Service Providers: Form Over Content

Abstract

Contemporary film directors, most of whom work within rigid genre formats, have become little more than “service providers” who create long, loud, open-ended, and ultimately unsatisfying “epic” films for an even more indiscriminate audience. And yet, it really isn’t the fault of the viewers who flock to see the endless iterations of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Star Trek and other franchise films; there’s nothing else on offer at the multiplex, and with everything online—behind a pay wall and usually with a subscription attached—any impulse to be adventurous in one’s viewing habits died long ago. It’s reliably available and always the same. And yet, there seems to be evidence—anecdotal at present but seemingly growing—that millennial audiences are increasingly dissatisfied with what they see at the local multiplex.