Give New Content a Chance

We all know what we don't like about modern, corporate-controlled pop-culture. We don't like what Amazon did to Tolkien's masterpiece. We don't like what Kathleen Kennedy did to Indiana Jones. We don't like what Warner Bros did to Henry Cavil. We don't like what Marvel and DC are doing to comics. Complaining is easy, but what do we do about it?

It's not enough to simply react and criticize what we don't like in modern pop culture and entertainment. We also need to praise what we do like. ... We need art that speaks to the times we're living in, and reflects what people are thinking and feeling today, and that also gives us a sense of peoples' hopes for the future.

This is basically a call for new content to be created. Expecting the corporations, who have destroyed everything good that they have touched, to come up with new and innovative stories is a waste of time.

It is also a call for people to give independent movies a chance. Go back and watch Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead from 1981, if you're unclear on what they can do. The production values will be low, but you might just find a movie that has a new idea, or covers a topic that the big studios won't. Sound of Freedom is basically an independent film. It's production budget from about 7 or 8 years ago, was about 15 to 20 million dollars. That is a long way from the $120 million Warner Bros. spent on their latest catastrophe, Blue Beetle.

Note: Disney picked up Sound of Freedom when they purchased Fox, and they kept it on a shelf for 6 years or so, before Angel Studios was able to purchase the rights. It's almost like they wanted to stifle that message.

They won't all be great cinema. There is one that Chris Gore reviewed recently call Trashcans of Terror. I'm not expecting great cinema, but it might be the next Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (that got a sequel!) or Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

There is a list, after the embedded video of some places where you can find independent content. Some of it can even be found on Amazon Prime, or via the Hulu app. There is a lot of horror, but that is in part (see the Evil Dead reference above) because you can achieve great horror and suspense without spending a fortune on special effects.

This is The Dave Cullen Show video Rebuilding Pop Culture…

Here is a list of places to find independent entertainment. It is in no particular order (just the order in which I discovered them) and it is probably not complete. If anyone knows of another source, please leave a comment.

• Gravitas Ventures
• A24
• Angel Studios
• 1091 Pictures
• Indie Rights
• Not So Sane Entertainment
• Wild Eye Releasing

In addition to movies, there are people making independent comics. There is Eric July, of course. Mandy Summers and her Jack the Ripper: Vampire Hunter comics also come to mind. Gabe Eltaeb has an independent comic, or 2 in the works or in production. I'm sure there are more.