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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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Erin Fenner is a writer based in Portland. She likes film and feminism and alliteration.