-Caveat Lector- .............................................................. >From the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed] Note: We store 100's of related "conspiracy posts" at: http://www.msen.com/~lloyd/oldprojects/recentmail.html From: "Lloyd Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Film Industry Observation Summary Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 6:25 AM Film Industry Observation Summary by John W. Cones, Esq. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. BACKGROUND OF THE OBSERVER--A Los Angeles based securities/entertainment attorney (with communications and sociology background) working exclusively with independent feature film producers in the area of investor financing of their film projects for the past 12 years. A great position from which to study and observe what is really going on in Hollywood. 2. SIGNIFICANT MEDIUM--The motion picture is a significant medium for the communication of ideas (U.S. Supreme Court, Burstyn v. Wilson, 1952). 3. RELATIONSHIP TO DEMOCRACY--The motion picture is an important communications medium functioning within a democracy based on the concept of a free marketplace of ideas. To the extent that all interests within our diverse society do not have an equal and fair opportunity to tell their important stories through this significant medium for the communication of ideas, our democracy is weakened. 4. THE POWER OF IDEAS--Throughout the history of civilization, ideas have always and will always be an important source of motivation for human conduct. 5. INFLUENCE--Thus, it can be proven by pure logic alone, that movies influence human conduct. After all, movies communicate ideas, ideas motivate human behavior, therefore movies must motivate some human behavior, particularly that of our less sophisticated and more impressionable young people. 6. PATTERNS OF BIAS--My studies of thousands of Hollywood movie reviews covering the releases of several decades, demonstrates that such movies have long contained blatant patterns of bias. In other words, some ideas are favored over others. In addition to the well-known Hollywood film biases in favor of violence, graphic sex, gratuitous and obscene language, Hollywood movies have, over many decades, consistently portrayed whole populations of our diverse society in a negative or stereotypical manner (see Patterns of Bias in Motion Picture Content). 7. POPULATIONS DEFAMED--The specific populations Hollywood movies have defamed over the years include political conservatives, Christians, Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, Arabs, and Arab-Americans, Asians and Asian-Americans and women, along with Whites from the American South. 8. BIASED BIOPICS--Hollywood movies also contain biased biopics, including examples of historical revisionism and favoritism in movie portrayals displayed toward a single, narrowly-defined interest group of which the Hollywood control group primarily draws its members (see Motion Picture Biographies). 9. NOT SOLUTION--Thus, at minimum we must concede, movies that consistently portray certain people in a negative or stereotypical manner are clearly not helping us solve our society's problems of racial, ethnic, religious and cultural misunderstanding, mistrust, fear and paranoia, but more likely, making such problems worse (i.e., creating animosity among those groups who find themselves on the outside looking in, and among those groups who have been consistently maligned through this powerful communications medium). 10. MOVIES AND PROPAGANDA--To the extent that our movie industry is controlled or dominated by a very narrowly-defined interest group and that others are often arbitrarily excluded from participation at the highest levels, and Hollywood movies contain the above-described patterns of bias, then such movies, considered as a whole, must be recognized for what they are, privately financed propaganda disguised as entertainment (see A Study in Motion Picture Propaganda). 11. PREJUDICIAL THINKING--During a significant segment of many individual lives (particularly those who are relatively young, uneducated or unsophisticated), repeatedly watching hundreds of powerful motion picture images that consistently portray whole populations of our diverse society in a negative or stereotypical manner can contribute to prejudicial thinking, which in turn, is often the basis of real-life discriminatory behavior. Hollywood has not been part of the solution, but part of the problem. 12. MOVIES MIRROR--Movies to a large extent, tend to mirror the values, interests, cultural perspectives and prejudices of their makers. 13. MAJOR STUDIOS--The motion picture industry is dominated by a small group of so-called major studio/distributors. The film releases of the major studio/distributors and their subsidiaries are the movies seen by about 95% of the domestic moviegoing audience. 14. STUDIO EXECUTIVES--The people in Hollywood who have the power to decide which movies are produced and released, to determine who gets to work in the key positions on such movies and to approve of the screenplays serving as the basis for these movies are still the three top studio executives at the major studio distributors. 15. SHARED BACKGROUNDS--A clear majority of these executives throughout the term of existence of the vertically-integrated, distributor-dominated major studios share a common background. That background can be most accurately described as "politically liberal, not very religious, Jewish males of European heritage" (see Who Really Controls Hollywood). 