Why Hollywood is not fighting MAGA?
Film industry, capitalism and social cause
“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay ….”
Ernst Fischer
Banal & Nihilistic comedy of SNL on current politics.
Robert De Niro keeps saying “F*** Donald Trump” and all kinds of critical things in showbiz events & TV shows. Taylor Swift and other celebrities endorsed Kamala Harris. SNL creates these short comedy clips on buffoonery of Trump regime. But beyond that, what has Hollywood actually done to counter MAGA movement and sea change in American politics? Almost nothing. I mean, if Hollywood is really a progressive industry from state of California then it would be creating significant amount of cinema, TV shows & music to depict the changing social, political and cultural realities of American society. In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay.
With arrival of MAGA movement and Donald Trump, American society, culture and politics has greatly changed and in a regressive way. I don’t need go through all the bad things going on in America, of that you are well aware of. Just some latest news. Paul Krugman writes about Trump budget that will savagely destroy American public health system and legacy welfare programs. This is just one of many destructive things carried out by Trump regime. The illegal deportations, reneging on Climate change policies, insane trade wars, destruction of government institutions, mass firing of government employees etc - there’s a whole list of bad, worse & ugly policies.
I am not a specialist in film industry. But my casual impression of its current state is that it has become dull & repetitive. For example, the endless dragging of brand sequels which have no fresh creativity. You know the state of Marvel universe & how they keep on producing film sequels well past any meaning (1, 2). Same goes for movies like Mission impossible, Fast & Furious, DC movies, John Wick universe etc. A recent innovation of superhero film scripts is ‘Alternate universes & timelines’. Now plots & storytelling doesn’t even need to have coherence because they’re taking place in separate universes & timelines. Actually, this is capitalism in action. You first create something good & interesting. But later when you run out of ideas for improvements, the old product may still continue to be sold based on brand royalty alone. Eventually, the product may fade away into dullness but by then it already generated billions of dollars of profits.
Also, underlying theme of film industry (not just Hollywood but broadly in general) is emphasis on violence. Violence sells. We live in a violent society but not the kind its mainly portrayed in our cinema - gangs, Mafias, serial killers, wars, drug cartels, terrorism etc. Violence overwhelmingly in our society is structural in nature. We live in a society with structural violence. Dr Bandy Lee has written a great book on subject. The political and economic inequalities, endemic poverty & unemployment due to unscientific macroeconomic doctrines (Neoliberalism), patriarchy, military industrial complex & war profiting, oligarchical takeover of state etc - this is the most dangerous form of violence and its structural in nature. There are few documentary makers (recall Michael Moore) who did some work on these concepts but that work is needle in a haystack.
You will see crude and Nihilistic comedy like SNL on buffoonery of Trump but there’s no sustained & articulate effort by American cinema to translate socioeconomic and political issues into films & TV productions. A cinema that really tries to capture socioeconomic reality in sensible articulate method is nowhere to be seen. Just to give some small examples, such kind of cinema can always be created if there’s a will. John Q is a film about a desperate father whose insurance company won’t cover heart transplant of his son. Documentaries like Inside Job, No end in sight, Taxi to the dark side, Totally under control, Finding the money are also handful of works that demonstrate proper efforts to explain issues of economy, war, Politics and Pandemic.
I, Daniel Blake is a British film about the struggles of an unemployed man in welfare system
Also, don’t underestimate the power of art & cinema. American society is deeply impacted by media influence and a sustained effort by film industry can create healthy and constructive sociopolitical thinking in people. Of course, to create an ‘independent form of art’ ie media production that is critical of ruling government is difficult in dictatorial climate. But that’s the cost of preserving democracy which we have to bear. Unfortunately, the profit motive trumps social cause. It’s better to create crappy media productions for quick profits than to create films/TV shows that exposes the Fascistic realities of today.
The Purge: Anarchy is Hollywood film about dystopian future where right wing government has legalized violence for one night of the year.
Off topic stuff
If you want some movie recommendations. These are two old posts from my other blog.