Studios are desperate for you to see their work, and part of what they do is to try to build buzz where it’s a social thing if you miss out on a show. This has been a tried and true tactic for the major tv shows and major films as long as we can remember, and yet they still keep that going.
You’ll see the social pressure building for Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones.
Those are supposed to be deep nerd properties if you think about it… a cosmic superhero film and epic fantasy. Are you kidding me? And yet we see because of the flashy visuals offered by both, one in the form of special effects that are so in your face they trick your brain into ignoring story, and the other by just producing porn, that they’ve been able to captivate society.
The studios encourage people to flood social media with posts, and people are then encouraged by their dopamine boosts they get from likes to keep sharing that they’re watching it. I’ve seen utterly useless posts of people posting pictures of themselves sitting on a couch staring at a screen. Not the typical glamorous social media lives folk attempt to show… but it tells their friends “I am conforming with you!”
The truth though, is these films are not nearly as successful as they act like they are. They’re successful, sure, but Endgame is not THE BIGGEST OF ALL TIME. Once you adjust for inflation, the movie hasn’t broken the top 20. Gone With The Wind handily holds the top spot.
And that’s a big deal. Inflation means despite the internet, the Disney machine having zero competition whatsoever these days, they are still behind in the real value they’re receiving. And let’s not forget that the inflation numbers don’t account for population increases, of which have gone up steadily in the last 100 years. The bottom line is, less people are seeing the big films than ever before. Hollywood’s in a constant state of crisis to retain control of culture.
And they use social media talk to keep their control as much as anything else.
So don’t fall for it. I haven’t seen Endgame nor Game of Thrones. I’m not super interested in either because the plots and characterizations sound absolutely stupid. I write better stories regularly.
And if you want a superhero story where the characters’ actions fit who they are,, not are cut to fit the big visual moment they’re supposed to on screen, read Flying Sparks. It’s designed as a comic, it reads with deep characterization Marvel doesn’t offer. It’s still available through Backerkit here. Buy it today and get in on it! Everyone’s doing it 😉
…..and the Fun Police strike again!
Seriously, Jon, why do you get so angry about other people having fun? Why are you so obsessed with ranting against something just because you think they’re having wrong-fun? Why not just sit back, enjoy your comics, and let other people have fun the way they want to?
Adjusting for inflation, Gone With the Wind will likely remain the biggest Hollywood movie of all time. It apparently sold 60M tickets in it’s initial (4 yr) run. That would mean Endgame would need to sell about 150M tickets for a comparable run (population wise). Certainly not impossible, but very few movies have come close to that mark.
I watched the first couple of seasons of GoT back when I had HBO. My friends who had read the books were excited, so I was interested to see what it was all about. I hadn’t read the books, but I liked many of GRR Martin’s SF short stories. I especially like the announced cast lineup. I was underwhelmed and disappointed as nearly every known star, and pretty much every likable character were killed off. I haven’t missed a thing since we cut our cable bill.
Same with The Walking Dead. I saw the first couple of seasons, then lost interest. I see they came out with a spin-off, but I have no desire to see it.
I got out of most comics in the early ’80’s, only picking up the occasional Spider Man and most of the Savage Sword of Conan’s through the early ’90’s. The Avengers was a fun romp with familiar comic book heroes from my childhood. Age of Ultron was disappointing. Infinity War came off as another stupid SJW-fest. I understand Thanos is “mad”, but he comes off as completely insane and unable to think beyond even primary results, let alone secondary and tertiary. Plus, knowing that there are future movies coming out with the characters that were “killed” off really just dramatic suspense for both Infinity War and Endgame. I will likely see it at some point, but not in the theater.
Peer pressure has never really been a motivator for me since junior high. Now that I’m in my 40’s and a parent, I’m certainly not going to be doing something just because everyone else is.
“really just dramatic suspense”
should read “really just destroyed any dramatic suspense”
I seem to do my best proof reading after I hit send.
As a kid, I only read one super hero comic, Spiderman. That was in the early 70’s. I’ve been looking at comics since last year I don’t read many super hero comics from the bug two. I am enjoying Jon’s stuff and other comics from Arkhaven. Hope to see some movies out of them.
Yeah, I’ll probably watch Endgame when I can stream it. No interest watching it for full price.
GoT was pretty decent the first three seasons then the writing suffered. This season has been pretty bad. A big disappointment.