Maybe its just my cynical instinct, but is there any link between government intervention and the deteriorating quality of movies?
The link dates back to the 1950s antitrust action that forced a separation between theaters and production companies -- and we might add that government-protected unions have done movies no favors.
Publisher, Laissez-Faire Books
jtucker: The link dates back to the 1950s antitrust action that forced a separation between theaters and production companies -- and we might add that government-protected unions have done movies no favors.
Thank you for informing me. I had assumed that unions has something to do with it. Could you go into greater depth regarding the antitrust action, please?
The 1948 case of US vs. Paramount ended block booking and forced the studios to get out of the theater business. This had the affect of making it harder to sell anything experimental. Hollywood became more reliant on proven formulas such as musicals, big name stars, and special effects.
Check out Paul Cantor's lecture series Commerce and Culture. There is one lecture specifically on the movie industry.
It isn't only government that affects movie quality. Cantor notes that the modern special effects movies are really just a throw-back to the silent movies. You can easily translate the simple dialog into many languages. That's a market phenonema.
Other posters have listed what caused the decline of the quality of movies. However, I think it should be noted that now video games are under the gun too, as the writer's guild is attempting to make video game writers unionize, such as through allowing only union writers to win awards at the Writer's Guild Awards. Ceteris paribus, if this works we can expect a decline in the quality of video game writing as well.
If the writers are stupid enough to unionize, and if their management is stupid enough to fail to prevent it, they will richly deserve what they get. Too bad consumers will be stuck with it, too...One might also keep in mind Theodore Sturgeon's observation that 90% of everything is crap. Including movies. The actual percentage might vary a bit from era to era but for every "Gone With The Wind" there were lots of other movies from 1939 that are not remembered or watched today. That said, some eras really are better than others, like the early 1970s when there was a sudden flowering of independent production (I'm sure someone can explain the exact reasons better than I can).
Robert P. Churchill:If the writers are stupid enough to unionize, and if their management is stupid enough to fail to prevent it
The Wagner Act forces management to accept the union.
I'm aware of the Wagner Act, but ve haf vays of keeping unions out that vork--I mean work--from time to time...