The Cargo Cult Industrial Complex

You will never get a good Star Wars movie ever again.
Matrix Resurrections breakdown: www.lotuseaters.com/video-wha...

[@SargonofAkkad]

Matrix Resurrections analysis: www.lotuseaters.com/video-what-did-we-learn-from-matrix-resurrections-07-04-22

[@ambika69]

its not just hollywood that's a cargocult. It's most of the west, since karl marx.

[@oliverstianhugaas7493]

Wait, Sargon is the Lotus Eater???

[@muhdiversity7409]

Carl, this morning I watched "The Real Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse" by Rick Beato posted on YT. In it he lays out why modern music is sludge. He touches on computers and the ease of the unskilled to press a few buttons and regurgitate unremarkable generic content that everyone is doing. I think there are so many parallels but in the case of movies infected with an ideological twist. I rarely buy movies and I don't remember the last time I bought music that wasn't recorded before 1992.

[@ambika69]

@@oliverstianhugaas7493 yes? He started the company at least. His employee podcaster card collection do most of the broadcasts though.

[@natejennings5884]

I file this video under: Life Lessons. Because this is literally a LIFE issue.

[@sooperdude22]

_"Evil cannot create anything new, it can only_ *_corrupt and destroy_* _whatever Good forces have already made."_ - J. R. R. Tolkien

[@willtheprodigy3819]

God isn’t real.

[@wrongthinker843]

@@willtheprodigy3819 Yes, that's a good corposlogan regurgitator. Have an extra buggo for that burger.

[@marvalice3455]

​@@willtheprodigy3819 God has had actual effects on my life, so I have more evidence He exists than I have you exist.

[@albertchurchill4845]

@@marvalice3455 Clever.

[@JesusSavesSouls]

@@willtheprodigy3819 If you were truly were a “prodigy” you would have the mental capacity to understand and see the clear evidence for the existence of God.

[@chance_ondriezek99]

The worse Hollywood gets, the better KZbin content gets.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

and for that reason the more it gets censored.

[@Leon_Sullivan]

Only a narrow sliver of YT content gets better.

[@benjaminrogers8875]

KZbin is just as much of a slush pile.

[@dt4676]

​@@Leon_SullivanYeah the stuff we watch

[@pjotrsimon8245]

@@arkgaharandan5881 The more censored YT gets, the better Rumble gets.

[@peteschaub7561]

I remember when I was a young dude getting my Bachelor's degree, and taking an art history course. One of the things we learned about was how during Rome's decline they stopped producing art and instead would literally pull things off of old works and affix them to new ones. Like they could recognize, "We can no longer produce things with this level of craftsmanship but we still want it, so we'll just cannibalize what we need." Western culture has reached that stage I think.

[@adrenjones9301]

I wonder if they also went through an censorship crazy sjw phase.

[@auraguard0212]

Jesus, that's horrifying.

[@Toliman.]

@@auraguard0212no, the good news is, you can learn from the Roman decline. It took centuries. The notable stages are where the leaders were brought forward to establish bread and circuses to appease the nobles and tax payers, because the armies needed to keep growing. All of the prosperity required immigrants and resources from other nations being invaded. Slaves, trade, etc. Eventually that essential Roman citizen lost their identity and the women were left to their own devices, a formative insulated class structure self reinforced to keep Roman values intact. Pleasure industry evolved from religious worship, into the bacchanalia and high culture vs low culture. Because the nobility wanted to enforce ideology and structure, hierarchy and conflict. Everyone seems to know why the Empire declined, but take a different lesson from the process. Essentially it comes down to resource and culture management. You need a way to engage with a culture and identity that is not self sufficient, is not native and requires evolution and conflict. No city is an island, and the homogeneity is not a good indicator. The most common indicator is the leadership not being trained or ready to work with the circumstances of their own country or people. They become shallow and brittle

[@matthewlane]

"I remember when I was a young dude getting my Bachelor's degree, and taking an art history course. One of the things we learned about was how during Rome's decline they stopped producing art and instead would literally pull things off of old works and affix them to new ones. Like they could recognize, "We can no longer produce things with this level of craftsmanship but we still want it, so we'll just cannibalize what we need." Western culture has reached that stage I think." Yep. It's taught in just normal history classess that the first sign of cultural stagnation is your stop creating new art, rehashing what came before instead. And the second step for when stagnation turns in to a decline is when you lose the ability to create things to the same level as what came before.

[@Ivan-pr7ku]

Half of the Arch of Constantine in Rome was hacked together from existing pieces taken down from older buildings and that was in the early fourth century. This period already observed marked decline in the quality and variety of artistic expression of a broken culture in chaotic transition and uncertain future.

[@Hoodolley]

Every individual episode of the acolyte was TWICE as expensive as the whole budget for Godzilla Minus One. Let that sink in.

[@bryan81584]

That's nuts.

[@Nugnugnug]

What does that sink want this time?

[@JoshDTech]

I still can't fathom that. I see the numbers in front of my face, but it still feels impossible.

[@sexistspaghettios]

​@@Nugnugnug Get out! Now!

[@Sentinel82]

It makes sense when you realize that probably 80% of their money was laundered to something else.

[@mrfawkes9110]

Holy shit, a cargo cult is the perfect analogy of modern Disney, and to a slightly lesser extent the rest of the entertainment industry.

[@mrfawkes9110]

And the prequels are just as trash now as they were then. They aged like milk not wine, just because there's raw sewage next to it on the shelf doesn't make the rotten milk a product worth buying.

[@andretokayuk8100]

Hollysh!t is scraping old gum off the sidewalk, repackaging it and selling it as new.. how could that fail ?)/*

[@pumitriii6160]

The metaphor works not just for entertainment, but for every one of our institutions that have been captured by marxist ideologues whose only source of credibility are those (primarily white men that they so despise) that came before them. Entertainment, journalism, higher education, science, government, etc. Even the military, police, medicine and courts are now in the process of becoming captured and compromised.

[@davesym]

@@mrfawkes9110 The term you're looking for is cheese. The prequels have aged like cheese.

[@HenriFaust]

Richard Feynman brought this analogy up in the 1980s, and programmers have been using it ever since.

[@Peteruspl]

Tolkien: faced horrors of war, taught for decades, invented languages, experienced industrialization (also in positive way, he was avid driver) and then in his later life he started writing. Most TV writers: lived in safe metropolitan areas, watched movies, played games and then at ripe age of 25 they start writing in a team under 35-45 year olds with the same life paths.

[@JesusFriedChrist]

How undeniably accurate…

[@h.w.4482]

with their next to useless 4 year degree that only checked off a box for their resume, relying on the trust fund babies and MBA holders they met in college to hire them after graduating

[@wiseonwords]

@Peteruspi - In addition, most modern TV writers have been indoctrinated since kindergarten with a lazy-minded and fraudulent ideology which divides all human phenomena into a simplistic binary narrative of "wicked oppressors" and "oppressed victims." These same TV writers are then taught that, in order to be "relevant," their stories must endlessly recapitulate that same simplistic binary narrative.

[@fearthehoneybadger]

Tired of waiting, they are coming to get the cargo themselves.

[@IrateTurkey]

Waiting if waitangi

[@Andri474]

Ok, this is a good one.

[@sebastiank5934]

The cargo being every single franchise you love.

[@Doxymeister]

@@sebastiank5934 And they're dragging your children with them.

[@whenpigsfly8178]

@@Doxymeister IF nothing else, they want relevance, importance and personal meaning from having an influence on _other_ people's children..

[@Rantandreason]

When I first learned about the cargo cult, it made SO many things about humans finally make sense

[@user-wg2vw3mz1v]

Caricature brains

[@willtheprodigy3819]

Religion is a lie; atheism is truth.

[@benjaminstorace6699]

obsession over maintaining "face" rather than the hard work of being

[@whenpigsfly8178]

Monkey see monkey do. We are all primates after all, so imitation is both the sincerest form of flattery but _if guided correctly_ , a good way to get a bit closer to understanding. May not be actually successful without the personal trials aspect of a young person eager to discard what is not useful to them, however.

[@yungpep]

Pyramids 😳

[@jonnystoffel]

This is how I tried to describe Disney animated movies from Tangled onwards: they had the tools that made previous movies successful but no knowledge in how to use them. So the good parts were good because of the work of the previous generation, and the rest was awkwardly cobbled together by the ignorant.

[@dt4676]

You watch that bs?

[@jonnystoffel]

@@dt4676 I don’t go out of my way to watch it but I’ve seen enough to come to that conclusion.

[@onehairybuddha]

This is how I describe every country that has called it's monarch a "president" since 1945.

