After Covid shut the world down for two years, I knew there would be a wait for new content to hit screens. And so I waited, like everyone, and then things got released by studios and streamers. Content that had been pushed, or things that needed to finish in their various places in development. Mostly, I was vastly unimpressed, some of it being hot garbage unworthy of my brain cells. I became so fed up that I stopped reviewing anything for the bulk of this year. The number of things being released lacked anything truly joyful to watch, let alone rewatch in the future. Quality matters to me. Studios and streamers are only interested in cranking out as many unoriginal, overused ideas/themes (packaged in a matter that signals viewers lack an attention span or IQ to know better) as possible.
In the past, I’ve felt my “reviews” were basically rants. Not that I can’t follow a structure in how to frame my reviewing/commenting process to make it more uniform, I can, but originally I thought, ‘why’? It’s not like I have a publisher or editor to answer to with their own guidelines, it’s just me and the inside of my head. To a point, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as I stay true to this blog’s main goal/premise: to talk about movies without spoilers. That is so much harder than I thought it would be, but it is worth the effort! Yet, when all the stuff I watched ended up with me writing negative reviews…why post only those? I want a balance of the bad with the good. So, I needed to step back. If I watch movies, as I’ve always done, to be entertained, whisked away to somewhere else, into a story that makes me think and feel, that tone, positive or not, should be easily reflected in how I post about it, otherwise why bother?
Weeks after my decision to do that, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike. To date, they still are as are the actors/members of the Screen Actors Guild and at the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) now as well.
Do I write about movies when I feel like it again if the strike is still on? I mulled that around for a few weeks a couple of months ago. The answer was simple to me: no. To review something a reader may add to their watchlist would, by extension, support studios and certainly streamers with “views” and/or rentals of items not on a streaming platform. I’m not delusional, there are not enough people who follow this blog for that to matter. It would be like a raindrop in the ocean, insignificant in the grand scope of it all. Yet, in good conscience, I have not. Fully understand that because of these two strikes, there will be another lull in new content after they end. I can wait. As I do, I only hope what comes out is better quality than what came out after the world went indoors for two years.
Whether I liked a film or not doesn’t matter because everyone who works on these projects deserves fair pay, healthcare, sane working hours and conditions, protections against AI and studios stealing one’s likeness, and more. No matter what job a person has, everyone deserves a livable wage, a safe place to work, and to be treated with respect.
I am not a member of the WGA or SAG-AFTRA so nothing prevents me from talking about past or current movies. While mentally I am ready to post again, I will not as a continued show of solidarity with WGA especially, and SAG-AFTRA members.
– A Pen Lady
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