Podcast Summary: How Is This Better?

Episode: The Oscars, Brain Rot, and The Death Of Prestige

Host: Akilah Hughes

Guest: Ryan Broderick (journalist, Garbage Day newsletter, Panic World podcast)

Date: March 20, 2026

Episode Overview

In this lively and incisive episode, Akilah Hughes and guest Ryan Broderick dig into the current state of Hollywood, unpacking the decline of movie-going culture, the impact of the internet on "prestige" filmmaking, and what recent Oscars trends signal about the future of entertainment. Together, they explore the existential anxieties plaguing the entertainment industry, question the nature of artistic prestige in the age of influencers, and consider whether the awards show (now heading to YouTube) can remain culturally relevant. The pair also break down the messages and missed opportunities in this year’s Oscar-nominated films and discuss the struggles of workers amid industry-wide consolidations and layoffs.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Movies as Opera and Ballet? The Dwindling Audience

• Akilah opens by comparing the future of theatrical movies to the niche, aging audiences of opera and ballet.
  • "Do you think that movies are turning into the opera and ballet?" (00:30)
• Ryan wholeheartedly agrees, seeing Hollywood as at a precarious moment, terrified of becoming irrelevant to mainstream culture.
  • "I can't think of anything more precarious than that right now. Like, the whole industry is sort of freaked out about this." (01:20)
• Both rarely saw this year's Oscar nominees in theaters, opting instead for home streaming—symbolic of broader viewing shifts.
  • "We didn't watch almost any of the best picture noms in theaters...It's a complicated picture because you do have great movies being made. But then you have a complete hollowing out of the industry." (02:23)

2. Industry Anxiety, Consolidation, and the End of the Pipeline

• There’s deep anxiety in Hollywood, amplified by layoffs (e.g., no WaPo reporters at Vanity Fair Oscar party due to layoffs), mergers (like Paramount/Warner Bros.), and power consolidations.
  • "We're in the middle of a bunch of mergers in Hollywood...they're almost certainly gonna lay off, you know, most of the people who worked there if that merger goes through." (03:52)
• These pressures mirror trends throughout the broader economy.

3. Prestige, Gen Z, and The Digital-Analog Divide

• The hosts debate whether the Oscars (and by extension, Hollywood itself) still matter to new generations—or if the "death of prestige" is here.
  • "It is the end. Like, I don't know if I see it for Gen Z or even the prestige mattering." —Akilah (04:41)
• Ryan observes a generational rift: Oscar win for traditional actor (Michael B. Jordan) over "viral" actor (Timothee Chalamet) suggests unease between old and new fame.
  • "The world of the Internet and the world of Hollywood are still like very uncomfortable connecting together." (04:48)

4. The Future Is Viral—But Is It Valuable?

• Social media and internet virality are shaping new entertainment norms, but do not always equate to lasting value.

  • "Evolving with the sometimes mortifying new standards of a, of a media type... Do mean longevity. I mean there were people who thought books were dangerous, there were people who thought the radio would be dangerous." —Ryan (07:15)

• Both discuss how algorithmic platforms (YouTube, TikTok) largely surface "junk"—content that caters to base impulses, because there's no effective filtering mechanism for quality.

  • "...they know that we want to watch stuff that is like horny or visually interesting or racist. Lowest, lowest human impulses." —Ryan (08:06)

5. Collapse of the Acting Pipeline

• Unlike music or comedy, acting has not adapted well to internet discovery. Musicians can go viral via live TikTok performances, but aspiring actors lack pathways to visibility.
  • "If you're an aspiring musician...turn on your camera and play a song...upload it to TikTok, YouTube and like see what happens... But if you wanted to...do a dramatic sort of reading, that's really weird." —Ryan (10:36)
• Gatekeeping remains strong in acting—actors, unlike musicians, resist recognizing “internet” performers as legitimate.
  • "I do hear a lot of delineation between people who act on the Internet and people who get to act on television and movies." —Akilah (12:13)

6. The Oscars as a Barometer of Cultural Anxiety

• The nominees addressed themes like authoritarianism, post-pandemic trauma, changing gender roles, but were largely male-focused and didn’t probe these topics with depth or ambiguity.
  • "All [the best picture noms] do sort of say some interesting stuff about our world...sort of directly talking about authoritarianism and fascism and what that means...very much about like a man not realizing the world is changing around him...very male focused movies as well." —Ryan (15:22, 16:09)
• Akilah notes current films struggle to end with conviction, often resorting to surreal twists (aliens, super soldiers) rather than substantive conclusions—a symptom of making sense of tumultuous times in real time.
  • "...they're having a hard time predicting the future, and so it kind of always goes gonzo at the end where they're like, well, it's aliens." —Akilah (19:39)

7. Political Speeches & Cautious Celebrities

• Akilah and Ryan note a lack of political courage in acceptance speeches—most actors stick to safe, personal gratitude.
  • Javier Bardem’s "No to War and Free Palestine" (22:03) was the rare exception, but its impact was muted.
  • "I found the whole thing to be so depressing that, like, I didn't even think about whether or not someone should say free Palestine on stage. They should be saying, like, can you...hire me?" —Ryan (23:29)
• Influence of social media and the presence of influencers/journalists on the red carpet erodes depth in post-award conversations.
  • "You're going to get like unlimited access with like the dumbest people from the algorithm. And then you are going to get a couple of journalists after that are just going to ask you about stuff that they saw on Twitter..." —Ryan (26:57)

