A24 Sells Out, or AI is Ruining Everything.
Some of my favorite movies have been produced by A24 - Saint Maud, The Florida Project, I Saw the TV Glow, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The VVitch, so on and so forth. They produce plenty of films by female directors, and those that aren't directed by women often pass the Bechdel test. Their films explore themes I tend to gravitate towards, especially their horror films, and I generally get excited when I hear they're producing something new.
Like many other creative entities, A24 has just sold its soul to Google. The news strikes as particularly ironic because the recent blockbuster Backrooms director Kane Parsons has spoken out loudly against AI. He puts it well here, saying, “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot."
Bottomline: generative AI is gross and using it to produce 'art' is even grosser. I enjoyed reading RNOTTÉ's post "please support genuine craftsmanship" and will point you all there to avoid echoing their ideas.
Support real art made by real people. Make real art. Be a real person.