The average movie is mediocre at best. This is not meant as an insult to hardworking filmmakers. The simple fact of the matter is that few films in a given year can actually be given the label of a “good movie.”

People often look back fondly at a cultural era. In our short-term memory, this is often reduced to decades. Looking further back, cultural movements generally take up more time and are given weighty names (the Renaissance, the Enlightenment). Often someone will say “Remember the music in the ’90s? It was so much better than it is today” or “Movies were a lot better in the ’70s.” Think about it rationally, though: What possible reason could there be for the quality of art to change from one period in history to the next? It’s not as if new generations are less talented than previous ones, as much as Tom Brokaw tries to convince us otherwise. Generations are made up of individuals. Sometimes we lose sight of this much like we fail to acknowledge the tiny pixels that form our computer screens.

Let’s take a look at the conditions art needs to survive. First, there are the technological advances in artistic mediums. Oil-based paints and watercolor paints both developed at different times in history. The electric guitar spawned a revolution in music, just as programmed beats and synthesized instruments have done in more recent decades. The biggest technological change right now in film is the use of digital technologies. Even if a movie is still shot on film it will pass through a computer at some point, be it for color correction, CGI, titles, or DVD production.

The other major requirement is something that is more difficult to pinpoint. I call it cultural inspiration. These are the societal tendencies that are working both for and against the artist, and are often easier to pinpoint in hindsight. The great thing about art is that the forces working against it are easily neutralized by the work. The Vietnam War is an example of a cultural inspiration. Music underwent a fundamental change during this time, and films as well. For all the peace and love in the air, films seemed to get grittier and more cynical from this point forward. Star Wars, though an attempt at more uplifting cinema, was even inspired by the Vietnam War. George Lucas was originally scheduled to make Apocalypse Now, but when this plan fell through he began forming his space epic by following the same threads of rebellion and empires stretched too far.

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