re: Matt Walsh monologue about the loss of the “mono-culture”

One thing I really miss about broadcast television is how every TV in the house and on the block could be tuned into the same thing and they'd all be synchronous. None of this "let my stream catch up 10 seconds later" bullshite. Everyone experienced that game-winning TD or walkoff home run at the same time, whether you were sitting in the family room or working in your garage with your 40YO rabbit ears.

I also miss the sensation of just turning a knob on a TV and instantly having a picture. Now when I power the TV on, it takes a minute to boot, and then I scroll through an app list, pick an app, pick a profile, and wait another minute for the program list, then pick my program, let it load, and a solid 2 minutes have now been wasted. It's little, first-world-problem kinda shite for sure, and I don't really watch enough TV for it to make a big difference, but it sure is annoying.

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To be clear, it’s not that I or Walsh are necessarily griping about modern music or shows

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But, he is

He even starts off by describing today as a culture (sick/dying) "telling good stories badly" (1:00-1:02 of the clip) after saying "a healthy culture tells great stories well".

He also describe the "peak" as 2007-2008. What movies does he pick?

No Country for Old Men (domestic box office #59 in 2007 and #90 in 2008....combined would be like 37 in 2007 and 38 in 2008) and There Will be Blood (domestic box office #74 in 2008) 2007 and 2008 cites.

He also speaks of them in terms of being great, not popular.

He then references Fincher's "masterpiece" Zodiac (#77 in 2007) and Michael Clayton #63), Into the Wild (#125), and Superbad (#21).

So he clearly selected quality and not popularity (other than some gimmies like TDK in 2008).

Also, PTA released a movie this year many are calling his best AND is currently #24 for 2025 domestic LINK

You don't talk "monoculture", specifically about movies, and then pick Oscar darlings in the 70s and 80s of popularity that year, unless you're conflating quality with "monoculture".

You want to talk the actual culture events of 2007 and 2008 in terms of movies? Spider Man 3, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Hancock, Twilight, Quantum of Solace, etc.

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In 1994 everyone knew about Forest Gump

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Sure, the monoculture existed in 1994 for sure. That's 13-14 years before his selected time period of 2007-2008.

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Grandma knew about it, your 10 year old son knew about, the mail man knew about it, your teachers knew about it, the gas station clerk knew about it.

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Now do There Will be Blood, Zodiac, and Into the Wild.

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There are no more culturally shared experience....Everyone seems to be in little silos with their own individual cultures.

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Yes and no. The vastness of the internet has both splintered and shrunken society.

Most people now tune into social media for their "shared experience" and "culture" -- for better (or MUCH worse). That's arguably created just two realities and basically just two groups (or tribes). Worst of all, the two camps have evolved into just two political paradigms -- "You're with us or against us".

It's the independent intellectual drifters and explorers of alternative and external information who've found themselves isolated and alienated -- albeit on his/her own terms. I'm fine with that.

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The monoculture was fake, largely, created by lack of access and gatekeeping.

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Mostly true. The "monoculture" was an artificially maintained paradigm of reality, designed to limit access to info. ABC, NBC, and CBS "news" and editors at the New York Times did their job.

Yet, due to ongoing gatekeeping and programming, control of certain truths remain under lock & key. Most people remain "follow-the-herd" Zombies and Bots.

The rulers and controllers of this realm have never wanted to share new and hidden info only they had access to.

You know what else popped up around 2006 to 2008? Facebook opened up for everyone to sign up about that time. Without watching does he mention that?

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He explicitly said several times you might disagree with him on the date, but it's not really relevant to the overall point. He took pains to point out how the monoculture meant you would, e.g., understand a movie reference never having seen the movie and never having even been interested in seeing it.

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SFP’s schtick is to autistically analyze on semantics.

The over arching point is we used to have shared cultural experiences, and we don’t really have those anymore.

To the other point about quality, this is certainly a little more subjective, I realize that. But it is still hard to deny that quality and originality has declined across the board in the arts. I don’t often hear anyone of any age or demographic group argue to the contrary. Movies like “No Country for Old Men” or “There will be blood” or “Good Will Hunting” weren’t exactly movies that the youth only were interested in. These had wide audiences across age groups and demographics when they were released. This isn’t comparable to an old guy complaining about mumble rap music or loud heavy metal, which are really more subjective-culture genres anyways.