Selfhosted

I feel like streaming has led to things being more fragmented, both because you need to be subscribed to the one service that carries the show and because there’s so many more shows being made.

I'm not who you were originally replying to, but I think two seemingly contradictory things can be true at once.

Yes, there is definitely more content nowadays, and less people watching the same things at the same time because of all of the variety of services and content and platforms, etc.

But that content tends to still be homogenous. The settings and costumes of the shows might be different, but most content cannot pass, for instance, the bechdel test.

For all of the emphasis on "eradicating woke" in the last few years, there really isn't a whole lot of actual diversity in most media. I could probably only name a single show that expresses, for instance, communist ideas, and I think it was cancelled in recent years alongside scores of lgbtq characters in shows.

Plotlines are typical, production values are stepped up but there's a large amount of, for instance, ideological consistency among all media produced nowadays.

If you're looking for a variety of typical genre shows, yes, you're spoiled for choice. But when you're looking for something that breaks the mold even slightly there are really only a handful of things from which to choose.

And that's leaving out how much derivative media exists. Vince Gilligan in recent interviews even lamented how he was one of only a few people that could get a new show with a new concept even started in the industry. Many shows are set in "universes" that are decades old. A lot of "new" movies are reboots or sequels of old movies.

There's a thread of choiceless variety that used to apply mainly to things like groceries that has now infected much of media as well. Whole political movements now push to eradicate the little diversity (ideological and character identity based) that exists.

All of this leaves out what happened to music btw, which is becoming so algorithm-driven that it's hard for those using streaming services to even tell if it was produced by a person.

I'll just leave this here as well:

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/the-intellectual-situation/why-is-everything-so-ugly/

Edit: I realized after a while that the easiest way to summarize the homogeneity you see in modern media is that it is supply-side oriented. Shows, movies, and music are made (or not) primarily based upon how easily the corporate marketing apparatuses think they can shove it down the public's throat.

I’ve heard the older generations reminisce about ye olde monoculture

We old folks most often reminisce through very dark, rose colored glasses which often leave out important negative features of days past.

I'm old enough to remember when this was a thing. TV didn't have a remote, 3 main channels. That era.

The thing that hasn't changed is people wanting to talk about their favorite media. What has is the arena. I don't know irl people watching what I watch. So I end up talking with other fans on Discord or watching youtubers geek out like I am.

The trick is not falling for parasocial relationships with these people gathered around the virtual water cooler.