[@josiahkepley]

This is happening across industries. I'm in manufacturing in the US, have been for nearly a decade. I'm the youngest guy there at 33, everyone else is 50-65. I've had maybe 40 younger men work for me, all washed out, quit, got fired, you name it. Every year the older guys retire or die and more knowledge is lost. One in particular retired, guy knew every machine inside and out. It would take me a decade of mentorship to get where he was. The tools are all there but the lore is gone, and things are going to get really, viciously bad when this starts to hit critical manufacturers... Like Boeing.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@onehairybuddha I would reverse that. That the US' Founding Fathers in many ways Cargo Culted statecraft, thinking that they could create a government that would not be seen as sacred by its subjects in any way. What ended up happening is that the American people now revere a mythologised vision of THEM as sacred, and have as a result failed to learn any lessons that could have been learned from their mistakes and failings.

[@SutekhTheDestroyer]

Funny how we’re always being told that ‘preserving ancient cultures’ is of the utmost importance, yet these people got the merest whiff of western affluence and immediately wanted more.

[@KopperNeoman]

This is why people who hate Life, Liberty, Property, and Prosperity want to preserve those cultures. It's BECAUSE they're flatly inferior and have no reason to exist.

[@dasiksupahuman]

Amen!! My black African grandpa loved it. We dress well, act like gentlemen, go to church, read books, go to school, work hard, only speak English, marry white women, raise good children and move to the western country. Now the only bit of the old way we teach the younger generations. Is that the opening song of the original lion king movie is lit.

[@bluecoin3771]

It’s a form of guilt. We worry about the fallen because we want the same mercy should it ever happen to us. The first world dreads the day it becomes the second world and so on.

[@SutekhTheDestroyer]

@@bluecoin3771 Well, we’re allowing the third world through our gates at a suicidal rate, so I guess we’ll find out sooner rather than later.

[@InternetHydra]

Historians never talk about how many natives in America just up and walked over to the side of the Europeans and started wearing their clothes and learning the language and working jobs, or how many of the outsiders welcomed them with open arms.

[@axelthunderpaw7013]

I love the Lotus Eaters, but a Sargon style video just hits different.

[@JohnDoe-wj7ht]

Hear, hear!

[@NThommo]

And the irony is that he was forced into using his channel again when he received a notification that it would be deleted if he didn't use it. So KZbin forced him to start his great solo commentaries again. And so we all win.

[@user-bc3zs2wn5z]

@@NThommogotta keep those YT bux coming in even while hating it

[@JesusFriedChrist]

LE is alright. But I subscribed to Sargon 10 years ago, not the others, and I did so for a reason. Sociopolitical/philosophical/historical content has always been where Sargon has shined the brightest.

[@WayStedYou]

Aren't both his channels still demonitized? ​@@user-bc3zs2wn5z

[@danielbob2628]

"The magic can't arrive from the heavens, and they are frustrated that you won't play along with them anyway." They think those two situations are the same thing.

[@user-wg2vw3mz1v]

A lot of the "magic" described by Carl requires abstract thinking to question and reimagine one's basic assumptions about their understanding of the world. Telling a story with moral depth requires the ability to take oneself out of a tribal side and reanalyze things from first principles. Sadly, I don't think the low IQ narcissists of the far communist left have that capacity, neither emotionally nor intellectually.

[@harbl99]

"It failed because you doubted!"

[@mkabilly]

Exactly. There's also another weird side to this, I think. A lot of people nowadays think reality is "just a shared delusion" meaning any delusion can become reality as long as it's shared by everyone. This is applicable to the current thought around money/the economy, culture, and even biology -- think of the "inflation reduction act", "beauty at all sizes" and everything surrounding self-id and neowomanisms. These people are convinced you are the crazy one because you're taking no part in their delusion. And they're resentful that they can't take you out so everyone remaining shares it and it finally becomes reality.

[@whenpigsfly8178]

@@harbl99 Yep, those cargo cults can only fill in the gaps of their intellectual insufficiency with blind Faith.

[@AndyJarman]

​@@mkabillyit's magic thinking isn't it. Even Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacre" of the original is abandoned and is assumed to have as much currency as a toddler's make believe.

[@ReformedSauron]

The Gods Must Be Crazy is an excellent film.

[@Mrcharrio]

Part 2 isn't bad either.

[@YadraVoat]

Yes except for the cringe sense of comedy.

[@lervish1966]

It's really only an interesting psychological phenomenon.

[@TheSabatuer]

What a classic! one of the earliest movies i remember as a kid! Amazing how the concept of private property was first introduced to them via the falling bottle of cola

[@rogerbartlet5720]

I forgot about that one, it was great.

[@dazza1156]

What a fantastic metaphor.

[@user-wg2vw3mz1v]

A lot of the "magic" described by Carl requires abstract thinking to question and reimagine one's basic assumptions about their understanding of the world. Telling a story with moral depth requires the ability to take oneself out of a tribal side and reanalyze things from first principles. Sadly, I don't think the low IQ narcissists of the far communist left have that capacity, neither emotionally nor intellectually.

[@HandiasTobil]

first time in a long while feeling sargon's intellect again. was beginning to think sargon was mid but i am proven wrong.

[@HokageG]

Most annoying part of him doing lotus eaters. He does so much better when he can think and write in advance.

[@snek2908]

If you would have told 10 year old me playing KOTOR in his room that this is what would become of one of your favorite franchises, I would've cried.

[@sybentley6675]

It is the desired effect. That is the sinister thing about it. These people hate the culture which crafted us all. They hate you.

[@Maladjester]

I wouldn't have believed. You'd have had to show me.

[@cecilofs]

Even if they made a soulless remake, they can't take the original from you, or your experiences with it.

[@snek2908]

@@cecilofs You are absolutely right. They can't take away the memories or Legends canon from me or us, but like many others (you too I'm sure) we looked forward to seeing what Star Wars would deliver with new technologies and breakthroughs in film making. That optimism and hopefulness is gone now. I'm locked in the George Lucas Era of Stars that ended in 2012, which is okay, but I would have loved to have seen more content if it was developed by people who give a damn about the material and fans.

[@abeartheycallFozzy]

KOTOR? You kids! In 1978 we knew about Hoth somehow and were playing with Han Luke and Chewie toys in snow. (Luke rode a dog.)

[@_Devil]

Before 2015, modern Star Wars "fans" made fun of everyone who liked the old movies and wrote us off as basement dwelling nerds. But now, as soon as Disney made a DEI film set in the Star Wars universe, suddenly it's the greatest thing since slices bread, and somehow you're a basement dwelling nerd if you DON'T like Star Wars. I can promise you now: Not a single person who cheered on Han Solo getting skewered is a true fan of the Star Wars franchise.

[@christophersmith8316]

But even with that shift in attitude, they DEI lovers ALSO don't go to see their product.

[@tbobtbob330]

What's interesting is to get online for 10 minutes, and you can see an explosion of wit and creativity. Everything Carl is talking about seems to be the result of the credentialed class control of the cultural means of production.

[@BagelmanSupreme]

The credentialists have infected pretty much every industry, and the hard reality is that the current system will literally crumble away beneath us- those who built it are dead, and those who could maintain it are not desired by the credentialed class. It will simply fall over and be rebuilt by a new age of creatives who understand their field, and the process will start all over again

[@theskycavedin]

Aka critical theory in action

[@ItsaKindOfMagic86]

parody, fanfic and fanart is not original works tho

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

@@ItsaKindOfMagic86 Funnily enough those things are also by and large generated by the same freaks that have captured mass media

[@accelerationquanta5816]

Socialism is a good idea.

[@stevenalvarado-doc7334]

Throughout Southern California are the unemployed writers that have the answer to the mentioned problems but there are ignored because they don't fit the narrative of the groupthinkers that infect that industry.

[@Gaspard129]

I would even say the problem goes deeper. The film industry is FILLED with people from SoCal who've only ever been in the film industry. Virtually none of them have any life experience outside film school. None of them worked other careers, went to war, lived in the woods, played sports, had tangible hobbies that require mastery, etc. Film has been their whole lives, and as such, they can only reference other films in an effort to create heros, romance, virtue, mystery, drama, and villains. They know nothing of those things in the real world, so everything becomes a copy of a copy, replicating the most obvious trappings, but missing the meaning entirely.

[@twiggledy5547]

Because they dont fit the demographic

[@Doxymeister]

@@Gaspard129 "...so everything becomes a copy of a copy..." Another good analogy. Video and still image alike, every time you copy it, the quality suffers and eventually you end up with low-quality, fuzzy images with little defining detail. You hit the nail on the head as well.

