-My defining movies, given the idea that things that define people usually occur as kids, are the top Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tangled, and Treasure Planet (even though that one is not as popular). Disney movies were pretty based back then. The Matrix (my all-time favorite), Fight Club (I have critiques for it, but it had to be made), The Dark Knight overall trilogy, Training Day, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle. And then a host of random stuff. Jurassic Park, The Departed, Constantine, a whole host of 1990s and 2000s stuff, etc. Many others. Movies made in the 2010s or thereafter tend to fall flat for me. I watched the Marvel series from Iron man to Endgame and grew tired of superhero movies, but liked the Russo Brothers versions of it that advanced the core plot (Winter Soldier, Infinity War, Endgame, etc, with Infinity War being the high point). Every Marvel movie after Endgame doesn't interest me since I already stuck through it and finished the arc I started with Iron Man in 2008.
-Defining TV shows for me were fewer. Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Last Airbender, Legend of Kora, and the DC Animated Universe (1992-2006). And then others were later recommended to me at a point where they were no longer defining for me since they were in hindsight, but were interesting. Sopranos was good but nihilistic. Succession was good but nihilistic. Game of Thrones was great but out-ran its material and didn't stick the landing. Scrubs was amazing. Breaking Bad was fucking awesome but I don't know how to relate to anyone there and don't know what I took from the series other than don't cook meth. I plan to finish Attack on Titan in the next couple months, but so far I like that.
For books I like Mistborn series, Stormlight Archives series, Gentleman Bastards series, The Blade Itself series, etc. I might like the Kingkiller series if the author ever finishes it.
I'm very particular about my fiction. I clearly trend toward speculative fiction, either sci-fi or fantasy. Because I spend like 70 hours per week analyzing current financial markets and stuff like that, and so in my fiction I don't want boring pretentious emo dramas in our real world, I want unique stuff. I want things that give me new worlds, new rulesets, and build heroic stories from there. If something happens in our boring real world, it better be top 10% material. Like Michael Clayton or Training Day or something of that drama caliber. Every time someone tries to make a drama that is not as good as those, I couldn't bother to care.
Often someone recommends something that is supposed to be deep but it's just pretentious instead. Most modern deepness is just pretentiousness, imo. I often find myself liking more straightforward plots but with outstanding top-tier execution for their genre, like don't give me bad philosophy and virtue-signaling, but give me some good struggles and a plot that doesn't contradict itself and that is well-acted and well-filmed. The sheriff in a western, but 100% well executed. The hero in a fantasy, but 100% well executed. The hero in a sci-fi, but 100% well executed. The drama that is 100% well-acted and isn't emo. I like the very top-tier of each drama, quality over quantity, especially with a heroic aspect or otherwise some non-emo stuff going on.
quotingWhat movies, TV shows, or books, defined you?
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Along with your answers, state your approximate generation. GenZ, Millennial, GenX, Boomer, older, etc.