| In a time when Stars were groomed in Hollywood for the red carpet, people had time. There was always enough time to 'get it right'. There was the mystique of Hollywood and Special Effects were special. Now even the lowest budgets allow for FX in their movies.
That was before accountants ruled Tinsel Town. If Howard Hughes wanted to get Jane Russell's bra-line EXACTLY the way he wanted, then that is the way it was. There weren't bean-counters looking over the Director's shoulders saying "We could use less people in the crowd and save costs". Back then (after WW2) people wanted to escape reality and be beguiled in the comfort of a darkened movie theater.
People wanted larger than life figures up there on the silver screen.
Now with Reality TV shows and Behind the Scenes programs, the magic has become somewhat tarnished. We now know even the most intimate details of the Rich and Famous. There are no Greta Garbos to weave their mysterious magic on us.
With the advent of Syd Field's ground-breaking observations on screenplays and the Commercial Formula he deduced, the fairy-dust of innocence has been replaced with the Gold lame of Rodeo Drive.
Whatever you want - any dream - can be bought. Everything has it's price. Simply look at Titanic! The budget for that picture absorbed almost as much as 10 major Indie movies, the script was as thin as a Geisha's smile and we were expected to believe that the teen-hero (DeCaprio) had experienced almost all there was to experience in this life?! The expression of the Emperor's new clothes comes to mind. Yet, throw enough money at it via media blitz and we have a commercial hit!
So the underlying accountants mantra to script writers has become the ubiquitous "Give us something original - that has been done before?!"
It seems that only Independant companies have the courage to take on original and demanding scripts. God forbid that we should actually THINK while being entertained!
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