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| I don't want to see the film Oliver Stone will want to make about Romney |
Here is my draft of an open tweet I am working on for directors
and producers of Hollywood who continue directing and producing movies mostly about
rich white men:
@WealthyDirectors&Producers I know ppl r told 2 “write what u know” & the nxt logical step 4 filmmakers would b 2 “film what u know.” But, stop, we’ve had enuf of rich men.
So, an open tweet might not be the best format to address my
frustration with Hollywood and the seeming upsurge in rich-white-man-falling-from-rich-graces
story arc. And, it might not be practical to address it to a made-up twitter
handle. But, when the system is so dang exclusive, I got to get by with my
gimmicks.
Our whole movie-making industry fits comfortably into the
laps of well-to-do white men between the ages of 18-35. So, even though great
films are coming out, the ones that are – during a recession for Christ’s sake
– are falling radically at the ends of a spectrum at around poverty porn or bewailing
the epic fall of an epic hero.
Why is it, for instance, that we had to endure another
Oliver Stone movie – a sequel to Wall Street – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps?
While it touched on some pretty timely issues – i.e. it followed our fall into
economic crisis – it only looked through wealthy characters. These characters’
flaws were pretty solidly greed and excessive ambition. Help me out here, but
that is just not where most Americans are at right now.
The two highest
grossing movies of this year both feature obscenely rich playboys wielding
their pocketbooks to fight crime. Tony Stark in The Avengers, is
brilliant, but can only functionally be a superhero because he’s wealthy. While
Bruce Wayne, in The Dark Knight Rises,
would still be pretty badass without the money, he wouldn’t have gotten far in
challenging Gotham’s worst without his high-tech gadgets and his martial arts training
obtained overseas.
Past the summer blockbusters, even Oscar-chasers are
focusing mostly on the stories of the rich and prestigious. Black Swan followed the
story of a woman, (yes, a woman!) but she was a ballerina (not exactly an art
form available to the middle-class budget) whose fall was connected with her
ambition and rise to enormous success. The Great Gatsby is coming
out in 2013, and while a great story on the failures of the “American Dream” it
is still about the fall of a rich white man.
It seems like directors are pretty fascinated with the greed
and corruption that led to the desperate state of our current economy. But,
what about the result for the majority of Americans? You know, the big group of
folks who are now dealing with tight budgets and un/underemployement? And why
is the more pertinent entertainment not accessible to the groups who could relate
to it? Why was Death
of a Salesman only on Broadway? Doesn’t that seem like a good thing to
send to theaters? I mean, if we have to look at the woes of white men – can they
at least be struggling with culturally relevant strife? Why is Lena Dunham’s
show Girls centered around the
stories of struggling twenty-something (white) women, such a big hit on HBO and
not a network? As in: why is a show about financially struggling young people
available on a station that only people who can afford cable can watch.
Of course we’re not completely sunk. The third highest
grossing film was The Hunger Games – a film
featuring a strong young woman fighting the powers that be that continue to
disenfranchise her and her society.
We need more people making film who aren’t obsessed with
wealth and power. We need to address themes other than those concerning
megalomaniacs. Wouldn’t it be a relief to see some blockbusters where the
audience can actually relate to the problems the characters face?
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