Movies are the perfect representation to the time they’re made in, they represent the themes, topics and influences of that time, even if they’re actually set in a different time frame. The writers and directors deeper opinions and interests come through a movie’s scenes be it with interactions that have been played out in a certain way or individual comments or famous names that are mentioned. What I’m trying to get at is movies are a byproduct of the creators’ specific outlook and the social influence of the time it’s created in. I don’t think the film industry has been able to escape this truth until recently and this is what makes movies a form of art. Commentary through the medium of film is commentary that may not be allowed to be spread on usual media or isn’t effective by them means.
I sense although the few Oscar winners and Indie film still have the idiosyncratic, visceral voice of the 80s and 90s, when people really started experimenting film ideas, the majority all fall into a fat blur of similar action, romance and comedy.
Before were people weren’t scared to upset or anger audiences by giving controversial twists on topical matters. You see Hollywood was a commercial ploy from the start. We forget actors are humans and acting is a job, they aren’t gods, they’re talented people with an incredible ability to transform character. But you don’t have to an actor to have an incredible ability, that ability could be anything.
Audiences have grown and changed. American films have become accessible to China. In fact their crucial in reaching box office targets and are reason to the global box office records we’re seeing with just about every ‘good’ movie. The problem is censorship. Films are quickly rated R or rejected by Chinese film studios if they don’t abide regulations. With the population of China being 1.4 billion and most of their public having movie access, either hollywood films are made with this in mind or certain scenes are simply deleted.
Robert Formaini an American author also presents similar opinions:
A wonderful example of the power of capitalism to create markets, and to transform an existing undertaking while creating fabulous wealth in the process, is the rise of the American film industry. Today, Hollywood makes films that generate in excess of seven billion dollars at the primary box office alone, then earn additional monies from video tapes, television rights, and foreign distribution. Despite the protectionist and censorial policies of many nations, America’s film industry easily dominates the world’s film production and distribution industry, and those who produce and work in the film industry are extremely well-compensated for their efforts.
With the power that the film industry of America has surely, it can do more as a global influencer, surely it can create change. It has definitely with #MeToo movement, but it’s lacking in other areas.
Bret Easton Ellis, the renowned author of the novel ‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’, says in an interview that it annoys him American studio movies (movies that are targetted to be watched globally) quite clearly can’t mention certain factors even if it’s part of a character. The example being ‘gayness’, he talks of how, if characters are even hinted to be gay then they aren’t viable in Russia or Asia. A movie that is a victim to this was the live action Disney film ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Edited or rated R in other countries. I don’t understand what they are trying to censor. There was a single homosexual character. Why isn’t it celebrated globally that Disney one of the greatest film companies finally did this. Are we censoring and protecting people from different types of people? Is that what ‘modern development’ has come to.
It’s a stab at the art form of film media.
The capitalist agenda drives films to be made only maximise profit, gain customers, create studio relationships. At the end of the day like everything else, it’s all just politics and money.
LV
