Bland,for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?

12 robaato 4 8/28/2025, 7:23:15 AM theguardian.com ↗

Comments (4)

thisisnotauser · 21m ago
It's fascinating that the driving force here was human-driven capitalism enabled by enhanced data collection, and not data-driven decision making at all. It's risk-aversion that's draining art of its artistry, much like the effect of risk-aversion in other industries like defense. Consider how the US department of defense tends to waste money on the same old prime contractors making the same old missiles, while other places like China are utterly devastating us on technologies that radically undermine our advantage that we'd historically considered "too risky" like drones.

I wonder what the next "drones" will be for the entertainment industry? World simulation models like Genie turned into some real-time generated mix of a shared experience of movies and video games?

deafpolygon · 1h ago
Worse yet, watch just ONE kdrama and all I get see kdramas.
anthk · 2h ago
The same as music. Dumb down the genres once they are almost the same: Metal, rock, pop. Tons of cross-polinated chords and riffs, so the genre can be followed by almost anyone. Ditto with the lyrics.

So, Netflix it's doing the same. And Marvel with the comics, where every hero it's just the same but with different weapons.

And the books, too. A good 90% of best sellers are utter crap, really streamlined stories so everyone can follow the plots as if they were cheap soap operas.

In the end, you need to go elsewhere (niche books and media) to find something worth your dollars/euros.

Something it's wrong when some people writting fiction in Gemini (not AI, protocol) both in English and in Spanish can hook you better than any random library.

And don't let me start on AI produced crap from Amazon and Spotify...

Okawari · 51m ago
I think the "algorithm movie" concept, describes something also very prevalent in music these days.

With the number of music producers which learn from tutorials and want to make music within a certain genre are incentivized to generally not stray too far from the prescribed genre conventions. This in turn is amplified by algorithms that will also not stray too far when recommending music in response to someone's listening habits. These habits again often "poisoned" by the listener not really paying attention to the music that is served them, as it might only be on in the background while working or doing something else.

Its like a lot of people with nothing to say, being recommended by something that does not understand anything, recommending to people who don't really listen.

We, the listeners reap what we sow, I guess