

I do recommend The Kid Should See This though, a really good selection of curated videos.

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you mean by families, but I would be willing to bet that most families today already let their children watch more YouTube family content than Netflix content. And I do believe Netflix introduced a cheaper ad tier recently?

Every parent I know forbids Youtube, for obvious reasons. Even the content on the Kids service is utter crap (I know several who tried the service and dropped it.)

My kids routinely watch YouTube (with me): videos about carpentry, pottery, machining, robotics, electronics, chemistry, microbiology, recreational mathematics, visual effects, history, ...

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man. I like that you’re bringing opera into the conversation, but I don’t think comparing two different mediums that way is useful. Die Zauberflote is easy to understand because it’s a fairly light work, and you’re meant to be staring at the lavish staging and costumes. The performers narrate the action because that’s the convention for the genre - it’s a sung story. They break into more conventional dialogue for the…

> They break into more conventional dialogue for the recitative sections (a tradition that went out of style with Verdi.) The comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan were contemporary to Verdi's work and still feature lots of dialogue, so they are very approachable. You still won't be able to use your phone, though - you'll be too busy laughing! My recommendation for an introduction would be the 1982 Canadian production…

Comic Operas are a different genre, for the most part you won’t find them in the repertory for the major world operas. Gilbert and Sullivan only overlapped with the end of Verdi’s career — they were very much a retrograde move in the artistic evolution of the medium.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#287
post #191

Nowadays, whenever I browse Netflix, I feel like that Bruce Springsteen song, "57 Channels (And Nothin' On)."[a] Sure, there are lots of choices, but they all kinda suck . I find myself wondering, why? The OP weaves an insightful, opinionated narrative that explains how we got here. Much of it rings true. This passage, in particular struck a chord with me: > Several screenwriters who’ve worked for the streamer told m…

The reality is the average person's time to watch TV/unwind is also going to be spent doing chores. This was always the case. When I was a kid, we watched shows that could be followed along by whoever was cooking dinner/doing dishes as well as the people sitting in front of the set. People don't have all that much extra free time.

Movies were an experience because... they were an experience. They weren't constantly on. They were a rare treat, not something consumed nightly.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#288

You can't do 100% "show, don't tell" unless your movie is 15 hours long. It's always about balance, and it's probably one of the hardest challenges in scriptwriting and directing. Netflix movies have always leaned more toward the "tell" side, and this feels like an open acknowledgment of it. Small digression: Turkish series have been doing an extreme version of "telling" for ages. I've been watching the cheesiest one…

Some Turkish TV soap operas have 3 hour long episodes which cost $1 mil each. And are really well acted, with very good drama, humor, etc

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name a good apocalyptic movie? I'm really struggling to come up with one. Twister, sort of, and that's neither good nor apocalyptic really. Edit: Twelve Monkeys. I think that counts.

Mad Max, obviously, Night of the Comet, The Quiet Earth, A boy and his dog. I think the early 80s was a good time for the genre. Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and that other Charleton Heston movie with zombies that I can’t remember (not a huge fan of zombies) The Road is a fairly recent movie that fits. British TV had Space 1999, lots of early Doctor Who and an attempt at the Tripods series by John Christopher.…

> and that other Charleton Heston movie with zombies that I can’t remember

The Omega Man probably. The first adaptation of Mathesons "I am Legend". Though some people might disagree about the "Zombie" part.

Re: Casual Viewing – Why Netflix looks like that

#290

It’s just slop par excellence. I’ve been watching a number of movies with my wife over Christmas. Everything is so bland, repetitive and ‘design by committee’. It goes further than merely announcing what the characters are doing (in that new wannabe Die Hard movie we hear that they are expecting a baby three times in 5 minutes), you just know there are certain metrics used for every genre of movie accounting for ever…

If you’re curious to try arthouse/international cinema, give Mubi a try. There is less to choose from, but the selection rotates.

I wish they'd fix their Chromecast support (they apparently only support recent versions).
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