I’ve noticed something since that stupid verdict on Citizens
United, frankly. While I don’t agree with the ruling, I understand it. Money
donations, free speech, yeah, sure, whatever, I get it, that’s not my concern.
But it also brought to light something people have been complaining about for
eons.
Corporations suck moosepenis. They do. They really do.
And it surged into public consciousness, as well as my own, with the ruling.
I mean, look at me- I worship at their altar. I go to
Disney, like, hourly. I am writing this in a Starbuck’s. And Target just filed
an amicus brief in favor of same sex marriage. And on the opposite end of the
spectrum? WalMart keeps people in
poverty so government cash is being used and refuses to buy American products.
Their choices, not mine. I’m cool with both sides of this. It’s hard to live
here in the states without interacting with corporations.
And that’s not my beef, either.
What is my beef? As a Buddhist, we’re supposed to see things
as things. Stuff we can’t take with us into the afterlife. We’re supposed to
live out in the open with as little as possible and let life be. I’m cool with
that too. It’s hard to do, but it can be done, even outside of a monastery.
But corporations and businesses have a singular goal that
goes against all religions. It’s reason
for existing is to make money. Now that money is not for itself, outside of
costs that are used to sustain it’s existence. But someone is earning cash
here. The middle men? Sure. Some. But the owners.
Again, I’m cool with that too, believe it or not.
And what the fuck does this have to do with Hollywood?
I’m getting there.
I’m even going to settle into a one-percenter crap either.
They have the right and reason to make money. Go ahead, that’s
why they got into the racket. All four of them. Not their kids. Just the person
who started whatever business in 1945 or whatevers.
My point is-Hollywood is a corporation.
And, like any corporation, they need to make money. It takes
cash to make a movie. A ton of cash. Those leads need limos and their third
houses are on the line. So? What do they do?
They make utter crap. This summer did not even break even on
most movies, if you’ve notice. Each title pretty much died at the box office.
And I’m glad. I have to say, all I saw were remakes and sequels. There’s even
talk about a Ghostbusters 3. How’s about a new movie about ghosts that has
nothing to do with a franchise? That would take untried mechanics and writers
and such and Hollywood refuses the risk.
And, as I’ve said, they have a reason for doing it and it’s not actually
a bad thing. But it makes me avoid movies.
In fact, the best movies, I noticed, were from outside the
US. Snowpiercer and Lucy were unique affairs that I found were
terrifically allegorical but still believed in its audience enough to come in
from a different angle. I’ve pointed out, a long time ago in these columns,
that Hitchcock really only made one movie, again and again. But a level of
creativity and ingenuity made each picture a wonder to behold with scenes and
sequences that were wholly original upon themselves. Psycho is about
identity (his favorite theme) but a horrific shower scene that stopped up; Topaz
was also about identity, but had a horrific homicide, done in silence, in a kitchen
with a gas oven.
Even Godzilla, this time back to overseas creators,
this summer was original in that it approached the storied monsters from a
totally different angle, literally, from the ground up, not even showing the
towering beast until the finale. How to Train Your Dragon 2 was also
different in that it refused to play by the formula of a sequel (rehash the
old! Save on money!), but adding non stereotypical plot elements. For example,
two characters, married before one thought the other long perished. They become
reunited and do they argue in comedic fashion? Nope. They weep at the lasting
of their love over time.
In a kid’s movie.
Even X-Men: Days of Futures Past has fun with popping
characters, ala Forrest Gump, into history and it reads, yes, like a comic
book. Wholly original. A sequel-prequel.
But the rest of 2014’s lineup is dismal and has been. 300…a
prequel? Expendables 3 with even
more hasbeens. Dawn of the Apes…with
a trailer that tells you the movie. Transformers? I mean, really,
Hollywood?
That's two summers now I've noticed I've been disappointed.
I’m never going to stop seeing movies, I know that. And they
have a reason to make money. But people keep teasing me about being so critical
when, well, it seems to me that that the studios aren’t really trying to hard.
If we like a movie, they’ll just push it back out again in some similar form,
dialing it in from a cell phone. I’m thankful I have an art house here in
Orlando-I can go see original content every once and a while.
Waiting to see the next big budget actioner until after my friends
let me know it’s decent enough for the 20 dollars a ticket.
Peace,
Roo
