From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
New Yorker Magazine, Issue of 2005-02-07 GROSS POINTS by LOUIS MENAND Is the blockbuster the end of cinema?
... And what is the main cinematic experience? The tickets, including the surcharge for ordering online, cost about the same as the monthly cable bill. A medium popcorn is five dollars; the smallest bottled water is three. The show begins with twenty minutes of commercials, spots promoting the theatre chain, and previews for movies coming out next Memorial Day, sometimes a year from next Memorial Day. The feature includes any combination of the following: wizards; slinky women of few words; men of few words who can expertly drive anything, spectacularly wreck anything, and leap safely from the top of anything; characters from comic books, sixth-grade world-history textbooks, or �Bulfinch�s Mythology�; explosions; phenomena unknown to science; a computer whiz with attitude; a brand-name soft drink, running shoe, or candy bar; an incarnation of pure evil; more explosions; and the voice of Robin Williams. The movie feels about twenty minutes too long; the reviews are mixed; nobody really loves it; and it grosses several hundred million dollars.
But that's just it. What's transfixing about this typical blockbuster is exactly that last point -- that it grosses several hundred million dollars. These days it's the *business* of Hollywood that keeps fans enthralled, not the films themselves, which are widely recognized as dreck. There are all sorts of popular media outlets that let the average public keep up with the latest BO receipts and studio mega-deals. It reminds me of the ancient joke about a speculator buying a shipment of canned sardines. When he opens a sample can and finds the sardines spoiled, he's informed, "Those aren't eating sardines. They're trading sardines."
Carl
