The Decline of Hollywood

I read an interesting article in The Dartmouth the other day about the 2005 box office slump, and it really got me thinking about how unenthused I've been about the film and television industry lately. Neither venue has really come up with anything even remotely creative in years. The article makes a great point about the lack of originality in the industry today, and upon reading that I realized I can't remember the last time I saw a movie which really blew my mind.

And why would any of them?

Almost all the dramatic films released by major studios in the last couple of years have either been lifted from best-selling books (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The DaVinci Code, Life of Pi, Memoirs of a Geisha, Narnia), remakes of a film that, in some cases, was fine to begin with (The Grinch, Freaky Friday, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, King Kong) or a spin-off of an already successful series (Star Wars, Superman, any Disney sequel). Hell, even theatrical adaptations (Chicago, The Producers, RENT) have been making a comeback. And of course I've enjoyed these films. I adored Return of the King with everyone else, and Chicago was a brilliant transformation of a stage show to screen.

But what made me love these films was the glitz: the sweeping cinematography, the costumes, the interpretive choices, the effects, etc. None of these films made me love them for the stories or the characters, because I had ALREADY fallen in love with the stories and characters YEARS before I bought my movie ticket. The industry may have taken something I already liked and treated it well (or not so well, in some cases) but they hardly deserve credit for creating anything new.

So where are the films that people love independently of prior knowledge? The ones that change your opinion, make you think? Made you dream?

TV is no different; with hours upon hours of reality bullshit (I love Kelly Clarkson as much as the next person, and yes, when bored I will stop flipping for the fake hooks of Project Runway, Extreme Home Makeover, and So You Think You Can Dance, but will I run home to watch it? No.) and weak-ass medical and crime dramas, there's nothing to be excited about. Even The Office, with its brilliant acting, is a knock-off of a British show of the same name.

Since The X-Files ended in 2002 (and as any fan of the show knows, it really ended several years before), there has been absolutely nothing worth obsessing over. Granted, I don't know if I necessarily WANT to have another show I have run home to see, call friends to tape, flip out if somebody talks or the phone rings during -- it was seven years of hard work not to miss a X-Files episode, as I'm a very busy person. But the fact that I was willing to make the effort anyway speaks to how amazing the stories and the characters on that show were. I can't imagine doing that for anything on now. It's all way too uninspired. Even the latest Star Treks couldn't hack it because producers attempted to make them adventurous and Hollywoodized, and forgot that Trekkies LIKED their shows intellectually preachy and character-driven. And when THAT franchise can't keep a following, I'm not sure what hope is left for all the others.

So has the muse died out there in Hollywood or what? Or have we just reached a point where our numbed cerebral cortexes have just heard so much that there is nothing new left to be said on screen? Nothing left to inspire? Is it a bad thing that we just don't care anymore?

Since books seem to be the only good things to make movies of lately, maybe we should all just read instead?