Quentin Tarantino says Netflix films "don't exist in the zeitgeist"

There is a plethora of things to watch in the world of entertainment today. There hasn't been a time in the history of the known world in which we had more stuff to consume. It sounds great to live in that world, and it often is. But there are drawbacks to this overflow of content.

Primarily, there is so much stuff out there, that fewer of us are watching the same things.

Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino pointed this out in an interview for Deadline, saying of streaming-exclusive films, "It's almost like they don't even exist."

It often feels like that. The numbers, at least the ones the streaming services allow us to see, may suggest that people are indeed watching these streaming movies. Anecdotally, however, it doesn't seem to add up.

The grandparents were in town last week. The question, "seen anything good recently?" was raised to the circle of six family members standing around. Answered ranged from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 to Air to The Tomorrow War. For every answer, no more than two in the group had seen the mentioned film. There wasn't any one piece of entertainment that was able to jumpstart a conversation.

This is just one monochromatic room, but it does speak to a larger theme of the streaming age. There are so many things out there, that we don't have as much to talk about as we used to.

Sucession seems to be the biggest show on television right now, but I don't personally know many people that are watching it. Not the way they watched Lost, Game of Thrones, or Breaking Bad.

Tarantino zeroed in on Ryan Reynolds to highlight this problem, saying, "I mean, and I'm not picking on anybody, but apparently for Netflix, Ryan Reynolds has made $50 million on this movie and $50 million on that movie and $50 million on the next movie for them. I don't know what any of those movies are. I've never seen them. Have you?"

At the end of the day, however, isn't this just a side effect of change?

Do we live in a world where people unite around fewer shows and films? Absolutely.

On the other side of the coin, we also live in a world where it's easier than ever to put your art out. More voices get to be heard today than ever before.

So, the question becomes; what's more important?

Entertainment used to be more universal, but it also used to be more exclusive. It used to be easier to blackball. It used to be easier to shut down voices, for any number of reasons.

Now, it is democratic. Anyone can make a film on an Iphone. It is easier than ever to connect filmmakers with other filmmakers.

Tarantino is not wrong about the disposability of the Reynolds' Netflix films. There's a whole lot of stuff out there that feels pointless. There are fewer films that everyone you know has seen. We're able to quote way fewer things and have the whole room recognize the line.

Alongside all that pointless, though, is variety, representation, and options. Like horror films? Subscribe to Shudder. Like arthouse films? Criterion Channel & Collection for you. Whatever you like, there's a place for you.

In a sea of content, a lot of average action films will debut and immediately be forgotten. When something doesn't touch us, we'll move on from it pretty quickly.

The cream, however, will still rise to the top. When something is great, people will watch it. And more than ever, everyone has a chance to make something great.