10 ms·
Hollywood has always been all about escapism. In the 1930's - the golden era of film - most of the offerings were aspirational and inspiring, not Grapes of Wrat
by olivermarks 9y ago
Hollywood has always been all about escapism. In the 1930's - the golden era of film - most of the offerings were aspirational and inspiring, not Grapes of Wrath gloom and doom, which was a lot of people's actual daily experience.
There's a reason the mainstream entertainment doesn't make non fantasy films - it's because they are a for profit business and there's no money in it.
The recent Churchill film, which was very loosely based on reality and flat out wrong in many areas was all about triumph over adversity etc. There's a good argument to made about fantasy films supposedly depicting actual historical events and people distorting mass reality. That's where my beef is with hollywood...
- stevenwoo 9y agoEnforcement of the Hays Code was responsible for weird trends in the movie industry for a long time, starting in the 1930's - American movie makers actually made successful movies about darker subjects and had more women in leading roles until that point. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=933011...
- olivermarks 9y agoI'm cynical enough to think any publicity is good publicity, whether it was the 'moral quagmires' of the 30's that resulted in the Hays Code or the current hysteria about predatory sex monsters, which is very reminiscent of the 30's IMO. All about rear ends on seats, whatever it takes to keep the punters buying tickets, popcorn and drinks (the latter two being immensely profitable...)