Trends from the 2010's
-Dystopian fiction
-book to film adaptations
-tumblr
In the 2010s the world was electric with the buzz of the booming entertainment industry and what it was producing. The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Twilight, the introduction of the Marvel universe, and the culmination of the Harry Potter franchise. The world was obsessed with the idea of magic, dystopia, and the wildly unrealistic realities that they possessed.
Through these, we begin to see the difference in young people and their relationship with media and how to consume it, fuelling the entertainment industry boom by creating media, joining fan pages on Tumblr, connecting through Twitter, and being consumed by these realities both on screen and through literature. One could say this is the change in what was deemed an acceptable amount of screen time, kids as young as 3 outsmarting parents and unable to keep their attention away from screens for more than a few minutes at a time, an easy fix to fussiness with the new work from home model.
Of course, we cannot dismiss the previous fans of media which resulted in the creation of comic-con, Paley Fest, and events such as the Sundance film festival and the Cannes film festival. Some of these events have been able to grow into unimaginable numbers and spread across the globe. But what we have to remember, is that not only were the 2010s a fresh injection of consumers, but it was also a time of digital advancement.
CGI and animation techniques had stayed very consistent since around 2005- a film that jumped out at me for its great graphics at that time is The Day After Tomorrow- until we see the release of Avatar. Being highly praised for the ground breaking use of animation and the development of detail and depth, our world on the screen changed as we know it.
We began to see studios competing with one another over who could do better, directors stretching further and further to get the perfect shot that becomes iconic. The competition that was bred amongst one another to create something great showed in the volume of media that was being created, most at box office record-breaking levels. The major beginning of the Avengers franchise hooked audiences into the more than 10-year-long saga, creating a major fanbase in itself.
Around this time, we also begin to see the twinges of online streaming becoming a thing of the norm. Netflix beginning its online streaming platform in 130 countries simultaneously in 2007, forced other companies and competitors to rise to the challenge. Netflix dominated the field before the insurgence of Amazon Prime and the most recent Disney Plus services, which meant that not only did Netflix have to showcase why they were better and more value for money. As the competition between the streaming sites came to a head, the release of high-quality “original” content from all sites was born.
The original content started to follow some ideas from the 2010s and was beginning to resurface, from books to series such as Shadow and Bone, as well as beginning to stream “The Handmaids Tale”, a futuristic dystopian society, the feature of many of the 2010 box office hits. As much as some content strays, obviously using the unique ability to cater to millions of different homes, personalities, and tastes, is an exceptional takes an exceptional ability, experience and insight.
In closing, and before we conclude in the reminiscing and the excitement of things to come in the entertainment world, we cannot forget about music. An ever-changing constant with new artists, new albums, and new songs, its an oversaturated industry with subgenres within genres that can be accessed with the tap of a screen.
As a self-confessed fan of all things dystopian and futuristic, I personally am excited for the recurrence of these trends, some Taylor swift (Taylors Version of course) in the background, a book in hand and just to add to the overload of senses, re-watching The Hunger Games just before the newest prequel instalment arrives is a way in which I would be happy to spend a rainy autumn day when the time comes.
Trends from the 2010s article written by Kara-Louise Harkins in association with Beauty & the Beast Publishing for Writer's Block.
