tiktokification of the movies

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Hi babes, it's Britney. Are you also desperately longing for old movies and TV productions lately? Cuz I swear, no matter what trailer or new movie I watch, it just doesn't hit the same anymore. Like where is the magic, excitement, where's the cinema?

[00:00:15]At first I thought maybe the problem was the storytelling and lazy writing.

[00:00:19]Which, let's be honest, is still part of the issue, but lately, especially after watching sequels and remakes, I realized something else. Movies literally look different now, and not in a good way.

[00:00:30]Everything is so gray, so flat and so corporate aesthetic. They all look like they were filmed inside an expensive air purifier commercial or a Zara ad. And the biggest examples lately, I would say HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series and Devil Wears Prada 2. People immediately noticed how colorless and cold they look compared to the previous productions.

[00:00:52]They used to feel glamorous and alive with rich colors, dramatic lighting, and thought-out backgrounds. Meanwhile, specifically Devil Wears Prada 2, looks like it was filtered through clean girl minimalism. What's even crazier to me is that technically movies today should look better. We have insanely high-resolution cameras, advanced CGI, perfect lighting equipment, you name it.

[00:01:16]2000s weren't even close to the technology we have today. So why are older productions still more visually satisfying to watch, even in the year 2026? Shouldn't movies feel more immersive, more magical? Instead, a lot of productions today feel like they were made to become TikTok edits instead of actual memorable movies. Every scene is overly polished, but somehow emotionally empty at the same time. Like yes, the image quality is sharper, but the soul is gone. In my opinion, there are a few reasons why modern movies feel so empty, babes. And the first one is the background. Have you ever noticed how we barely even see what's in the background? Everything is either aggressively blurred, insanely dark, or the scene changes every 2 seconds before our brains even have time to process what we're looking at.

[00:02:06]Like babes, forget the background, half the time we can't even fully see what's happening in the actual scene.

[00:02:12]And this actually affects something called perceptual realism.

[00:02:16]Don't panic, babes. We're getting academic for a second.

[00:02:19]Film scholar Steven Prince basically argues that movies feel real when the visual and audio elements, like light, texture, movement, sound, match the way humans naturally experience the physical world, even if the story is completely fictional, our brains still need sufficient visual information to connect emotionally with it. So, how are we supposed to feel immersed when the environment barely exists?

[00:02:44]Take the Wicked movies, for example. The camera is constantly hyper-focused on the character in the front, while everything behind them is blurred into oblivion. And yes, obviously that helps direct attention to the main character, but at the same time, it makes the world feel less tangible, less alive. Older movies used to let scenes breathe. Your eyes could wander the frame. You could notice the decor, the extras, the lighting, and the tiny details in the environment that support the story and add depth.

[00:03:14]Now, everything feels so optimized for short spans.

[00:03:18]The second thing I need to talk about, babes, is modern filmmakers being way too comfortable with CGI. Back then, CGI was expensive, so studios had to use it carefully and creatively. They couldn't just throw a green screen behind every actor and call it a day. Real locations, practical sets, and actual props, those things mattered because filmmakers had to make intentional choices. But now, CGI is everywhere because it's easy, flexible, and endlessly editable.

[00:03:48]Don't like this guy? Change the color.

[00:03:51]Want different lightning? Add it later.

[00:03:53]Need a bigger background? Copy-paste a digital city behind actors.

[00:03:57]Meanwhile, if you filmed on a real location, you actually had to wait for the right lighting and atmosphere.

[00:04:04]Imagine that, cinema requiring effort?

[00:04:07]Huh. And to me, this is exactly why The Lord of the Rings still looks magical today. The CGI was used thoughtfully, not lazily. Everything felt grounded and lived in. Then you compare it to movies like Wicked, made almost 20 years later with better technology, and somehow the visuals feel less real, less engaging, and weirdly artificial. And another reason, babes, is the lighting and color grading. Specifically, that cold white hospital-looking lighting that somehow every movie has now. The easiest example of it is The Devil Wears Prada, too.

[00:04:43]Like, okay, I get it. Clean girl, old money, minimalism, neutral aesthetics.

[00:04:49]We've been living under the dictatorship of gray and beige for the past 10 years.

[00:04:53]But I genuinely think these aesthetics destroy the visual identity of movies.

[00:04:57]Because these aesthetics didn't just affect fashion, it changed beauty standards, too.

[00:05:02]We used to see imperfect hair, colorful makeup, dramatic shadows, wrinkles and texture in the faces of the actors and actresses.

[00:05:11]Now everybody looks overly polished, emotionally filtered, and lit, like they're filming a luxury skincare ad.

[00:05:18]And honestly, babes, at this point, movies barely look any different from actual skincare commercials. We keep seeing the same flawless faces everywhere. No pores, no wrinkles, no texture, no matter the character's age.

[00:05:30]Everybody looks like they just stepped out of one of those ads instead of an actual movie. We could see real emotions portrayed in older movies. Now everything feels so filtered that it almost removes personality from people's faces. But that's a whole other conversation on on own, the beauty standards imposed on people, especially women. But for today, let's stay focused on movies and why they started to feel like they've been made for Tik Tok. Let me briefly explain how lighting engages with beauty standards in the movies.

[00:06:00]Babes, there's something called key lighting. You've probably seen those giant white lights behind huge white curtains on set. Their whole job is to smooth the face, erase wrinkles, soften texture, and remove harsh shadows.

[00:06:13]So, instead of using heavy filters or Photoshop later, filmmakers create that flawless perfect skin look directly on camera.

[00:06:21]And that's exactly why so many modern movies have those overly bright, shadowless, cold-looking frames. So far, we talked about the more technical reasons why modern movies don't hit the same anymore and why they sometimes feel like big-budget Tik Tok content instead of actual cinema. But honestly, maybe the simplest answer is that they are being made for Tik Tok now. Because if studios want a movie to go viral and make massive box office numbers, people need to talk about it online. Turn scenes into edits, make memes, repost clips, and obsess over aesthetic moments on social media. And once you realize that, everything starts making sense, babes. The fast cuts, the overly polished visuals, the dramatic close-ups, the scenes designed to become reaction gifts instead of emotionally impactful moments.

[00:07:08]So, babes, maybe movies aren't getting worse technically. Cameras are sharper, CGI is better, and editing is faster than ever. But somewhere in between Tik Tok virality, clean girl minimalism, and beige corporate [music] aesthetics, cinema kind of lost its sparkle.

[00:07:23]Everything now has to be instantly consumable and easy to clip into a 15-second edit.

[00:07:28]What do you think about this new age of movies? Let me know in the comments.

[00:07:32]Until next time, love you, babes.