Rage against the machine
What’s the difference between art and a high percentage of the television shows and movies produced by Hollywood’s entertainment industry? Perhaps the word “industry” has already clued you in. “Industry” suggests machine, and that is exactly what much of Hollywood is — an inhuman assembly line of production studios, overpaid executives, talent organizations and celebrities that churns out mindless fodder for the proletariat class in the U.S. This is not to say that there is no art in a particular movie or a television show. There are plenty of real artists working for this industry: actors, directors, cameramen, crew members, sound effects people, lighting people, writers ... the list goes on. And there are great TV shows and movies that get made, even within this decidedly un-creative atmosphere.
But recently, as most TV junkies already know, a massive stick has been thrown into one of the most important, and overlooked, cogs in this machine. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike for over two months now, over writers’ shares of profits from Internet materials. Already we have seen the effects. The late night talk shows have only just gone back on the air, many without writers. Many shows, such as “Saturday Night Live,” have gone off the air indefinitely. With no writers writing, we have been experiencing a desolate wasteland of reruns and reality TV — even more so than before. I don’t even want to think of the worst-case scenario: no more movies. Although I have been enjoying the fact that the awards season has been effectively ruined by the strike. The less we have to witness Hollywood’s decadent, gross self-appreciation, the better off we are.
So the machine’s broken. Can it be fixed? Sure, it can. Executives for huge Hollywood production companies like Universal, Disney and all the others make more than enough money. Celebrities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie make more than enough money. The writers, whose words fuel the production companies and are acted out by the celebrities, deserve far more money, attention and recognition than they currently receive for being the backbone of the industry. Maybe this strike will be a wake-up call to the bloated, exploitative fat cats in Hollywood, who ride on the work of people who are far more talented than they are.
But maybe this strike can be a wake-up call to the writers, and to the rest of us, as well. The Hollywood machine is self-perpetuating; it only works when everybody is doing their jobs, and will only continue to work so long as everybody continues to do their jobs within this system. But who, besides the production company executives, really needs this system? Whatever happened to people making movies or TV shows, writing or acting or directing or rigging lighting because that’s what they love doing?
Some of the best films made recently have been independent films, such as “Little Miss Sunshine,” or looking back further, “Clerks.” Indie films are made outside of the constraints of Hollywood, and seem closer to art than anything Hollywood churns out today. Maybe indie is the way to go. A similar phenomenon has been occurring recently in the music industry. With the advent of relatively inexpensive computer and digital technology that allows any musician or band to make studio quality recordings from home, and with independent labels popping up left and right, the music industry has been running to catch up and save itself. Many of the same technologies can be applied to movie- and TV show-making.
Hollywood’s writers have woken up, and they are pissed. And they have every right to be. And now that the entertainment industry has seen their power, maybe the writers will find a way to use that power to turn the industry on its proverbial head. I may sound naive, but hey, geeks can dream.
Thoughts, anyone?