Western consumers need media to cater to their terminal Aphantasia, I guess. Feels like some weird postmodern Hayes Code thing major studios want.

Looking at the US media landscape today, you'd think imagining fantasy worlds without connecting it to Earth was illegal. Same with the horde of recent graduate YA authors who seem to care more about book sales than writing. You just instantly get this uncanny valley feeling where it's clear the writer's never trained their sense of abstract thought (and assumes you don't have it either). Plus, the fact that these authors have any sense at all of what today's media "tropes" are completely fucks them over, as they insecurely try to dodge them, unconsciously add them anyway, and only end up with more generic stories (at least they're Marketable!). They'll only remind you of everything you've already seen, or know. You'll forget one as soon as you read another. Unironically feels harmful to a growing kid's creativity.

In conclusion, I think adult audiences who scrunch their noses and say "That was weird" should be bullied more. They use it like a genre label, so young artists get spooked and avoid it.