this is why 'they don’t make good movies anymore'
(possibly)
Good fiction is becoming rare nowadays. Not entirely nonexistent, but there is hardly an abundance.
This question has been answered multiple times already, and it usually comes down to money. Hollywood, big record labels and publishers, they all care about profit and publicity more than pretty much anything else.
Honestly, I can’t help but agree. Corporations have so much power it’s becoming actively dangerous, in more ways than one.
The thing is, big corporations have always existed. It’s not like they didn’t care about money in the 80s, 70s, the 60s, the 50s, and so on. Cinema has been a business, an industry, for a while now. Same with other arts. Alright, so has anything changed?
Looking at the business side of things, you could say Hollywood is putting all the eggs in one basket.
What is the most sellable thing we could regurgitate?
What tickets are people buying?
What shows are bringing us revenue?
Of course the system is flawed, since profit and buzz are not always the best indicators of what audiences enjoy.
Disney sequels and Live Action remakes are infamous at this point, but they do sell! The tickets are still being bought! These guys know we’ll come back. They know we’re going to talk about it.
If the trash is bringing them dollars, they will continue to bring it out and slap on a price tag. Obviously, most of these dollars will not be given to the people who were actually involved.
See, I’m just some woman, but I don’t think this will be sustainable. Arguably, it no longer is. Not only are they relying on a single, mediocre project to get them as much dough as humanly possible, they are actively scrapping great ideas.
It’s almost like they are guiding themselves by the logic of
“Nah, that would be too good a film! “
You have, for example, all the cancellations of great TV shows. Some of which were popular, and did have a considerable fanbase.
It reminds me of a bad habit I have when it comes to money. Sometimes when I get a relatively small amount (a gift here and there, tips from an errand), I spend it almost immediately because I have this idea that “it’s not enough” to buy something expensive. Instead of letting it accumulate and grow.
The film industry is forgoing these pennies (which for them could easily be millions of dollars) to focus on that one thing that sells best. Without any regard for quality whatsoever.
Is that all?
I think passion has a part in this too. Films are actively losing their soul, that spark of life that makes us love them.
Very vague concept, I know. How do you “breathe life” into any creative project? I could be wrong, but my answer is vulnerability.
Vulnerability, honesty, is how a given work reaches someone in a way that matters. It’s the thing that ingrains a movie or song or book in our memory, and makes us want to come back for more. It’s the one thing that can literally shape lives and build careers.
But CEOs don’t want to do that anymore, because it’s so easy to do the opposite. It’s so easy to just follow a manual: use the tried-and-true formulas, bottle them up, put them back on the shelves every time.
Pandering to marginalized groups is fine, but don’t do it too much, because then you are taking a risk!
Instead, people are literally making lists of films to be played in the background, and directors want characters to say what they are doing in case someone’s busy It’s kind of a vicious cycle, where the directors make dull projects and the audience doesn’t care enough to really engage with them, so they start cranking out movies that aren’t intended to be memorable or have an impact. The audience stops expecting to be moved, rinse and repeat.
When it comes to a more personal level, putting a bit of your soul into a story and sending it out into the world is terrifying.
Then again, we clearly need it. We need projects that are not an almost guaranteed financial success. We need people giving us bits of their heart and their soul, breathing life into stories that way.
And if that’s not for sale in the big shops anymore, we’ll look for it elsewhere. We’ll make it ourselves.
This is the kind of conversation I'd love to have over a cup of coffee. ❤️