Robert Hackett, an emeritus professor in Simon Fraser University’s communications department, suggested broadcasters are “caught between a rock and a hard place” when it comes to addressing the problems with beloved content, where they risk facing accusations of cultural insensitivity on one hand or censorship on the other. – Toronto Star
Category: media
If Stars Earn A Percentage Of Box Office, But Then Movies Go Straight To Streaming, What Do Stars Get Paid?
“If old-line studios are no longer trying to maximize the box office for each film but instead shifting to a hybrid model where success is judged partly by ticket sales and partly by the number of streaming subscriptions sold, what does that mean for talent pay packages?” – The New York Times
Why Producers Are Killing Movie Theatres
“We’re witnessing a transformation of what it means to watch a movie. For over a century, film was at its core a theatrical art form: While it’s true that movies could be watched on TV, the primary cinematic experience was immersive viewing in a theater surrounded by strangers. Now there is a push to make the movie theater merely one platform among others, offering an experience deemed no more meaningful than watching the same feature-length visual narratives on a home entertainment system, a laptop, or even a cell phone.” – The Nation
It’s Time For Movies To Move On Beyond Theatres
“It’s time for the creative cinema establishment to catch up to the movie audience because when the pandemic is over, cinema in theaters may only survive in art houses that are the equivalent of vinyl for music purists.” – Deadline
How ‘Citizen Kane’ Got To Be, And Stopped Being, The ‘Greatest Film Ever Made’
“Maybe it’s hard to imagine now, but for many years, Kane‘s dominance wasn’t a matter of personal preference. It was practically a piece of data — like the name of the president, or the location of Florida. Miles and miles of words have been written about why Orson Welles’s masterpiece was so widely acclaimed … [and], of course, about whether it deserves that acclaim — not to mention who, exactly, is responsible for its greatness. But how did Citizen Kane become so firmly established at the top of the canon in the first place? Who put it there?” Bilge Ebiri gives a run-down of the history. – Vulture
For Second Time, Federal Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Attempt To Shut Down Tiktok
“On October 30, … U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted an injunction that prevented [a ban on new downloads of the app in the U.S.] from taking effect. In the latest ruling, Nichols … found that TikTok had shown it would suffer irreparable harm if the order were allowed to take effect.” – Variety
Can The Great British Bake Off Survive Global Warming?
Nope. “The heat has become an increasingly familiar character. The camera pans over shot after shot of the searing sun. The judges explain an upcoming challenge, once again emphasizing that the heat will make it even more difficult. (Butter, the star ingredient of many baked goods, turns into liquid at 94 F [34 C], and starts to soften long before that.) To cool down during challenges, the bakers have started wearing wet rags around their necks that leave damp patches on their aprons.” – Wired
We Know Who Wrote Citizen Kane
Sorry, Netflix viewers, and sorry, Gary Oldman: It wasn’t Mank. “Robert L. Carringer examined seven drafts of the screenplay in great detail and concluded that the writing Mankiewicz had done in Victorville, Calif., during the period depicted in the film ‘elaborated the plot logic and laid down the overall story contours,’ but that Welles, principally, transformed the script ‘from a solid basis for a story into an authentic plan for a masterpiece.'” – The New York Times
Oh, An All-Streaming World Is What You Want? Think Again
It’s not going to be great, friends. “If the movie theater experience, as a cultural force, winds up withering on the vine, then it’s likely that movies as we’ve known them will also wither on the vine. Pauline Kael said it best in the ’70s, when she was writing — witheringly — about the phenomenon of TV-movies. She said that what you make for television isn’t a movie. What you make for television is a TV show.” – Variety
Video Games Are Now Playgrounds For Designers – And Brands
This is what happens with a pandemic shutdown of everything outside the house: Video games, which is a small market compared to apparel, shoots up in numbers. People start recreating brand ads in Animal Crossing. And the brands follow. “Many so-called hypebeasts who obsess over fashion are also gamers. … ‘The prototypical nerds have evolved to a point where they are very style-conscious. It’s cool to play games now.'” – Los Angeles Times