YouTuber Greg Owen has identified the core problem plaguing modern television in his viral video “The 7 Deadly Sins of Millennial Writing.” Owen’s analysis, using Star Trek: Starfleet Academy as his primary example, explains why contemporary shows feel exhausting, emotionally hollow, and instantly forgettable.
Excellent article. I dislike it when characters in pre-modern settings use late 20th Century or 21st Century slang. I once started reading a fantasy short story in a Medieval setting where a guardsman said “Cool it!”, a phrase I associate with the 1960s Counter Culture. Totally knocked me out of immersion and I put the story down.
One red flag for me is “Daddy Issues”. I always look at how a writer treats fathers and other male authority figures. Whenever you see Daddy Issues, you can assume the writer has loaded lots of other emotional baggage into the story as well.
It's a malady that stretches way past Hollywood. Shallow rules, substance drools. Conversations in threads like this one are quite refreshing. The audience knows how bad it is. The showrunners haven't a clue.
Right on. As a Gen Xen, I've got total Millennial Writing fatigue. Glad to see someone was able to give shape to it and list the many ways it fails.
Regarding the disdain for the audience, this reminds me of Rob Henderson's concept of luxury beliefs. These writers in the room for these shows indubitably come from the same nepotistic liberal arts college track; their disdain for the idiot watcher is baked in as part of their identity. They are like politicians who try to represent a class of people they have nothing in common with.
I may be mixing up my decades, but it seems to me that millennials were the first generation to be born with a screen in their hand. Which means, from when they could socialize, they were exposed to the pitiless glance of social media. So they’re constantly self-conscious, but self-conscious in the sense of being aware of all the others constantly gazing at them. Constantly in danger of being observed saying the uncool thing, liking the shitty band. Death knells for individuality and creativity.
Modern movies, tv series, and novels are largely woke crap that comes off as written by twenty-year-olds for fifteen-year-olds. Thankfully there are plenty of pre-2000 movies, tv shows, and books to keep me entertained for the rest of my life.
A huge part of the problem is a combination of narcissism and amateurishness. Everyone is a beginner at some point. Experience will teach them about their mistakes and they will learn to do better. Unless they are so arrogantly sure of themselves that they refuse to learn.
That's what we have now. Show runners and writers who refuse to admit they failed. Instead, they keep making the same childish mistakes. But why shouldn't they? The folks who could influence them to change and grow, the Amazons and Netflixes of the world, KEEP PAYING THEM, even when their product is trash.
Te: sin #6, see the new Spider-Man movie, where Jean Grey acts like a murderous pyschopath, but then she's reframed as the good guy and the whole audience swallows it because government agency = bad.
Spot on. Although I would argue these pre-dated millenials. Gen X (of which I am a part) often inserted unnecessary irony into all sorts of dialogue and situations. It's the hallmark of the "sassy, edgy kid" dynamic, making them appear rebellious.
A show that has many of these, but is actually held up as prestige drama with decent ratings, is "The Pitt." Watch the first season and you'll check off all of these boxes. I don't get the Emmys. To me, its a fairly typical medical drama, ER transported to Pittsburgh instead of Chicago. But even though it takes place on a single day what happens in the first 1-2 episodes are afterthoughts to everything at the end of the season, as if it didnt exist. Its entirely an "and then they..." show, full of obnoxious people.
It strikes me that, while I agree with most of the opinions, what goes unrecognized is the propaganda factor inherent in most, if not all, of these "sins". The employment of the concept of situational ethics, for one, that's contained in several.
I don't understand the mindset behind these pieces. If you want more of X in the world- get on with it! I think metaphysical poetry is underrepresented so I make some and champion the writers I like. Crying about other things won't make more of the writing I like.
Leftism, of course. The essay is on point but fails to take the final leap and name the original sin: left wing people can't write stories because trying to create more leftists is the Prime Directive.
I'm just waiting for AI films to start taking off. They should be much more varied.
Excellent article. I dislike it when characters in pre-modern settings use late 20th Century or 21st Century slang. I once started reading a fantasy short story in a Medieval setting where a guardsman said “Cool it!”, a phrase I associate with the 1960s Counter Culture. Totally knocked me out of immersion and I put the story down.
