My hipster cousins, my Vineyard Vines-wearing brother and the WXYC DJs who sit next to me in class probably have few intersecting interests. If you asked me some months ago, I might have said they had nothing in common at all. In fact, I would pay money to watch them get stuck in an elevator together and try to find things to talk about. But now they all love Dolly Parton.
Why, you may ask, do these unusual suspects from all over these United States have an interest in the country queen? Dolly owes it all to Netflix and one of its new original films, “Dumplin’."
“Dumplin'" is the story of a young girl trying to turn the pageant world on its head. It’s sweet. It’s heartwarming. It’s a garbage Dolly Parton propaganda project.
I wrote a column earlier this year about how just because we like movies doesn’t mean they’re good. Nowhere is this truer than inside the Netflix filmverse. Netflix is, in a nutshell, producing trash content that, while enjoyable, is objectively bad. And though I grieve the death of quality, this phenomenon seems to be bringing us closer together as a community.
The most obvious warning sign was “The Kissing Booth,” which wowed audiences by completely disregarding taste. The screenplay was clearly written by WALL-E himself, considering its confusing and robotic quality — yet we could not stop talking about it.
Netflix came in similarly hot with “Ibiza,” “The Package” and “A Christmas Prince,” with each new original project looking a bit more absurd than the last. And here’s the thing … Netflix isn’t stupid. The company knows exactly how terrible the quality is of what it’s producing, so the only logical conclusion is that the powers that be are curating garbage content on purpose to drive conversation.
It wouldn’t be the first time an entertainment company intentionally produced bad movies to reach an audience. Lifetime Movies made its name with projects like “The Pregnancy Pact” and “Girl, Positive,” which not only became high school health class staples, but also continue to enjoy a cult following several years after their release. Netflix appears to be generating buzz on purpose with similarly ridiculous releases, and it could be a genius move.
Now back to the ground floor, the room where it happens, the campus we call UNC. Campus is abuzz about this #content. Everyone is listening to Dolly and we all know it’s thanks to Jennifer Aniston’s noncommittal, winking performance as … well … herself in “Dumplin’.” Netflix concocts weird, gross junk food films and we eat them up gladly before discussing them and only them for months.
Still, I argue that the positives outweigh the negatives with the general decline of Netflix quality. Netflix is our generation’s town hall — one we have to pay for, but then it’s common ground. In an age of increasing division, it’s nice to have something we can relate to each other about, even if it’s badly-written Netflix movies we love to hate.
