To not be able to stand film and TV nowadays because it always has an agenda?

[mintlily]

I've noticed that I can only bear to watch TV shows and films produced until roughly 2008.

It feels like everything nowadays has some kind of moral or political agenda. The writers are either trying to show off how enlightened they are, or condition you to accept their certain neo-Marxist world view. Virtually ALL dramas have an LGBT, feminist or anti-racist agenda, delivered with 0 subtlety or nuance. And the way it is done is so patronising and disrespectful to historical writers and figures - as if we 21st century people are the moral arbiters of history, and must overlay our more enlightened worldview on their bigoted work, which was surely produced in ignorance. It's also patronising to the intelligence of viewers, as if we need everything censored for our innocent eyes and can't make our own moral judgements. There is something puritanical and unartistic about it, like the Victorians censoring art to not corrupt the masses.

For example:

The new Little Mermaid deleting the line "men don't like women who blabber" from Ursula's songs. Ursula is a villain. We can cope with her being sexist, for goodness sake - we know that we're supposed to think she's wrong. The writer didn't need to fret that children would internalise the worldview of the villain.

Anne of Green Gables and her gay best friend. Why? This is not the genre to deal with LGBT issues. The author had no interest in this subject (as far as I'm aware).

Call the Midwife and it's pro-abortion stance. As if CATHOLIC MIDWIVES IN THE 1970s would have been pro-abortion?!

It's nothing to do with your actual views on these subjects. I just find that TV and film lacks the nuance and intelligence that it used to and I actually can't bear to watch any of it anymore, as it just feels so soulless.

I understand about the sledgehammer moralising. I give you The Rig. I mean the disaster genres have always come with a heavy sideline of 'you-did-it-to-yourself' but, fuck me.

Oh my goodness. No, the arbitrary way they are inserted are tired and contrived. Why are people so determined to hunt down bigots nowadays?

9/10 its the producers pushing stuff into scripts that the writer may not themselves feel comfortable with or have originally even written. Can you add in a sex scene? Can you change this part for budgetary reasons? Can you make this character bigger? An exec producer's girlfriend wants to be an actress and he's paying for this role for her, etc. Especially in low budget, non big studio stuff. It's all about what will turn around quick money while pandering to certain sets of ideals.
Hubby is a low budget scriptwriter so deals with this stuff on a regular basis.

I agree, the writing is shocking and the agenda is too thinly veiled. I haven't seen a good film or programme in years.

I'm not anti-woke too.

Perhaps you're just getting old...

And it’s not set in the 70s 🤣🤣🤣

Example - The bold type.

As soon as I see "neo-marxist", I just know the poster has spent a little too much time with the YouTube suggestion bar...

But seriously, OP, what you're describing is just rubbish film and telly that gets the tone wrong so it just feels very trite. But rubbish film and telly has always existed, it just doesn't tend to get remembered.

There's more rubbish stuff being churned out these days definitely, and it's obvious that the creators are not remotely looking for any longevity or long term recognition. They're just churning as much out as three can.

There's lots of amazing stuff being made today.

Pretty sure the episode about abortion was in the 60s or 70s by then. It went through the decades

Please give me some recommendations!

I just googled this term and you're right, it's absolutely not what I mean. I am not a far-right anti-semite... that was clumsy of me.

I think I just mean generally the established, politically correct world view which writers are so anxious to be seen to be on the right side of.

Other examples
Marvel and the Hollywood comic films
Netflix - sabrina, ginny and Georgia, Anne with an e

I hit that YANBU but I probably shouldn’t have voted as that’s not true.

i think the issue here is there’s so much bloody content. There’s regular channels, steaming, cable, web etc and because there’s volume available it means there’s a lot that’s just badly written so it tells you your lesson rather than weaves it into a story showing the impact.

i have no issue with tv and movies tackling LGBT issues, feminist issues, racism issues, or any other socially prevalent matter. But I like it to be well written, engaging, and decently constructed.

the trick is to filter the dross which gets ever more difficult.

Yeah, I also obviously don't have a problem with these issues as subject matter for art. It's just that it's done with no nuance. You can just sense the self-consciousness of the producers, and I don't really understand who they are so scared of.

I know what you mean, OP.

I get limited time now to watch a bit of tv or a movie, and I don’t want to feel like I’m being preached to.

There was an episode in Ted Lasso’s most recent season which dealt with a female character being a victim of revenge porn. Lots of opportunity to approach that in an interesting and thought provoking way. Instead, we got a really long, clunky conversation in the locker room involving only men. It was cringeworthy, like one of those assemblies in secondary school where a youth am-dram group called something like ActUP would come in and do different scenes about the dangers of drugs.

When I think about how shows like the US Office dealt with actually quite serious issues (racism in the workplace, women’s place as corporate leaders etc) back in the early 2000s and what we get now, it’s dire.

Exactly this.

Watch what you want but try harder next time to get the frothing going.

Also what you like sounds like it's for not very bright people tbh....

I just got round to watching the last kingdom film... turns out that the first king of England was homosexual, according to the show.

I agree with you completely. I’m sure there is still good stuff out there but so many writers are either not capable of challenging their audience or are afraid to. And what’s the point? Does the preaching persuade anyone?

Wokeness has been the downfall of the UK. I'm only 38 but miss the good old days. Of course life wasn't perfect but it seems absolutely nuts right now.

I assume they are the general consensus of views of their target audience, you are obviously not who they are writing for. There's no point writing storylines that are unpopular and outdated, the world moves on and either we move with it or we stick with our old, comfortable ideas and reruns of Dad's Army.

FWIW I agree with you OP. I feel increasingly patronised when I watch dramas on tv these days.

I just hate the lack of intelligence. Like now characters in costume dramas talk like modern people because apparently we’d be too stupid to understand them otherwise.