[@dcbluenose1873]

I wonder how many of these writers have read the classics of fiction? Something written before 1900, mostly.

[@Nonamearisto]

@@Gaspard129 There is one other element in their lives: wokeness. By wokeness, I mean obnoxious, pushy, preachy, narcissistic, hero-playing, Don Quixote-type delusional madness which firmly puts the leftists squarely at the center of their own little worlds, enabling them to feel important while accomplishing nothing, letting them pretend to be the hero of a black-and-white narrative in which they and they alone can bring social justice to the world.

[@CorundumDevil]

Classic Creator: "I have presented an original story or point of view. Why does no one like this?" Modern 'Creator': "We did exactly what they did before but framed it to make it about ourselves. Why does nobody like this?"

[@anthonylulham3473]

I think the classic creator says "where did I go wrong" The modernist says "bigots" Introflection Vs narcissism

[@PGHEngineer]

They projected themselves into all the protagonists of every story and made every protagonist an a-hole as a result.

[@CorundumDevil]

@@anthonylulham3473 accurate.

[@MNAHN-T.GOF-NN]

Inaccurate. They don't possess the introspection to ask why others might not like them or their crap.

[@annatardlordofderps9181]

This has a strong connection to a book called, "The Machine Breaks." In the book, all of humanity is entirely reliant on the functioning of a machine. Over time, the people who made the machine were replaced by people who eventually forgot how to maintain the machine. Which meant later in the book, when the machine breaks and becomes more dysfunctional, the people who were reliant on the machine died out.

[@KopperNeoman]

Reminds me of the plot of Phantasy Star II, but without the eldritch evil fucking everything up.

[@fullclipaudio]

That is a great book!!!

[@OtherDalfite]

'Threads' from 1984 is a nuclear Holocaust film that operates on a similar principle. There's a scene where the last drops of fuel are poured into an old tractor, a tractor that will plant a crop not large enough to feed the surrounding population. Pretty haunting scene.

[@easonyeung2779]

​@KopperNeoman And also 40K's Adeptus Mechanicus, where the cargo cult is formalized into an actual organized religion. Though in the AdMech's case, they do understand some of the science and are semi-successful in replicating technology.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@easonyeung2779 The Mechanicus are a bad example. They live in a galaxy where demons can and will eat your face and soul if you build a spaceship with armour that kinda-sorta vaguely resembles the symbol of Slaanesh. They have every right to be very nervous about poking things they don't understand. Also the machine spirit is kind of a real thing.

[@GodotIsWaiting4U]

I think with Star Wars we’ve gone past a cargo cult and are now in a Soviet-style reverse cargo cult. The Soviet reverse cargo cult does the things a normal cargo cult does, it creates the dirt runway and straw air traffic control tower and all that, but not with the intention of actually getting any cargo. The point of the exercise is that when the straw airstrip fails to yield any cargo, the leader then tells the believers that *other airstrips don’t yield cargo either*, and that the actually functional systems are in fact a fraud and always were, cargo is a myth and no one ever gets cargo. The believers are then consoled in their failure for knowing that it was all a lie to begin with, while those who are able to actually get results are dismissed as idiots who’ve fallen for the lie. Disney Star Wars defenders are now acting as if Star Wars was *always this bad ever since 1977*, and so criticism is unreasonable. The point is not to ape Star Wars in the misguided hope of replicating its success. The point is to destroy any significance that it ever had and scrub it from the cultural landscape. The point is to say that cargo was always a myth.

[@M4Dbrat]

Brilliant

[@Maladjester]

This is excellent. Never heard it before. I'm definitely stealing.

[@OrchinX]

This is really quite insightful, thank you

[@EbenezerEibenhardt]

Sheesh. C.S. Lewis' the Silver Chair hittin' different now. Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill had all seen the sun and the bright, colorful overworld before, but the Lady of the Green Kirtle was still able to convince them the only real world was the grey, colorless underworld of uninspiring toil they had fallen into.

[@boush1177]

Yes, exactly, this is why the Disney Star Wars defenders will die on hills like the Obi-Wan impersonator from his show smuggling kid Leia though the Inquisitor fortress in a trench-coat. They have to defend this absolutely bafflingly stupid scene by saying that "Star Wars has ALWAYS been goofy and never made sense." The writers of that show also wanted Obi-Wan to be a hollow broken down caricature of his former self, now overly emotional, self doubting, emasculated, focused more on kid Leia than on protecting kid Luke (you know, the new hope for the Galaxy against the tyranny of the Empire) and relying on women to do everything for him. They need Obi-Wan dead and broken down as a virtuous heroic male icon, and they need Star Wars to have always been bad goofy slop like their new shows.

[@ManicRay]

The Acolyte has united the Star Wars fandom!

[@schiz0phren1c]

The Acolyte has *UNTIED* the Star Wars fandom!... fixed it for ya(and I know, you mean against it, but couldn't resist)

[@Cocytus127]

Rei’s incomprehensible rise to MarySue-dom was the death knell of Star Wars.

[@love2win]

Hey, don't you mix up Rei from Evangelion with KK's Star Wars self-insert.

[@NormalPerson229]

Self-absorbed female directors cannot understand how deeply The Hero's Journey resonates with men, and how central it is to genre stories such as adventure, Westerns, science-fiction, epic fantasy, and others.

[@Maladjester]

The sequels had enough problems to fill a dump truck. The lack of a believable, compelling, evolving protagonist was only one of them.

[@oldskoolaspie]

MarySue-dom is by its very natural incomprehensible.

[@lytalo]

Talking about strong female characters is an example of how modern shows are failing. There have always been strong females in movies and shows. But they were females, being strong in feminine ways. Sci fi is full of them. But modern activist writers and show runners all seem to think they just now invented strong women, by making their new woman act like they think men act. Unfortunately these writers don’t men or women.

[@MoonPhantom]

Not only that... They take the traits they deem Toxic masculinity... The traits they say is BAD when men has them.... Which is true, the traits they are talking about are really bad traits! ... Loud, rude, drinking, ext. And then they give those same traits to a female character and it's supposed to be some kind of own or something. and then they are shocked we do not like the character when... I wouldn't like that character if it was a male either! That's just a horrible human being.

[@dragonknightleader1]

@@MoonPhantom It really does come across as penis envy.

[@Nonamearisto]

Cutting your hair with a lightsaber is like cutting it with a blowtorch IRL. Very dangerous and stupid.

[@dallassegno]

Oh? You own a lightsaber? Do you listen to yourself?

[@Nonamearisto]

@@dallassegno If you knew anything about Star Wars lore, you'd know exactly how idiotic it would be to cut hair using a lightsaber. I don't need to own a fictional weapon to understand that.

[@Nonamearisto]

@@dallassegno I read my words aloud and they still make sense. At least 31 people on this video agree with me.

[@anthonycarlisle6184]

32! Haha And it'd stink and look singed, wouldn't look like sheers cut your dreads

[@Nonamearisto]

@@dallassegno Do you cut your hair with a device capable of burning its way through several inches of steel?

[@gybryant]

I'm happy to see someone else using the term "Cargo Cult" to describe what's going on in entertainment and, to be sure, Western society, at large. We have creative and political leadership that has a vague conception of the elements that make up an advanced, industrialized, narratively-driven society, but have little to no insight into the significance of each of these elements. In Star Wars, for example, they know there are supposed to be spaceships and glowy swords and some kind of invisible external agent but they have absolutely no ability to discern or conceptualize why these things are there and what makes them important in the context of Star Wars - and they absolutely don't understand why audiences aren't responding positively. "We have robots and laser guns and bleep bloop noises! What's the problem? Why aren't we getting the acclaim and prestige of the dumb white men that did the exact same thing before?? It must be sexism, racism, etc!" You're dealing with the empowerment of perceptual and cognitive frameworks that nobody in the history of humanity has ever thought would be a good idea to empower. I'm baffled that nobody understands this.

[@WesternHypernormalization]

"You're dealing with the empowerment of perceptual and cognitive frameworks that nobody in the history of humanity has ever thought would be a good idea to empower." So nice it deserves to be said twice.

[@MukatoShishio]

Learned a new term today. Thanks Sargon!

[@YadraVoat]

I'm often surprised by how many people are unaware of it! 🙂

[@nikkili8944]

​​@@YadraVoat I first heard the term "cargo cult" from Auron McIntyre's livestream with Curtis Yarvin. I think it's called "cargo cult democracy". Carl explains it very well imo.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

The only problem with the cargo cult analogy is it allows today's pop cultural vandals to be excused as ignorant. The truth is that they know what an airplane is and, while they would struggle to build a working airplane if they tried and could certainly never have invented the airplane, none of this bothers them because they are content with a cargo cult so long as they can be the priests.

