海角大神

Over the noise of the many summer blockbusters and the confusion of the seemingly endless TV options now available to consumers, it can sometimes be difficult to parse out the meaningful advances or changes in entertainment.聽

But almost every form of entertainment this year saw some progress or experienced a moment that could affect thinking in that medium for years to come.

As diversity in front of and behind the camera continues to be an issue in movies, TV, and in other areas of entertainment, this year saw actress Viola Davis become the first black actress to win the Emmy Award for lead actress in a drama. Ms. Davis took the award for her work on the ABC drama 鈥淗ow to Get Away with Murder.鈥�

In anything like diversity, there's still always farther to go. But GLAAD noted in its report of the 2015-2016 TV season that broadcast TV, where 鈥淢urder鈥� finds its home, experienced an increase in racial diversity from the year before and that the percent of series regular characters of color on broadcast TV had increased 10 percent from two years ago.聽

The number made GLAAD sit up and take notice. 鈥淚t seems that networks are finally making serious strides towards more diverse representations,鈥� the organization wrote in its report. GLAAD singled out NBC, which is the home of such new shows as 鈥淭elenovela,鈥� 鈥淪hades of Blue,鈥� and 鈥淪uperstore,鈥� as having the best representation of people of color on its primetime fictional programs.聽

Sitcom writer Ross Brown, who worked on programs including 鈥淭he Cosby Show,鈥� called the increase 鈥渟mall鈥� but says success, like that experienced by the Fox show 鈥淓mpire鈥� with its mainly African-American cast, speaks the loudest to broadcast networks.聽

鈥淭hese [networks] are all businesses,鈥� he says. If a show like 鈥淓mpire鈥� succeeds, all the networks will be saying, 鈥淕et me the next one,鈥� according to Mr. Brown.聽

We鈥檒l see in the coming year how the success of 鈥淓mpire鈥� plays out when it comes to networks ordering new shows.

As for other TV, this year鈥檚 Emmy Awards 鈥� often considered the most prestigious prizes in television 鈥� showed that cable shows continue to dominate but that streaming programs now have an important place in Hollywood, too. This year saw Amazon鈥檚 program 鈥淭ransparent鈥� snag a best lead actor in a comedy award for actor Jeffrey Tambor and a best directing award for Jill Soloway. Those categories are considered to be major awards.

As Netflix, Amazon, and other services like Hulu continue to produce high-profile shows, expect to see their presence only increase at awards shows like the Emmys. It鈥檚 not just the cable party anymore.

Speaking of streaming, music streaming services like Spotify continue to be at the center of the conversation. Late last year, Billboard made the decision to take data like streaming numbers into account when reporting their chart coverage. Since then, the benefits and drawbacks of these services, including how much they pay their artists, have continued to stir discussion.聽

But this year, one artist showed that she didn鈥檛 need streaming to succeed. Adele, coming off her smash hit 2011 album 鈥�21,鈥� released 鈥�25鈥� this year and it鈥檚 already broken album sales records, all without appearing on a platform like Spotify or Apple Music. Her single 鈥淗ello鈥� is available on these but the full album is not.聽

Adele is somewhat of a force unto herself with her massive popularity. Could another artist replicate at least some of this success while keeping his or her music off streaming? Following Adele鈥檚 move, some are bound to try.聽

In Hollywood, some have long bemoaned the popularity of sequels. Over the past several years, we鈥檝e also seen the rise of 鈥渞eboots,鈥� where studios reinvent the same story with a new cast (for example, the multiple attempts at bringing comic book character Spider-Man to the big screen, with a third actor recently cast as the webslinger).聽

But one studio is still scoring at the box office with originality. While animation studio Pixar is releasing more sequels now than it used to, with follow-ups to its films 鈥淔inding Nemo鈥� and 鈥淭he Incredibles鈥� on the way, Pixar scored big this year with the film 鈥淚nside Out,鈥� which tells the story of the small creatures living inside a young girl鈥檚 head. The movie received rapturous reviews (some are wondering whether 鈥淚nside鈥� can make the cut for a Best Picture Oscar nod) and became the second-highest-grossing Pixar film of all time domestically.聽

Another of the highest-grossing films of the year, and another that could become an Oscar contender, is the science fiction film 鈥淭he Martian,鈥� which finds an astronaut stranded on Mars and his co-workers on Earth banding together to try to bring him home.聽

Science fiction can be full of dystopian visions of the future, but the story of 鈥淢artian鈥� saw others making sacrifices to attempt to bring their friend back safely.聽

It鈥檚 a trend that鈥檚 reflected in recent sci-fi blockbusters like 2014鈥檚 鈥淚nterstellar鈥� and 2013鈥檚 鈥淕ravity,鈥� both of which also contain hopeful themes. 鈥淚nterstellar鈥� has a scientist figure out how people can survive outside Earth, while 鈥淕ravity鈥� protagonist Dr. Ryan Stone overcomes almost overwhelming odds to get back to Earth after becoming stranded in space.

Despina Kakoudaki, director of American University鈥檚 humanities lab, tells 海角大神 in an interview there are 鈥渢hese very positive images of collaboration鈥� in these movies.

Stories like 鈥淢artian鈥� in which, for example, astronaut Mark Watney鈥檚 crewmates decide to turn around and help him rather than go back to Earth, look at 鈥渆thics and what we owe each other鈥� as people, Ms. Kakoudaki says.