16. EXCLUSION--Control of the major studio/distributors excludes large segments of our multi-cultural society from the movie-making process. 17. CREATIVE CONTROL--The major studio/distributors through various approval rights are consequently able to determine to a great extent which movies are produced and to some extent what the content of those movies will be. 18. LESS DIVERSITY--The result is a severe limit on creativity in movie making and a more narrow selection of motion pictures which tend to range from hoped for blockbusters and lowest common denominator movies to exploitation fare. 19. BUSINESS PRACTICES--This Hollywood control group gained and has maintained its power through the use of several hundred specifically identifiable unfair, unethical, unconscionable, anti-competitive, predatory and illegal business practices, including massive employment discrimination and antitrust law violations (see The Feature Film Distribution Deal and How the Movie Wars Were Won). 20. GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE--The Hollywood control group gets away with its "proclivity for wrongful conduct" by routing huge political contributions to presidential candidates and key members of Congress through excessively overpaid studio executives, their spouses and multiple political action committees, so as to discourage vigorous enforcement of the employment discrimination, antitrust and other laws in the Hollywood-based U.S. film industry (see Politics, Movies and the Role of Government). 21. GOVERNMENT POLICY--Federal government policy, specifically, the federal government's anti-trust law enforcement policy currently contributes to the ability of the major studio distributors to control and dominate the marketplace. 22. PERFECT CRIME--The so-called Hollywood game may be accurately referred to as "the perfect crime" (see Hollywood Corruption). 23. INDEPENDENT FILM--A motion picture industry made up of independent producers, independent distributors and independent exhibitors would result in greater creativity in movie-making and create greater opportunities for a significantly larger number of interest groups within out multi-cultural society to participate at a meaningful level in the film making process. 24. DEMOCRACY--In a democracy, no important communications medium, including film, should be controlled or dominated by any single, narrowly-defined interest group. 25. REMEDIES--To remedy the above stated problems the following may be considered (see Motion Picture Industry Reform): (a) Creation of a permanently endowed film industry research institute to stimulate serious research regarding what is really going on in Hollywood (the academic community has failed us in this regard), and periodically publishing and publicizing the results of such studies; (b) Work toward abolition of the MPAA ratings board to be replaced by private sector ratings organizations that provide more useful information about motion picture content; (c) Elimination of vertical integration (i.e., divorcing film production from both distribution and exhibition--in other words, the Paramount consent decrees did not go far enough); (d) The filing of class action lawsuits on behalf of all net and gross profit participants against all of the major studio/distributors on grounds of unconscionability, anti-trust law violations, anti-competitive practices and RICO violations; (e) Instigation of a world-wide boycott of selected MPAA releases, until the power of those companies to ignore the public is severely weakened; (f) Outright purchase of established major studio/distributors so that more of such entities can be in the hands of non-Hollywood insiders; (g) Creation of an association of independent feature film producers to work for among other things more vigorous enforcement of the federal anti-trust laws; (h) Creation of an association of net profit participants to protect the interests of all such persons; (i) Creation of an international association of concerned citizens and film industry professionals to help bring about film industry reform, approaching the challenge not from the limited viewpoint of any specific interest group, but in a broad effort to strengthen our democracy by opening the film industry to a wider range of ideas that is more representative of our diverse society; and/or (j) Introduction of federal legislation that may be referred to as the "Motion Picture Industry Fair Practices Act" to prohibit some of the business practices more specifically described in How the Movie Wars Were Won and The Feature Film Distribution Deal). --o0o-- See Film Industry Reform Movement at http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM for more information Forwarded for info and discussion from the New Paradigms Discussion List, not necessarily endorsed by: *********************************** Lloyd Miller, Research Director for A-albionic Research a ruling class/conspiracy research resource for the entire political-ideological spectrum. **FREE RARE BOOK SEARCH: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ** Explore Our Archive: <http://a-albionic.com/a-albionic.html> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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