Cha…cha…cha…changes
I was listening to David Bowie’s “Changes” and that got me thinking about the need for change in many parts of society including the film industry.
You may or may not know this, but when studios first began, they certainly made “entertaining films” but they also prided themselves on making art films (pushing film technique) and also films about important topics. There was pride in competing to make the best films, not best selling, but best films. Films that would withstand the test of time and make statements. And in the 1960s, some studios had divisions completely focused on making “new” types of films. Films like American Graffiti and MASH. They encouraged styles that broke the norm. This probably accounted for 20 to 30 percent of the films being made.
Then came the blockbusters and merchandizing of the 1970s. Jaws, Star Wars and the like. And business people really took over the industry. Studios were no longer headed up by filmmakers or people who believed in the power of film, but by finance departments.
And out went the care about art. I’m not saying there aren’t people in the mainstream industry who deep down care, but that is not the most important aspect. It’s how much can we make? A few million isn’t enough. Films have become amusement park rides more than art. It’s sad, but true.
We need a new studio to open that isn’t worried about making $40 million on a film, but rather making a 10% profit (like a normal business) that cares about art and humanity.
Does it really help society to have basically only films where everyone dies or superhero CGI dominates the screen? (I do enjoy a good superhero movie now and then and I have to say Robert Downey, Jr. really created a great Iron Man character, but we need more than that and he is capable of much more than that.) Or predictable, slick films that try to have a message but really are just carefully crafted to not really rock the boat. (Take Don’t Look Up, failed on so many levels.) Does anyone really remember these types of films a year or two later? I mean really, they all blend together in a mush pile of something that had some snarky dialogue and lots of special effects signifying nothing.
Where are films like Modern Times and The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 1936, 1940)? The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)? Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)? More American Graffiti (Bill Norton, 1979)? Three Women (Robert Altman, 1977)? Where are the modern day, break the mold films? You know where they are? Sitting in the digital closets of indie filmmakers who don’t have funding and can’t get it because the bottom line is all that matters.
I wish a studio would set up a division that is for true independent, groundbreaking films. Indie films that rely on style and ingenuity instead of $40 million dollar budgets. Great films can be made for less than seven figures and a good profit would still be made. But the industry would rather spend more to get less.