Is anyone else getting bored with these overlong story acs that tv series use nowadays that span an entire series to tell a single story, because I am sick of them.

Movies and tv just lately are full of doom and gloom and devoid of hope and the stories they tell are a reflection of that. Now I know an argument can be made that the movies and tv, ie popular media always reflect the times that the world is going through and that argument would be a valid one. Take for example the zombie movies of George A Romero came out at the time of the civil rights movements in the United States was coming to an end the same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated. A very bleak period in history for some in that country. That is just one example of how art has been a reflection of reality and it is good that it does show to people what is happening in the world. It can be so easy to bury your head in the sand in the hope that it will all go away, but when has that ever worked?

The human race is governed not by good people but by base emotions, greed and avarice. Those in power today do nothing for the common man but everything to feather the nest of the powerful and wealthy in the hope that they in turn will keep them in power. It is a vicious cycle we are all aware of but are powerless to change.

Movies and tv serie reflect that by telling darker stories with more adult themes filled with lust, blood and gore but they tell those stories not in a good way. Even a story with a dark theme can have hope somewhere inside but today’s tv shows even those I have enjoyed at the beginning are becoming nothing short of boring. Is that down to the times we are living through or simply due to bad writing, or are both connected somehow. Are the times we are living through so hard that it reflects, no permeates through life and into art so that even the stories become so dark that we cannot see the light at the end of this very long tunnel? I hope not.

I for one do not want to see my heroes being tortured for fifty per cent of the season only to have them free to find some other threat that will consume them until the very last episode when victory is theirs, however fleeting. No, there is no need to tell that story, not in that way at least. Take the present, last season of Arrow. The star, Oliver Queen was convicted of his crimes in the last episode of the last season which saw him incarcerated in a super max prison at the start of this season. We all know that at some point he will be released but as of episode 6 he is still inside. Six episodes of Arrow without Arrow for some might be okay but this character has been beaten, tortured and had to endure knowledge that his family had been attacked on the outside and become fractured. Okay now that story need not have taken six episodes, seeing all that go down was plain boring because the viewer knew exactly what was going to happen. Oliver was given some hope, only to have it dashed, ripped from him. He would learn something good then lose it or learn something bad had happened. It was predictable and hence became boring. Three episodes maximum and that whole segment could have been done with.

I don’t want to see these characters go through hell week in and week out without any hint of hope that things are going to get better. I know for a vast majority of people that is what life is like for them and I sympathise, I really do. I have been through some dark times myself and I say that not to minimise what they are going through but just to illustrate that just because it may not be a big deal for you that it isn’t a big deal for someone else, we all go through our own kind of hell but without hope, without that glimmer, that things will turn around or at least get better then life is not worth living. Hope gives us the strength to carry on when times get the darkest. Hope gives us the courage to battle whatever demons we may face in our lives and I want at least some of that life’s fact to be reflected in art.