[@anthonycarlisle6184]

otakubullfrog1665 I concur, especially with direct "education" for 4+yrs...they're lazy, and that laziness infests other a psychological aspects. Plus team writing, yeahhh and the outfits that come bts to "spruce up" the script for this illusive and broke 'modern audience.

[@TerryB01]

Nothing of value will be lost.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

everything of actual value has already been lost a long time ago.

[@anilin6353]

It wasn't lost, it was stolen​@@arkgaharandan5881

[@FazeParticles]

It’s straight up overt feminist and gay propaganda.

[@whenpigsfly8178]

@@FazeParticles Desperate to propagate ideologically because it sure won't be propagated genetically, for the most part.

[@smpdevelopments]

We lost star wars, that's a big hit in my opinion

[@88Grave]

They know what they’re doing. They make propaganda, use a recognized series with a large fanbase to maximize viewership and as a side benefit it gives consumers fewer alternatives. They’re just mad people are rejecting the propaganda.

[@KopperNeoman]

If they're genuinely mad, then they don't understand that the purpose of the propaganda is to demoralise the audience, not to make us love it.

[@16m49x3]

@@KopperNeoman pretending to be mad just helps the demoralization when it doesn't change anything

[@88Grave]

I agree, the being mad part is also propaganda to trick people into thinking their own opinions are wrong.

[@oldskoolaspie]

@@KopperNeoman The true believers are always genuinely angry.

[@kirbymaster5]

I think their mindset is best exemplified when they tell fans to f off. They think an infinite number of fans is an inherent feature of their big IP and thus think they can be as discriminating as they want with no repercussions.

[@NormalPerson229]

Surly low-level clerks artificially elevated to the seat of directors and senior producers, and then told all of their lives that they are more deserving than the old school creatives who worked their way up from the trenches, are a recipe for such arrogance.

[@Marinealver]

I'm fine not getting another good star wars, because we already had a star wars that was good.

[@ArtilleryAffictionado1648]

i say the same thing to my friend that complains that "x band" from the 80's is now bad. Like dude, you already have 10 albuns that are amazing, you can go and listen to those. The decline of star wars would happen eventually. You can still enjoy old movies and music, so oddly i see no problem with modern media forms sucking gorilla dick.

[@therealthirst8099]

The Prequel movies, while flawed in many aspects, at least had a coherent vision. You can see what Lucas was trying to make despite the sloppy execution, and looking at the behind the scenes of the Prequels you can tell that it was a genuine passion project of Lucas. He didn't see them or treat them as just some half-hearted cash-in on the Star Wars IP. The Sequels however have no real vision or coherence. They barely even hold together from film to film as each director basically reset the characters and storyline after each installment. They feel more like stand alone films stitched together in the editing room. Tepid rehashes of the Original Trilogy without any of the heart.

[@shanester1832]

To me, the differences between prequels & originals, the continuity gap, is due to 2 things. George was simply a different person. Few bands put out their best stuff 20 years after their breakout hit album. George had put down the guitar & dabbled in keyboards. And nobody told him no, this is a bad idea, you can't do that. That was a luxury he worked to have, but without constraints and no-men he colored way outside the lines because he couldn't see the borders. The sequels are just nothing. There's nothing there. The most valued, treasured movie series in history, and the approach was to wing it.

[@smpdevelopments]

Cargo cult is a new term I never knew I needed to learn

[@Maladjester]

Today I learned about reverse cargo cults. Quoting GodotIsWaitingForYou's comment above: "I think with Star Wars we’ve gone past a cargo cult and are now in a Soviet-style reverse cargo cult. The Soviet reverse cargo cult does the things a normal cargo cult does, it creates the dirt runway and straw air traffic control tower and all that, but not with the intention of actually getting any cargo. The point of the exercise is that when the straw airstrip fails to yield any cargo, the leader then tells the believers that *other airstrips don’t yield cargo either*, and that the actually functional systems are in fact a fraud and always were, cargo is a myth and no one ever gets cargo. The believers are then consoled in their failure for knowing that it was all a lie to begin with, while those who are able to actually get results are dismissed as idiots who’ve fallen for the lie. Disney Star Wars defenders are now acting as if Star Wars was *always this bad ever since 1977*, and so criticism is unreasonable. The point is not to ape Star Wars in the misguided hope of replicating its success. The point is to destroy any significance that it ever had and scrub it from the cultural landscape. The point is to say that cargo was always a myth."

[@Madcombat1]

@@Maladjester BINGO ON THE MONEY. You see this ALOT in online roleplay communities surrounding Starwars.

[@dr.faustus9024]

You probably give them too much credit. They just want to destroy, like a kid who wants to destroy her brothers sand castle.

[@AShockToTheSystem]

Yes, there are people there that simply want to destroy anything that isn't theirs, so they can become the new kings of the piles of rubble that are left. But there are also people that genuinely think that they understand why the old movies were so beloved, and are baffled when their supposed knowledge doesn't give the results they expected to get. People that thought they could wave the magic want of Star Wars, and suddenly, glory and riches would appear out of nowhere. But the magic ritual failed to work, their incantations turned out to be just empty mumbo jumbo, and that is what angers them the most. Not that the fans hate them, they thrive on hatred, but that their magic doesn't work.

[@sevenproxies4255]

Modern script writers can't replicate the greats because unlike the great writers and directors, they haven't lived interesting lives. They went straight to college and then straight to the industry. When you look up the life story of directors, writers and actors who were born in the 30's, 40's and 50's it's almost never a dull read. Often it's something along the lines of growing up in a big family household, getting enlisted in the army in their teens, working on a banana boat in the amazon for a few years after that or some other massive adventure, them before or after that they graduate from college, work a bunch of different odd jobs and THEN they end up getting a professional writing or acting gig. These people had often really LIVED before they got into movie productions, and it shows in their work. But the writers today haven't lived. They've only studied a theory and they think sprinkling the theory on some fanfiction will somehow make it great.

[@adrenjones9301]

Nah its not that, the writers of today have bend teached the wrong lessons.

[@benjaminstorace6699]

That's the surface level. People who've lead lives like that have been forced to reflect upon themselves and ponder the world around them. Such hardships are not necessarily required, but it is harder to sit down and consider things without them. Add to that the indoctrination of "this is how the world works, and all you need to do is conform" that these people are subjected to and it explains why they are such incompetent dullards at best and unrepentant narcissists at worst.

[@GangsterFrankensteinComputer]

While many of the great writers had very interesting life stories, it's not a requirement. Just look at the lives of Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. Two of the World's best selling authors. JK Rowling and RL Stein wrote the two bestselling book series of all time, and they had completely pedestrian lives. There's a real lack of meritocracy going on. You'll get the promoted if you tick the right boxes and preach the right think. A generation of talent is being overlooked because the money men think people want a diverse person, rather than a good story.

[@bmetalfish3928]

@@adrenjones9301 they where taught wrong back then too, Mussolini's framed picture occupying a place on many an american mantles, plenty of autobiographies of american socalists going to the early soviet union to build their industrial sector are out there. They where just able to learn they where taught wrong. Reality broke the lies attached to them by the red decade of the 30's.

[@sevenproxies4255]

@@GangsterFrankensteinComputer It may not be a requirement, but it damn sure helps.

[@jirivrana3623]

Perfect manifestation of holliwood problem is Astertes miniseries. One guy with limited resources create this few minuts long video on his own in quality allmost no so called profesional studio cant replicate and while most studio produce mild tasteless hours of videos this guy manage to put so much in such a short footage people have to watch over and over and every time catch up more and more details missed before.

[@lordfrostwind3151]

Same way with the "TIE Fighter" video on KZbin, it's the passion to perfect instead of just finish a project.

[@fusionspace175]

"You see all those wires and stuff in there, Homey? That's why your robot never worked." - Marge Simpson, "Itchy & Scratchy Land"

[@heymetwaly9235]

art is play as soon as art tries to do anything else but play it looses the muse the inspiration leaves

[@KopperNeoman]

Even most Christian art fails because of this. Despite being rooted in Truth, it's Gospel first, play second. They don't understand that art IS play. To make good Christian art, you need to elevate the play to be as important as the Gospel.

[@Richforce1]

@@KopperNeoman Oh we do understand, but to put anything above the Gospel is sacrilege, so play should have its place and Gospel a higher place.

