Lights, Camera, Inaction

The entertainment industry is pioneered by visionaries but ruled by tinpot tyrants. Studio executives are small-minded, uncreative twerps who are terrified of taking chances and eager to take advantage of the stupid and easily manipulated. They are the only ones who have the cash to bankroll movies, but they got that cash by manipulating people, and they plan to manipulate people more to earn it back; creating a masterwork of historic impact is too risky for them.

There are many movies which have literally changed my life. "The Neverending Story" taught me at an early age that the imagination was the difference between life and death; "Star Wars" came along not much later and showed me Good triumphing over Evil because destiny was on its side. "Independence Day" may have been my first serious glimpse of the idea that existence was fragile, and during my rebellious teen years, "The Matrix" taught me to doubt the reality of that which lies before my eyes. Most recently, James Cameron's "Avatar" is not only a feast for the senses but a profound exploration of the question of identity. These are the masterworks of the field, but they are only the exceptional percent of a percent; for every work of genius, there are a thousand cheap, corny knockoffs that exist only to make money, and they take up space and time (to say nothing of money and energy) which distracts from the worthy works. It varies exactly how much I am bothered by that fact; sometimes I can accept it as a necessary evil, while other times I feel like crying out for revolution.

I have only scratched the surface of this topic; expect to hear a lot more about the sacred deceptions of Hollywood and my many joys and sorrows relating to them.