Hollywood makes up a staggering portion of the American economy, which reflects on the industry’s decline in quality. According to the Motion Pictures Association the American film industry accounts for around $14.4 billion in exports. These extreme profits are a result of America’s long-time media-boom and has only continued upwards ever since.
Media is defined as a means for mass communication, but it is so much more than that. Media provides people with a story, a lesson, a dream and an inspiration. Hollywood, however, with its claws dug deep into today’s productions, has caused mass-media to become something convoluted with greed and a lack of imagination.
With this success comes the inevitable greed that accompanies all high income-generating fields. Business became easier as Hollywood dominated the movie industry and American movies began to stale in quality as the market became oversaturated. Today, these factors are only becoming worse, coupled with attempts to instigate public support through cheap shows of modern activism. This downward spiral has pushed the public to pick apart the once subtle flaws that make up the movie industry and question whether Hollywood is really all that.
A quick look at recent years displays Hollywood’s overreliance on franchises. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Star Wars, Hollywood is filled to the brim with franchises, primarily because the industry is uncreative and relies on its previous success and fans to gain income without putting in the effort of creating something new. The first movie of the Star Wars franchise was released in 1977, and yet the last movie of the series came out in 2019.
Franchises like Star Wars one are reliant on nostalgia over quality. Studios have gone on to produce substandard movies over time as they continue to gain incredible viewership thanks to previous success. Prioritization of greed over creativity has reached an extreme point such that multi-billion dollar companies like Marvel Studios are being criticized for their poor CGI and cinematography despite the MCU being the highest grossing film franchise in history. For such a popular and rich franchise, one would be right to assume that they should possess all the necessary resources to produce consistently quality works.
Yet, for every example of a film gone down the drain from poor filmmaking, there remains a plethora of movies that suffer from the exact opposite problem. The technological capabilities of Hollywood filmmaking are the greatest they have ever been, and some studios have taken this and ran off with it, without a care in the world for the storytelling and acting in their films.
Films that are technologically impressive are prone to completely bombing. Wes Anderson’s “French Dispatch” displayed an incredible usage of advanced cinematography and CGI techniques but completely fell flat in the hands of the modern consumer. Critics and audiences alike lambasted the film for a shoddy story. Sheila O’ Malley, a film critic at Medium, infamously touted Anderson’s work as “dizzying.” And it’s not hard to see why. The complexity of modern technological capabilities completely distracts from what the most important part of filmmaking is: storytelling.
Aristotle’s “Poetics” stated the five most important elements of storytelling to be plot, character, spectacle, unity and theme. The films that movie-lovers note to be the greatest ever made are those that accurately satisfy these requirements – plus a few more techniques that Aristotle neglected to mention. Of course, many films don’t meet all requirements and that is completely fine. The “Poetics” are the words of a long-gone man anyways, yet to neglect the traditional basis of Western storytelling details a disturbing loss of character and integrity in, once again, the single unity among all cultures. The importance of storytelling cannot be understated.
Films that over-rely on CGI max out on spectacle and decor, neglecting character, plot and theme. Films that fail to achieve their CGI goals, while neglecting all others, create terrible films that are hated by pretty much everyone. Films that neglect spectacle and decor and focus on plot, theme and character neglect the technology that makes films last in the minds of the viewer, creating forgettable stories.
Films fail to impress their viewers anymore. Among the many reasons why lies the scourge that is high-budget production.
In high budget media, reusing actors for numerous roles is common – which is characteristic of the poor budgeting that plagues modern films. Actors like Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio have been stars since the 1980s, with their success only building over the past few decades. They, and many others, are household names and have been in a countless amount of popular movies. Upon gaining popularity, actors immediately begin to be given roles to help heighten their careers.
Movies exploit actors’ fan bases for high profit, without having to care about the quality of the film. According to Harper Publishers and numerous other reports, Johnny Depp makes an average of $20 million per movie, which makes casting a large expense for high-profile movies and takes away from the overall budget for other aspects of movies.
By fueling this expense and allowing select actors to rise in power, Hollywood creates a funnel for the rich and powerful to be thrust into the acting scene, taking away opportunities from those without select connections, creating a homogenous, elite list of Hollywood actors.
The media often fails to accurately represent certain people without falling back on stereotypes. It narrows the horizons that can be explored from the eyes of the many differing individuals who make up society, each with their own distinct cultural, ethnic and religious identities. Diverse storytelling fosters empathy and compassion in the hearts of the audience, allowing people to gain a realistic understanding of other individuals.
Despite its lack of diversity, Hollywood often strives to pray upon the modern social activist ideology that pervades amongst many of the younger generations. Reports by a Pew Research Center study state that most of Gen Z are highly progressive, with a more positive outlook on liberal ideals. Despite the cinema industry being typically conservative, as demonstrated by its wealthy billionaire owners, it still makes numerous attempts to keep up with the many modern trends and ideas that engage the younger generation.
From romantic tropes to serious issues like LGBT and race discrimination, the media serves to take what people deem important and force feed it into movies, displaying an agenda that seems more just for show than anything else. One example of this comes from the popular American show “Supernatural” (2005-2020), with the queer-coded character Castiel having fans on the edge of their seat for over 12 years, eagerly waiting for a clear declaration of his sexuality. Castiel’s character ended up being killed a few minutes after declaring his love for a man.
Beyond filmmakers’ inability to connect with viewers on cultural, ethnic and racial levels, studios have developed a habit of just reusing stories to appeal to the elements of stories that entice audiences on a supra-personal level.
Notions of heroics, love, death and vice are common motifs that connect all viewers, regardless of where they come from and who they choose to be. They have been among the most thematically developed parts of storytelling for millenia, and it’s not hard to see why. Instead of offering new additions to these elements, filmmakers have created an alphabet’s worth of plots and ploys they overuse just to make some last-ditch effort to appeal to viewers.
Critics and audiences alike have begun to notice that movies seem to be stamped from template to template in terms of types of characters and plots, overusing such ploys as the hero’s journey and the love triangle. This hackneyed usage demonstrates the laziness of the industry overall and while the templates may have been good at one point, Hollywood’s overreliance on them has caused plots to become predictable and boring.
The Twilight franchise is a good example of the love triangle in modern media, with the sweet and innocent girl, one good boy and one bad boy. The entire plot relies on this dynamic to drive the story forward, but because of its overuse, the plot is predictable. One important factor that became predictable was Bella inevitably choosing Edward over Jacob, as this trope is fond of the bad boy taking the lead. Considering the fact that romance is the focal point of the story, this trope only serves to take away from the quality of it.
The reasoning for this stems from the oversaturation of the media market. As of today there exist all sorts of movies and shows thanks to modern technology and America’s booming economy. Hollywood has thrived throughout the years but currently, this is not proving to be a good thing. With so many movies produced it becomes difficult for original productions to be made. Once upon a time a good movie happened every once and a while but now, with so many coming out, ground-breaking ideas have been dried out forcing productions to rely on past success, in specific, that of stereotyped tropes.
The 1920s placed the focus of contemporary movies on the changing social norms for women and the significant technological advancements, allowing for the movies to connect to the audience. Throughout the decades, however, the passion that once enveloped films has burned away. Art became a business and the focus on innovation shifted to that of monetary gains. The movie dream has slowly fizzled out over time, leaving only an echo of what it once was.