[@someguy4405]

C. S. Lewis does a very good job of this.

[@LRich-hg3hu]

Art is closer to war than to play. To make play into art would be a struggle. If there isn't struggle, suffering, and strife, it's likely not art. Just decoration; or, worse, kitsch. However good moral character can make even war a bit of play.

[@heymetwaly9235]

@@LRich-hg3hu no

[@zekeiyf2003]

You nailed Carl, they made the I.P. into a fan fiction of self inserts of narcissistic characters.

[@sigmundfreud7903]

Deep down I think that a lot of modern Hollywood writers are bitter over the fact they’ll never be able to outshine the writers of yesteryear. Even if they’re drunk off their own ego, money talks. The big film companies will make “adjustments” to keep their bottom line going, and it’ll be a predictable wake up call as they get the boot.

[@Cuttuttlefish]

Naw it won't I don't think because if they haven't got the boot by now they may never will, no different to Pravda, they're not even in a free market. What you just said is what I used to think too but I'm not so optimistic anymore. DEI is more than just a word, people need to look into it more deeply in the context of algorithmic finance like Aladdin / Blackrock; these things are going to continue to happen until we ourselves stop funding it through our pensions and take direct action against them like DeSantis has in Florida. They are funded by debt, equity, and IP, not customer sales, which mostly only help a project to somewhat break even or at times don't even; they can operate indefinitely this way even if the audience HATES it. Even if they do run one thing into the ground, they can just parasitically co-opt the next, their pockets are infinite and they have the cycle of buying an IP and sucking it dry down to a science. They also cleverly lower standards. A lot of these works are deliberately bad; they're just designed to move the goalposts, then when they release a turd that's at least not steaming people think it is acceptable. Even if a film flops, it does the job of moving perceptions and expectations. The corporate media sector is co-opted and needs to be smashed into a thousand pieces. We all fund it with our IRAs.

[@Izithel]

I think it's also Hollywood being very unwilling to take any kind of risk, (cause money why else) so new aspiring talent doesn't even get the chance to try and outshine the writers of yesteryear. Low to Medium budget movies have mostly died in Hollywood, the consolidation of studio's have left only a few big ones and all they want to do is make the biggest of movies with the biggest return. Meanwhile the executives just want to repeat what works, so they want sequels to existing worn out franchises, they want to have the writers that have proven themselves successfully to write the story, the same old actors, etc. If it's something original, it's only happening because an established writer/director with enough influence pushes hard for it, it's not going to be anyone new. But Low to Medium budget is where new blood could get a chance to prove themselves, but it's gone. Not that we'll see a return of low-mid sized movies, there isn't much money in them, people don't tend to go to the cinemas any-more for anything but the big block busters (especially with how expensive cinemas are), home-video sales are mostly gone as people tend to use streaming services, and streaming is filled with "Content" that makes it hard for anything to stand out. All new talent can do is try and make "content" for streaming services, and there is no big break possible there. In Hollywood, there is no path-way up any more besides nepotism.

[@easytoassemble54321]

I think the bitterness comes from a tail-end rut of postmodernism. They told themselves it's possible to reinvent the wheel, radically, but became disillusioned when they realised they couldn't. Old-school writers never thought that way. They understood that all the tales have already been told. They just had filter those stories through modern life settings. Though, granted, film stayed "new" for many decades, because of the constant technological leaps that were made. Modern writers are afflicted by storytelling being replaced by "issues", but convincing themselves those "issues" are stories. They aren't the same thing.

[@ALovelyBunchOfDragonballz]

Kinda reminds me how almost every good in the UK was made in a shed in the Midlands, a budget of 5 pounds and lots of devotion.

[@waynekerr7013]

My Great Granddad used to make little working steam trains in his shed at the bottom of the garden, just to get away from my nan and her mother. Nowadays we scroll KZbin...

[@deinemam7115]

@@waynekerr7013 the arrival of the information age and its consequences are a disaster for the human race

[@impguardwarhamer]

@@waynekerr7013 tbf there are a surprisingly large amount of british men who still build steam engines in their shed

[@waynekerr7013]

@@impguardwarhamer not enough, brother, not enough...

[@mghegotagun]

I still find it absolutely wild that the matrix dates back to the nintendo 64 era when i was playing conker's bad fur day.

[@mrnasty2757]

That was a great game! Even the multiplayer was great a parties with the squirrels vs teddys

[@KopperNeoman]

@@mrnasty2757 Also has the best boss in videogame history. He's going to throw his shit at you.

[@InspectorGadget923]

But if I i wear the skin of the thing you used to love you have to love me!

[@jefreahard9165]

Chef's kiss. Glad more people are waking up to the fact that those in charge should not be.

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

*The problem with DEI is never the minorities upon which companies focus.* *The problem is always the redirected focus itself.*

[@jaybee9269]

It IS a problem if said “minorities” can’t do the work. It’s why elite universities such as Stanford are becoming less elite.

[@AndyJarman]

I'm afraid it's slowly turning me racist though. I'm beginning to resent the box tick actors assuming entitlement to places and spaces where they just don't fit. How many more families with a black father, a white mother and a Chinese looking kid do I have to watch?

[@NormalPerson229]

Agree that the redirected focus is a major problem. But the less functional minorities replacing white men is also a huge issue. It is already having consequences in areas such as infrastructure maintenance, service speed and quality, and the development of new products and technologies. It also creates even more work for the remaining merit hires, distracting them from more productive work that they could otherwise be engaged in.

[@kaizokujimbei143]

@@AndyJarman How long does the boot stomping your face last?

[@Mr72Dolphins]

Long live the Star Wars Holiday Special!

[@KopperNeoman]

It's still Godawful - and not in the "muh prequels bad" kinda way where it's actually really good but a subset of the audience just doesn't enjoy it - but it's Funny Bad.

[@gowankommando]

But it's not the stinkiest turd in the bowl anymore

[@GoblinKnightLeo]

I think this is a little too kind and generous to these pretenders. Cargo cultism describes how they _talk_ about the franchises they are destroying, but the snide and accidental admissions they sometimes make suggests that they aren't trying to make successful projects but merely to make destructive things instead. This is, however, the genesis behind the "mantle" theory of superheroes promulgated by the now-fired Victoria Alonso, who rather openly believed iconography and superpowers/costuming was all that was needed for an audience, and any actor of a more preferred demographic could take on the role.

[@MoonPhantom]

Oh they HATE what came before them. It seems to come from a place of pure jealousy though.... Why could these other people create things and be loved for it, why not me?! but then of course instead of emerging themselves with the source material and figure out why it's loved... they go out of their way to avoid and dismiss it, only using the name, the jealousy they have of the original creator, and demand the same love which they often believe have been stolen from them. Honestly they really don't comprehend the idea of somebody making something. They actually believe that Lord of the Rings were always going to exist either way, and be loved either way, and Tolkien just happened to steal the property first before a more deserving oppressed black person got it. Or something... and since he "Stole." the fame and love, it's okay for them to take it for themselves...

[@KopperNeoman]

@@MoonPhantom It's Biblical, I tell you. Humanity was created in God's image - WE were created to create things of our own. A certain angel really didn't like that we were chosen over him, because that angel - Lucifer - thought only in terms of power. Socialism is very Luciferian in nature: fitting given Karl Marx's rebellion against God. "Why are these weak things being placed above me!" cried Lucifer. "Because THEY are to be made in My image, to be second only to Me, and you are to serve them." replied God. Lucifer then sought to corrupt these humans out of envy to the destiny they had been promised, and since then, humanity has had a dual nature of good and evil. Because Eve, and later Adam, were able to make their own foolish (literally, they had no way of knowing better) choices. I'm paraphrasing, you heathen! - Dutch

[@Richforce1]

@@KopperNeoman I don't think it was humans who were placed before Lucifer, but Jesus. Lucifer didn't want to be placed before humans, he wanted the top spot.

[@16m49x3]

@@MoonPhantom envy

[@Eirik_Bloodaxe]

Your mistake is that it’s an accidental admission

[@rosegonella3098]

Rand covered this too. I shall quote Atlas Shrugged: "In the old days, it used to be said that the Twentieth Century Motor trademark was as good as the karat mark on gold. I don't know what it was that the Starnes heirs thought, if they thought at all, but I suppose that like all social planners and like savages, they thought that this trademark was a magic stamp which did the trick by some sort of voodoo power and that it would keep them rich, as it had kept their father. Well, when our customers began to see that we never delivered an order on time and never put out a motor that didn't have something wrong with it -- the magic stamp began to work the other way around: people wouldn't take the motor as a gift, if it was marked Twentieth Century."