One red flag for me is “Daddy Issues”. I always look at how a writer treats fathers and other male authority figures. Whenever you see Daddy Issues, you can assume the writer has loaded lots of other emotional baggage into the story as well.
Great video! Also see an absolute banger of a video about this same thing:
https://youtu.be/8ynCVmw5AWk?si=B6xP05h6hPHiOmEj
This was the one where I fully realized that Hollywood was well and truly in a death spiral.
It's a malady that stretches way past Hollywood. Shallow rules, substance drools. Conversations in threads like this one are quite refreshing. The audience knows how bad it is. The showrunners haven't a clue.
I think his analysis pretty much nails it. Audience apathy is what's going to finally end this train ride.
Right on. As a Gen Xen, I've got total Millennial Writing fatigue. Glad to see someone was able to give shape to it and list the many ways it fails.
Regarding the disdain for the audience, this reminds me of Rob Henderson's concept of luxury beliefs. These writers in the room for these shows indubitably come from the same nepotistic liberal arts college track; their disdain for the idiot watcher is baked in as part of their identity. They are like politicians who try to represent a class of people they have nothing in common with.
I may be mixing up my decades, but it seems to me that millennials were the first generation to be born with a screen in their hand. Which means, from when they could socialize, they were exposed to the pitiless glance of social media. So they’re constantly self-conscious, but self-conscious in the sense of being aware of all the others constantly gazing at them. Constantly in danger of being observed saying the uncool thing, liking the shitty band. Death knells for individuality and creativity.
Another problem is that adults consume and discuss content for children
Modern movies, tv series, and novels are largely woke crap that comes off as written by twenty-year-olds for fifteen-year-olds. Thankfully there are plenty of pre-2000 movies, tv shows, and books to keep me entertained for the rest of my life.
A huge part of the problem is a combination of narcissism and amateurishness. Everyone is a beginner at some point. Experience will teach them about their mistakes and they will learn to do better. Unless they are so arrogantly sure of themselves that they refuse to learn.
That's what we have now. Show runners and writers who refuse to admit they failed. Instead, they keep making the same childish mistakes. But why shouldn't they? The folks who could influence them to change and grow, the Amazons and Netflixes of the world, KEEP PAYING THEM, even when their product is trash.
POSIWID.
Te: sin #6, see the new Spider-Man movie, where Jean Grey acts like a murderous pyschopath, but then she's reframed as the good guy and the whole audience swallows it because government agency = bad.
She did a lot of bad things to do one good thing.
Spot on. Although I would argue these pre-dated millenials. Gen X (of which I am a part) often inserted unnecessary irony into all sorts of dialogue and situations. It's the hallmark of the "sassy, edgy kid" dynamic, making them appear rebellious.
A show that has many of these, but is actually held up as prestige drama with decent ratings, is "The Pitt." Watch the first season and you'll check off all of these boxes. I don't get the Emmys. To me, its a fairly typical medical drama, ER transported to Pittsburgh instead of Chicago. But even though it takes place on a single day what happens in the first 1-2 episodes are afterthoughts to everything at the end of the season, as if it didnt exist. Its entirely an "and then they..." show, full of obnoxious people.
Sounds right. I don’t watch anything anymore.
It strikes me that, while I agree with most of the opinions, what goes unrecognized is the propaganda factor inherent in most, if not all, of these "sins". The employment of the concept of situational ethics, for one, that's contained in several.
Oh- so it’s THEIR fault?
I don't understand the mindset behind these pieces. If you want more of X in the world- get on with it! I think metaphysical poetry is underrepresented so I make some and champion the writers I like. Crying about other things won't make more of the writing I like.
I don't know? Someone is throwing money at these creators of slop. What is the agenda behind it? Depth must be destroyed by shallowness.
Leftism, of course. The essay is on point but fails to take the final leap and name the original sin: left wing people can't write stories because trying to create more leftists is the Prime Directive.
I'm just waiting for AI films to start taking off. They should be much more varied.
I would add the gamerization of plot and narrative. So many stories look like Tomb Raider in terms of story line.