“You should have gone for the head,” Thanos said as he snapped his fingers, activating his infinity gauntlet and turning half the universe to dust. Unannounced to Thanos, this snap also activated the decline of modern media and marked the end of an era in movies, starting a downward spiral where creativity goes to die. Now Marvel and Disney relax on Thanos’s farm and watch as their regurgitated movies eat up spots at theaters, forcing other, smaller directors to find somewhere else to release their movies.

The decline of modern media is a recent era in cinema where movies are lacking any creativity and ingenuity to the point where they don’t even feel like movies anymore. Examples of this would be Disney’s constant live-action remakes of their animated classics, or Marvel’s recent movies that require homework via their shows in order to be understood or enjoyed. This problem isn’t just with Disney or Marvel, however, as many movie producers are lowering the quality of their works. “Lightyear,” “DC League of Super-pets,” “Jurassic World Dominion,” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru” are all recent movies made by big and popular studios that have low ratings from fans and critics on sites like IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Youtube when compared to their older movies. 

Fans of movies and cinema are starting to realize that movies are starting to decline. “Movies were better before 2015. Too many new movies try to recreate old movies and there’s less originality,” said digital design and animation teacher Pacheco Santiago Jorge. This is apparent with Disney’s new movie releases where they recreate their old animated movies in live action, like “Pinocchio,” “Aladdin,” “Dumbo,” “Mulan,” and the most well-known remake, “The Lion King.” All of these remakes are rated very poorly by most fans and critics compared to their original classics. 

Not only are movies in trouble of losing their creativity and ingenuity, but movie theaters themselves are in danger of dying out. The rise and growing popularity of the internet along with the pandemic that started two years ago have both dealt massive amounts of damage to movie theaters. More and more big companies are releasing their movies on streaming services online. The pandemic killed the popularity of going to a movie theater to get the full cinematic experience. If movie theaters all get snapped away into dust, then it could kill cinema in its entirety, just by simply watching big movies on your small cell phone. Nothing will beat going to a movie theater and munching on popcorn while watching the newest biggest hit on the big screen, but we are on the verge of losing that forever. 

  None of these cinema problems are as dangerous as what entertainment has been replaced by in our era of modern entertainment decline. Now entertainment is depicted as what can keep your attention for the longest instead of what can actually entertain you. It’s why recent movies like “Thor: Love and Thunder” lack substance and a meaningful story, but can keep you watching due to their visuals and jokes. This isn’t just a problem in movies. All modern entertainment with apps like Youtube and TikTok is suffering from this issue. Why watch a breathtaking movie when you can watch addicting Youtube shorts and TikTok videos for an hour or two? Many teens and children are starting to fall into this downward spiral or already have fallen into it. These apps may be free and offer constant entertainment, but it won’t beat going to a movie theater and it certainly is not the good type of entertainment that has started to die out.

If people just continue to funnel money into these company’s pockets, they will continue to pump out cow feed into movie theaters. The people must not support these Goliaths and should instead start seeking out movies made by the smaller Davids. Many of these movies made by smaller directors have a hundred percent more heart and originality and you might even find yourself surprised by what effect these experiences can have on you. The end of modern media must not become inevitable.