[@profanegunman7586]

Here's me thinking Cargo Cult was related to Space Station 13

[@KopperNeoman]

You're thinking of when the Cultist antags establish Cargonia.

[@userequaltoNull]

​@@KopperNeoman Glory to Cargonia! Land of stolen fame

[@propaani5415]

Cargonia is peaceful, harmonious place for the common spessman

[@KopperNeoman]

I want to rephrase what you said about the prequel trilogy. I would say that the mass reliance on CGI wasn't a result of bad writing or incompetent direction, but rather a technology that was new to live-action directors - one they didn't truly understand just yet. While fully CG films and videogames had already learned how to properly utilise these technologies, men like George Lucas had to cut their teeth on it, and it kind of shows. Back in an era where we were surrounded by absolute quality, it stuck out like a sore thumb. But now we're in an era where we're surrounded by DEI hires and the politburo who command them; this reveals a truth once hidden to moviegoers - the Star Wars prequel trilogy were absolute brilliance hamstrung only by the inexperience with the technology that their writers and directors were dealing with.

[@rileykaiseeker4294]

Nice idea, but the prequels are appallingly written (I hate sand), and tediously blocked, directed and edited, giving sluggish pacing and the characters are boring. Lord Of The Rings used many of the same CGI techniques in their infancy around the same time, and it was an infinitely better written, blocked, directed, edited and paced trilogy.

[@KopperNeoman]

@@rileykaiseeker4294 There's no accounting for taste. Some people will insist that the Star Wars prequels are bad, no matter how many rewatches give them the opportunity to lift those shit-tinted glasses. I can't even understand most criticisms, however. "Movie bad because Anakin awkward" is up there with "FFX English dub bad because Tidus forced laugh is forced... like it is in the original Japanese dub."

[@NotBCT]

@@rileykaiseeker4294 I would go one step further and say that Lucas himself was a bit guilty of the same "Cargo Cult" mentality as most of his work after THX1138 and "American Graffiti" was, to kindly put it, "inspired" by things that came before: "Star Wars" on a mix of WWII aerial ace movies and pulp Sci-fi serials from the '30s and '40s ("Flash Gordon" in particular) with a plot that, let's just say, was also "inspired" by the Japanese jidaigeki genre. "Indiana Jones" on the pulp adventure serials of the '30s. "Willow" on Tolkien. Despite this, with the assistance of many others (his then-wife, Spielberg, Irving Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan, etc., etc., etc.) he managed to create something new out of emulating the exterior "forms" of the things that came before. The terrible writing on the prequels is what results when he completely abandoned the inner mechanics and became obsessed with the superficial "forms," spurred on by the whole "built in audience" trope (they'll come in droves no matter what we plop onto their plates) and his focus on the new technology rather than the story.

[@Izithel]

@@KopperNeoman "Movie bad because Anakin awkward" Honestly, isn't it the entire point that he's a awkward, because he's moody and angsty teenager who's lacks social experience trying to be romantic and open about his feelings... and has been raised and trained in an order of celibate monks that are all about suppressing their feelings and wouldn't teach any of those skills?

[@GodOfOrphans]

Probably true to a degree but there are writing and pacing problems not really attributable to the CGI one way or the other.

I just heard an audio book in which a cargo cult was mentioned when this video popped up as a new upload.

[@hattimounattimou8258]

isnt it weird how you can go your whole life without knowing a word/consept and once you hear or learn of it suddenly its everywhere?

[@mdmn-ARCA]

This is known as the _"Baader-Meinhof phenomenon."_ Look out for it, there's a good chance you'll be experiencing it with the name of the phenomenon itself, soon enough...!

[@cecilofs]

Synchronicity

[@omnipresencetv8929]

cut a tree down make a wood chair call it a wood chair but eventually make the chair with plastic but never call it a plastic chair so now people think plastic is wood

[@carminedesanto6746]

Holyweird …there I fixed it.

[@Richforce1]

More like Hellyweird.

[@andretokayuk8100]

@@Richforce1 Hellaweird.->Hellawoke

[@TheBcoolGuy]

Hollywood was always red.

[@cerveshred]

Almost every company since 70's.

[@kaizokujimbei143]

The only thing Macarthy did wrong is that he stopped.

[@anthonycarlisle6184]

Ummm, not American red. Hollywood has been blue for decades...

[@BrianelSuperMacho]

This essay was cathartic for me. I realized you put to words a dynamic I have wanted to articulate but couldn’t. The cargo cult metaphor was pure genius and spot on.

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

An interesting way to analyze the Star Wars Trilogies is to compare their relationships with the hero’s journey. It’s no secret that George Lucas was heavily inspired by Joseph Cambell’s “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” in which the main character (usually a young man) revives a call to adventure, meets a wise mentor, has an encounter with the feminine, struggles with his own internal darkness, and then victoriously confronts evil to return to a new, better, normalcy. The original trilogy follows this pattern beat for best with only the smallest alterations to the formula. It is often given as THE example of a hero’s journey. It is a happy story because in the end Luke and co. Have overcome evil and the best days are yet to come. The prequel trilogy is a conscious subversion of this formula. Anakin does not willingly head the call of adventure, he was essentially bought out of slavery and made to feel unwanted by the Jedi regularly, his wise mentor dies mere days after meeting him, his encounter with the feminine is forbidden and serves as his struggle with his inner darkness which he in turn fails to conquer. By the time he faces off against evil he offers almost no resistance and actually joins evil to destroy good. The trilogy ends with Anakin as a (for the time) failed hero who helps create a new normal that is far darker than before. It is a tragedy because even though Anakin’s choice to join the dark side was his, we can’t help but sympathize with him and imagine what could have been to avoid the worst possible outcome. In the sequel trilogy Rey literally begins the story waiting for something to happen. Her call to adventure really isn’t a call. Every story beat is a massive improbable event that happens because the story demands it happen. Her mentors have nothing to teach her as she has already surpassed them in most ways. Her encounter with the opposite sex is very artificial. Her struggle with her inner darkness is almost non existent and says almost nothing about her as a person. Thus when it comes time to face off against evil it feels hollow. There is also no attempt to show the new better normal at the end of the trilogy so we are left to assume that all the damage done by evil over the course of the trilogy is somewhat permanent.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

i think one of the most important points that everyone is missing is that these people are not capable of replicating the stuff they grew up with let alone making anything better. I used to say that it doenst make sense how millennials can grow up with such good entertainment and be unable to make something similar to that, but then i realized that its not millennials who run the industry is hippie boomers who now have enough money and power to promote the 60s era mindset down our throats, when boomers are gone, things are gonna change.

[@matthewrawlings1284]

I hope so...

[@jaybee9269]

Maybe…

[@MoonPhantom]

I have to say. It actually is one of the absolutely wonderful and beautiful things about art, that you can never really replicate anyone. Whatever you create, will be a product that uniquely came from you. It is a little piece of yourself you put into this world. I write, and sure I can try to copy the writing style of J.K. Rowling and I have, it's how I got started. But even then, my writing can never ever be hers, things were put into my story that she would never put in there. Sentences and character interactions that J.K. would clearly never write because... She wasn't the one writing this story... it was me. Writing is one of the most personal things you can ever do, and whatever I write will have that unique flavor that is me. This of course also means that the more rounded and lived I am as a person, the better I will be able to write. These people... Are very boring uninteresting people. So they can never write anything interesting. They can never write from the heart, only try to copy what they think other will deem clever. When you read Tolkien, you KNOW he's talking from the heart, he is speaking directly to us. The thoughts and feelings he had fighting in First World War and seeing true horror, now put onto page. He is being honest and true to himself through his work... And thus there can never be another Tolkien... there can be many who are inspired by Tolkien and make their own wonderful works... But there is only one Tolkien. And same with all other great artists of past, present, and future... And to me that is beautiful, art can't be replicated. But it can INSPIRE! Inspire for the next generation and the next art piece that will be different because a different person did it. But again... It requires that person to be a full person as well... If you're hollow you can only make hollow things... obviously.

[@KopperNeoman]

Not even the boomers. Men like George Soros belong to the Greatest Generation. (albeit on the side who sought to kill those whom we revere most from said generation)

[@makattak88]

@@MoonPhantomVery well said. 🙌🏻

[@GearForTheYear]

2:15 "You can only respond to it in ways that you already know" This sentiment is a powerful reminder of the limitations of humans and the simiarities between large language models and human minds.

[@TheMemesofDestruction]

"Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires."

[@anthonylulham3473]

Man does have fundamental desires. The desire to exist is pretty universal, only removed by insurmountable hardship. The desire for intercourse. The desire for rules. That pretty much is it. Material desire is for your betterment and comfort (physical or mental).

