By Emily-Rose Toohey
Streaming platform Netflix has been at the centre of pop culture for several years at this point, and there’s no denying the platform’s power.
However, the quality of the original films and television shows the service produces ranges between exceptional, Oscar-worthy good, and cringey, can’t get through the first half-hour bad.
A few months ago, data was released that showed a decline in Netflix subscribers which suggests that competition with other streaming platforms was alive and well.
The fourth season of Stranger Things dropping last month felt like a test for the service, but millions and millions of people tuned in to watch the epic rollercoaster that was season four.
However, content aimed at tweens and teenagers like The Kissing Booth series (2018), romcom attempts like the Perfect Pairing (2022), and big blockbuster-type films like The Adam Project (2022), have largely fallen short and are completely forgettable.
Nonetheless, it’s projects the service acquires like Maid (2021), The Queen’s Gambit (2021), The Power of the Dog (2021), and The Irishman (2021) that really make an impact.
But unfortunately, a lot of their prestige programming (The Queen’s Gambit excepted), just doesn’t get the views.
It’s a scary thought – what if the service just stops providing a platform for auteurs and instead starts focusing entirely on forgettable nonsense?
On the flip side, there’s been a massive spike in movie theatre attendance over the past few months, which is something a lot of creators were concerned about losing forever.
‘The rise of streaming services and decline of movie theatres’ was the narrative all throughout the Covid-19 shutdown.
But as we as a society learn to live with the virus, people are braving the world more for films like Top Gun: Maverick (2022) which recently crossed $1 Billion at the box office, Minions (2022), and Elvis (2022).
So, the real question is: if movies playing at the cinema are of much higher quality, can Netflix survive on simply producing an oversaturation of average content?
Only time will tell.