8. Tech Moguls and "Slot Machine" Culture

• Ryan points out tech moguls are chasing addictive, attention-optimized platforms ("slot machines") instead of meaningful mass entertainment.
  • "Tech moguls are more interested now in building slot machines than trying to create large scale mass appeal entertainment." (28:03)

9. Broken Economics, Faint Hopes for Renewal

• Hollywood’s studio system won't evolve on its own—change requires real regulatory intervention, as in past government action that broke monopolies.
  • "Until [government action], we are stuck in this holding pattern. But this kind of holding pattern doesn't last forever." —Ryan (28:15)
• Silver linings exist: small, government-funded projects (e.g., Canadian films) and indie internet successes still break through.
  • "There are good stories to point to right now...in moments like this, you're going to see people figuring out what the future looks like." —Ryan (29:39)
• Timothee Chalamet is viewed as trapped between eras—wanting to be like DiCaprio, but unable to escape the panopticon of social media.
  • "If he came along in the 90s, he could have been a DiCaprio...But in a time where..." —Akilah (30:24)
  • "What is going to become increasingly cool is not posting social media of yourself, but to do things that require other people...to post social media of you." —Ryan (31:05)

10. Final Thought—Is Hollywood “Better”?

• Akilah closes by lamenting that adapting to the internet has mostly meant hollow gestures—like putting a Gen Z podcaster on the red carpet—and that Hollywood’s deep structural crises remain unresolved.
  • "Every other piece of society has had to adapt for the rise of the Internet, and yet Hollywood's best effort is...putting a Gen Z podcaster on a red carpet to ask artists about how annoying a character in a movie was. Give me a break." (32:55)
• She asks whether movies—a fund of cultural memory and aspiration—can survive in abundance, with creative careers still possible for most workers. The outlook, they agree, is grim.
  • "There will always be film, but the questions are, will they always be abundant? Will they always be shot here? And will the workers at every level still have a chance to make it a legitimate career? So far, the outlook is grim, which is to say, not better." —Akilah (33:39)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On industry anxiety:
  • "There is nothing but anxiety in the entertainment industry." — Akilah Hughes (01:58)
• On streaming vs theatrical viewing:
  • "We didn't watch almost any of the best picture noms in theaters." — Ryan Broderick (02:23)
• On acting and online fame:
  • "If you wanted to ... do a dramatic sort of reading, that's really weird. But if you did it in front of an audience and you could film the audience's reaction, then there's something to hang on to." — Ryan Broderick (10:36)
• On "brain rot" entertainment:
  • "Short form video is still so bad and junky ... because we haven't figured out a way to automate better standards." — Ryan Broderick (08:06)
• On the bleakness of the Oscars:
  • "I found the whole thing to be so depressing that ... they should be saying, like, can you hire me?" — Ryan Broderick (23:29)
• On the supposed "death" of Hollywood:
  • "There used to be a lot more people who got to do this. They got to have long careers." — Akilah Hughes (04:22)

Important Timestamps

• [00:30] – Are movies the new opera/ballet?
• [01:20] – Timothee Chalamet outrage as a barometer of industry anxiety
• [02:23] – Streaming vs. theatrical release for Oscar nominees
• [03:35] – Layoffs and industry-wide consolidation
• [04:41] – Questioning prestige’s future for Gen Z
• [06:56] – Internet “brain rot” & enduring media forms
• [09:29] – Will prestige disappear? Is art just for the elite now?
• [10:36] – Broken pipeline for actors; why acting hasn’t adapted
• [15:22] – What Oscar nominees say about current anxieties and masculinity
• [19:39] – How recent movies struggle with endings and predicting the future
• [21:09] – On American films’ inability to accept nihilism or lack of legacy
• [23:29] – Why Oscar speeches lack political courage
• [27:23] – The rise of influencers and demise of meaningful red carpet journalism
• [28:03] – Tech moguls building “slot machines” over culture
• [29:39] – Indie/Canadian success stories; hope amid the wreckage
• [31:05] – Timothee Chalamet’s attempt to game fame in the digital age
• [32:55] – Final reflections on the Oscars and Hollywood’s uncertain future

Takeaways

• Hollywood faces existential threats: economic consolidation, changing viewing habits, and a broken path for creative workers.
• The prestige and cultural value of movies are fading, made worse by the flattening, viral nature of Internet fame and the hollowing out of traditional gatekeepers.
• Recent films and the latest Oscars showcase a lack of conviction, both thematically (ambiguous endings) and politically (safe speeches).
• There are glimmers of hope in indie and government-funded projects, and in the possibility of new forms emerging—but overall, Akilah and Ryan paint a picture of an industry at a grim crossroads, uncertain if it can ever be “better” again.

For anyone who hasn’t listened: This episode offers a candid, sometimes darkly funny diagnosis of Hollywood’s woes and honestly contemplates whether the art and culture of film can meaningfully survive in the contemporary attention economy.