[@andretokayuk8100]

You cannot sell jack-sh!t to the unenslaved mind... it will go get what it needs/wants despite the herds of compliant fools surrounding it.

[@TheMemesofDestruction]

@@anthonylulham3473 Totally! How we focus said desires is perhaps a better question?

[@Sydra.]

Warhammer40k is really prophetic in regards of technology. In the future no one knows how anything works.

[@_nebulousthoughts]

Read Carl sagans "demon haunted world" it is basically about this concept.

[@mrsentencename7334]

How do I get into learning about 40k lore? I always hear about really cool concepts from it

[@bigcorgi]

​@@mrsentencename7334literally just search "40k lore" and go nuts

[@bruhfvdf3145]

@@mrsentencename7334try TTS and 1d6chan

[@whenpigsfly8178]

@@mrsentencename7334 There is an online encyclopedia findable with a google search etc. Also, you can read some of the books - Dan Abnett is one such good WH40K author. The Caiphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell is pretty good too, though it's far more positive than some other parts of the WH40k universe. I've read those two authors and a bunch of trilogies by authors in 'The Black Library', mostly looking at different factions, like the Eldar, the Necron, the Drukhari, the Orks etc.. The Fabius Bile trilogy, as well as the books about Belisarius Cawl, are interesting too.

[@benjaminbrockway5998]

The weakness of the Prequels is not in their ideas, but of the editing. Lucas' first wife, Marcia Lou Griffin, saved the newborn Star Wars with her assistance in editing the "mess" (Lucas' own words) that was A New Hope. The Prequels seem to be what happens when a "Big Idea" creative is let loose unfettered, which is why they have aged wonderfully when we look at current films.

[@amorencinteroph3428]

The influence his wife had on editting is debated, and she certainly wasn't the only one (he had other friends he was showing the project too that he got their feedback from). Besides, the issues with the prequels aren't in the editting department. It's in the character department (Jar Jar being a bit too much. Hayden's wooden deliveries, etc) and some writing (2).

[@test-201]

was watching mma before i clicked this i wasn't ready for the big words

[@jaybee9269]

Lololol.

[@dasiksupahuman]

Being smart enough to know when your being dumb. Makes you far smarter than most.

[@picklejho69]

Bro has enough INT to have FTH in his STR

[@joesomebody3365]

Give it time, everyone starts with the small words.

[@dasiksupahuman]

“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.” ― Thucydides

[@nicholastaylor9687]

Describing Disney Star Wars as a Cargo Cult is so very very apt. You have nailed it Sargon.

[@theehumanshield]

Gatekeeping should have never been demonized

[@lukewilliams8548]

When I tried watching Mando Season 3, I had a hard time describing how it felt. There were spaceships, droids, aliens, characters talked to each other, plasma guns fired, all that. Yet nothing meaningful or interesting happened. It felt wrong, and made me feel disappointed. The usual things were happening, but it felt so empty. The best I could come up with was "hollow". The cargo cult is a perfect description.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

This is why I haven't "Hollywood" at all in about 10 years. I grew up in the 90s, before they lost whatever magic they had, and this post modern swill just doesn't do it for me, even before they went all woke. There's a lot of independent stuff on the internet that deserves my viewership. I'm happy to go with that, and so should the rest of us. Like it or not, Hollywood needs to go

[@thelitterbug7624]

Old school sargon viewer here, loved the old format, lost interest when it changed and I know am back in the fold, love this style of video essay. It’s what I tune in for 👍👍

[@theunironicboomerang]

This is one of the finest critiques I've heard in a long time. Not just on Star Wars, but on media and life itself. I've watched this happen with the comic book industry. Heroes that were once written by men who understood struggle these characters are now written by diverse activists who have never struggled against anything. Where once there were epic battles with struggling heroes and complex villains tell bent on evil or destruction hear it we now have page after page of emasculated men and girl bosses, who sit around coffee shops or kitchens complaining about life or make edgy comments in crowds. Where we once had incredible artwork, hand drawn representations of strength, beauty, and masculinity, are now computer-assisted generic drawings, of figures who are blocky and genderless. They have essentially removed the super-beauty and strength in the hero-courageous battles against evil, they have removed them both from the superhero.. they instead give us mundane reality. And then they questioned why no one is buying the books. Then they blame it on toxic fandom rather than themselves.

[@radimnechut519]

A better example of a franchise cargo cult, in my humble opinion, would be The Rings of Power series. It's creators are so incompetent and clueless about what they are doing, that they are not even mimicking the good adaptations, the LotR movies, but the mostly disliked or even hated adaptations, the Hobbit(s). The production, the costumes, the environments, the sets, everything does not look like something from LotR, but it really quite resembles the far worse Hobbits. The dwarves are more like Hobbits' dwarves, the sets, the CGI landscapes and interiors. Old Khazad dum/Moria looks more like Hobbits' Erebor than the LotR's Moria. The western elven settlements look most like Thranduil's forest palace in Mirkwood, rather than like Lothlorien or the Rivendell. Put simply, they couldn't even imitate the good stuff, because they don't even know which is better, what is of more quality.

[@johns9969]

It's staggering how much my kid enjoys the SW prequels over the sequels.

[@JacobthePoshPotato]

This is like living among the ruins of your ancestors having no knowledge of how they were created or the people that made them.

[@LRich-hg3hu]

What is sad about that is....they lack even the creativity to gaze upon the ruins and ask "What sort of men were they who built these collapsing wonders? Where did they go? What were these wonders when they were new?" If they could muster that question, and likely create some compelling story that asks these questions and provides possible answers. Instead, they look up at the Colosseum, blink, and turn their eyes down to the sharpened stick they made and mutter, "What losers! They didn't even built a spear as wondrous as mine. They couldn't even hunt!"

[@TransRoofKorean]

_The Acolyte_ turned "gay race communism" into "gay space race communism" pun intended in the latter part, because it really *_does_* feel like they still think the wokeism is a competition they have to win and it's quite amazing when they pretend their goals are otherwise

[@Hoopaugi]

Cargo cult is when the quartermaster promises to unlock the weapon crates when the cargo techs promise to overthrow the captain

[@DouggieDinosaur]

I believe Abrams set up Finn for a great character redemption only to be thwarted later by the woke Disney committee. Finn didn't have the force. Finn was afraid. Finn clearly expressed his desire to quit the rebellion - and this is precisely what set him up to be the bravest character of the sequels because eventually, he'd be put in a position where he was forced to make a choice between: A. do the smart thing and flee (Finn made a really great case in Maz Kanata's cantina as to why this was the sane thing to do) or . . . B. fight for what he believed in even though he doesn't have the force. But Kennedy said "Nah, the world doesn't need another male hero - I'm making Rose Tico the hero."

[@Torquemadia]

Would have been even better if it had turned out that he, as a stormtrooper, was actually brainwashed and was the one feeding information to the First Order all along, even if unwittingly. But that would have involved having a POC as less than heroic and that is opposed to....THE MESSAGE......

[@ItsaKindOfMagic86]

"bravest character of the prequels " ? you mean sequels

[@DouggieDinosaur]

@@ItsaKindOfMagic86 Thanks! I corrected it 👍

[@lazylonewolf]

As a fellow writer/artist, I can tell if a work or another creator has a shallow or surface-level understanding of something. They are blinded by the awe and coolness factor, but they do NOT get what a work is all about or what made it amazing. They lack substance, nay, the MAGIC from their lack of understanding, and I see this in most of these modern sequels and remakes. Pale imitations. Star Wars is an obvious culprit of that + what Sargon talked about in this video. EDIT: Oh he did mention Star Wars. Adding to that, the original Star Wars were superior because the editors and writers had to limit Lucas' creativity into something more fiscally and creatively manageable.

[@16m49x3]

I think the word "art" and "creative" are heavily abused these days. while relatability is heavily underutilized. People that are good with a digital drawing tool calling what they do "art" by default is a pet peeve of mine. Being good at drawing lines don't make what you produce art. Robots are good at drawing lines. AI is good at drawing lines. This is why I have no sympathy for the so called "creatives" worried about AI. AI does not create ART. AI creates graphics. Copying what hundred people have done before without any intention behind it is not art. And this applies to all the people that will lose their job because of AI too. So I don't mourn their loss.

[@MCC17011]

I absolutely adore the analogy, and I think it's incredibly accurate. What concerns me however is that it isn't just Hollywood but society in general. People are growing up and are taught to avoid risks, not think for themselves, and follow formulaic paths that always fall apart because too many people are on them. I will also make a defense for the Phantom Menace, in that most complaints for the other films(mostly 2) lump EP1 in. P1 used a great deal of practical effects and the CGI used wasn't overboard and aged decently well. Conversely EP2 definitely went too far and had more problems than 1 and 3 combined. This isn't to say EP1 was a perfect film or didn't have other problems, but I think receives harsher criticism than it actually deserves.

[@Nonamearisto]

Sadly, you may be right about Star Wars. Kennedy needs to go, and her replacement has to undertake nothing less than a heroic effort to erase her false movies and fix everything.

[@nathansuss]

Yeah

[@16m49x3]

Unless Disney as a whole gets bought by musk or something star wars is dead

[@Nonamearisto]

@@16m49x3 Her replacement will have one hell of a job to do. Like rebuilding Germany or Japan after World War II. Both of those countries were initially very successful in that war, as the "sequels" were at first, but then they ran out of momentum and the tides turned against them.

[@snek2908]

@@16m49x3 Correct Disney would have to go. The franchise be put on ice for maybe close to a decade and there would have to be a reboot that erases the Disney canon.

[@dragonknightleader1]

It's not just her at this point. Everyone in LucasFilm has to be fired because they are all True Believers.

[@badgamemaster]

"I can not have made a mistake or failed, so the whole world is evil and hates me" - to many show runners.

[@BarkingCur]

Pure poetry. Sargon, you have presented one of the best explanations I have heard yet as to why Hollywood is going down the tubes. The only thing I would add is Hollywood's insistence on forsaking crafting universally adored characters for cranking out flawless icons representing marginalized groups. Characters have faults and failings for us to empathize with as they struggle, fail, then rise again to overcome the obstacles before them. Icons have no flaws or weaknesses for fear that such defining defects might offend the marginalized groups those paragons represent. Thus, by structuring plots around sociopolitical messaging and idealized avatars, Hollywood keeps producing boring movies nobody wants to watch for free let alone pay to for the privilege of being exposed to THE MESSAGE.

[@cyanideinmycereal1077]

Remember: Very few totemic pieces of fiction were written by dedicated fiction writers. Tolkein was a soldier and a hermit. Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist. Orson Welles was a Radio host. Francis Ford-Coppola was an Italian. It’s not about “talent” or “training” necessarily, it’s about drive and power. We stay hungry we devour.

[@NoWhere-wx9gh]

"creative" and "industry" are opposing terms

[@2mccue4u27]

Ahsoka deserved better than a show where Rosario Dawson stands around looking bored.

[@smpdevelopments]

Mixing cargo cult into the state of Hollywood is exactly why I love listening to Carl. Great video mate

[@matthewrawlings1284]

Well done! I'd never thought about it from this angle!

[@mysticalmonotreme]

Excellent video. However, I would like to add that Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces" also had a profound influence on George Lucas while writing the original trilogy so he had good grip on the fundamentals of storytelling. Similarly, authors and scholars like the aforementioned Campbell, Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis dedicated their lives to studying myths from various cultures and identifying tropes that make compelling stories. These cargo cultists spent decades deconstructing this franchises (and culture in general), but lack the ability to identify these tropes and reconstruct what they have destroyed. Compounding this is a disdain for the past, which has led to the continuing cultural vandalism.

[@shanester1832]

Taking all bad intent aside, modern writers are the withered crops of depleted farmlands. As you mentioned, Lucas's relationship with Joseph Campbell but also Kurosawa films, serials, westerns, rich fundamental structures to build upon. Original Hollywood writers read classic literature, later generations drew from the classics and classic Hollywood. Now modern writers grew up on Love Island and According to Jim reruns. The vitamins are depleted, the soil is barren.

[@keegobricks9734]

There is one thing that Carl neglected to point out, maybe by accident. If the Guineans would have liked to _learn_ how the plane magic works, in order to replicate it. Hollywood has no interest in even trying to understand it. They've lived with luxury and without merit for so long they just assume their own greatness. They have no need of investigating what made the plane work, since, surely, they already have as much or more magic than those men whose political beliefs are so archaic. It's easier to simply get angry at the inferior peasants who are too unintelligent to understand that they actually _are_ great, and the stuff the peasants loved were made by inferior people too. At a certain point they tend to abandon even trying to trick or berate the fans into accepting their superiority and just turn to sabotaging the thing they love. It's the ultimate expression of "if I can't have it, no one can".

[@gottesurteil3201]

I think you've perfectly explained both the problems with the prequels and why i still love them.

[@MattttG3]

*I now realize why we had the Witch trials in the past* Seems we are overdue

[@TheBullDurham]

You can't teach someone to be creative. You can only show them how to create. In other words you can show someone how to use a chisel and show them step by step how to make a generic statue but you can't teach them how to create an original work of art. What we are living through is the modern art era where people who have little talent make garbage and call it art. Rap is the musical equivalent of modern art. It can be created quickly with minimal talent and is easily mass produced. We are head ding to an era where AI will simulate creation by blending real creative works.

[@ChronicDreamer1st]

These video essays are so damn good. Really missed your classic content Carl 💯

[@npcwojack4995]

My man spitting hot fire over here. Found this 15 minute video more entertaining than the entire sequel trilogy.

[@pumitriii6160]

There is no shortage whatsoever of true art in cinema. But it most often comes from smaller, lesser known studios with smaller budgets. I think the only thing we can really take away from the current state of Hollywood is not that there are no more talented filmmakers, but that megacorporations (who only make the garbage mentioned in the video) are not capable of producing art - only soulless crude imitations of it. In the last 8 or so years, we've had films like Dune, Blade Runner, the Lighthouse, Hereditary, Florida Project, Uncut Gems, Aftersun, Anatomy of a Fall, All Quiet on the Western Front, 1917, Parasite etc. I think itd be pretty hard to argue that those weren't all groundbreaking pieces of art, many of which were made by young filmmakers

[@Jeremy-ho3vi]

I tried to like 'Dune'. Timothy hadn't seen his friend for all of a week. When reunited he ran excitedly and jumped on friend wrapping his arms and legs around him , hugging him closely. Like a little Girl seeing Daddy after her first day at Kindy? Try and imagine Charles Bronson instead..

[@pumitriii6160]

Uh ok lol. Not sure I remember it that way. But regardless, that's the kinda the point - he was a young boy in the first movie and we watch him as he is forced to become a man in the second

[@bronco5334]

You can hardly use Dune, Blade Runner, or All Quiet on the Western Front as examples of modern creativity, when they are all adaptations of pre-existing works from decades ago. Similarly, Parasite (made in South Korea) is hardly proof that Hollywood and the Western "art" industry can make an original story.

[@giantent763]

Dune isn't inspired, compared to the books, it sucked. They removed all of the nuance and subtext.

[@Jeremy-ho3vi]

@@giantent763 Finally someone said it. All the intrigue and manoeuvring for power boiled down to some sword fights? Why can't Adults have Movies?

[@GaudiaCertaminisGaming]

I’ve been saying the same for a long time. Glad someone else, a) understands the reference, and b) agrees. This sums up a lot of studios, Disney in particular.

[@WesternHypernormalization]

"You will never get a good Star Wars movie ever again." Yep, accepted that fact awhile ago. Feelsbadman.

[@EjectaCurtain11]

Damn Carl, this was one hell of a video. Well done.

[@joshuamueller3206]

Now that! Is a eulogy for Star Wars.

[@rooneytutoring]

on the actor front Hollywood deliberately tried to move away from the Hollywood mega star so they could pay actors less and give them less input. It's similar with directors, they have deliberately tried to rest power away from them so that executives would have more control over films, they didn't want to risk 300 millions dollars on an eccentric director. It was all about money and control by the C-suits. The thing is the Hollywood mega star has been the most steady way to keep people going to the movies, as was the famous director. People would go to the new Tom cruise movie in the 90s because it was a Tom Cruise movie, or watch the new Spielberg movie because you knew you like Spielberg movies. The block buster and franchise obsessions of the 2000s and 2010s was used as a mean erode actor prominence and director control. The thing is people have gotten sick of franchise movies and big blockbusters, so they cannot get butts in seats like they used to and now Hollywood no longer has many mega stars left so going back the old model is not really possible. They also eroded the best means they had to create new starts because they largely abandoned the medium budget film and smaller pictures. Like a lot of the economy Sales, business and marketing types that do not actually understand the industry have been the ones running it for decades. The Result is rot, decay, and erosion, just like Boeing ignoring safety standards to keep the company stock line going up. Paying execs in stocks has done so much damage to the economy across the board.