Typically, October to December is the apex of entertainment and quality on the big and silver screens. However, in 2017, the prelude to Hollywood’s Oscar season is being marred by numerous tragic, revealing sexual assault allegations that are levied against some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
On Oct. 5, 2017,
The
New York Times
published an article in which many women publicly accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Since then, the fallout for Weinstein and other high-profile American men accused of similar transgressions has been at the forefront of new cycles and headlines.
These sprawling accusations do not stop at the edges of our television screens. They extend to our nation’s capital, where Jeff Hoover, Kentucky’s Speaker of the House, Roy Moore, an Alabaman judge and politician, and Al Franken, a U.S. Senator, all of whom are facing accusations of sexually harassing women and teenagers, to the margins of our newspapers. They extend within the media world, as evidenced by the accusations against Glenn Thrush, a reporter for
The New York Times
. They extend to the boards of some of America’s most successful companies companies, as evidenced by claiming against Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of venture capital firm Draoer Fisher Jurveston. He is also a board member of Tesla and SpaceX.
But in the wake of the Weinstein allegations, a disproportionate number of the men standing accused of all kinds of sexual misconduct, including rape, have been members of the entertainment industry — especially Hollywood moguls; the collateral from their behavior has been palpable.
Weinstein’s misconduct alone has called into question the character and careers of stars like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Quentin Tarantino; all three men found the start to their careers from Weinstein, and all eight of Tarantino’s movies were produced by The Weinstein Company. Kevin Spacey’s and Louis C.K.’s allegations have more of a tangible effect on the streaming world; Netflix suspended Spacey from its popular show House of Cards and HBO removed all of C.K.’s planned specials. With all of the negative press coming to light during the entertainment industry’s most profitable and award-friendly season, one has to wonder if these allegations will begin the downfall of an already downward-spiraling Hollywood.
The short answer is no.
The long answer is yes, maybe.
In the short term, scandals withstanding, Hollywood’s entertainment tycoons will continue to pump millions of dollars into trusted franchises, bankable movie stars, superhero universes, and grandiose biopics and period pieces, leaving little room for independent, low budget, quality movies that rate high on websites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Metacritic.
Currently, Tarantino is shopping around for leading men and another studio to produce his ninth movie, proving that Hollywood’s entertainment machine will continue to churn out high-profile, high-budget, high-action, highly-rated works. Although the Weinstein scandal and all of the people who have been ousted since will not end up changing the landscape of the entertainment industry their public disowning will hopefully lead to an increased awareness of dangerous and abusive power dynamics within Hollywood and eventually create a safer, more equal environment. What will lead to definite change in Hollywood, however, is the continuance of a noticeable, damaging trend that became apparent in 2012. This trend being the sequels, franchises, and spinoffs are running away with studio’s money, and more often than not, they are not making it back.
Hollywood has always been home to our wildest imagination. We go to the movies to see people behave the way we wish to behave, to stand up to the oppressor, to kiss the person we want to be kissing, to save the day, to be a hero. We imagine we could do the same. Naturally, movies, with their hour-to-three-hour runtimes, have proven the perfect medium for action-heavy, witty, fast-paced, and outrageous superhero stories. These films have spawned sequels that eventually comprised franchises; once these started reliably making ludicrous profits, a gold mine was opened in Hollywood that may never be shut.
An excellent example of the sprawling and adverse effects of studios’ obsession with extended action and superhero movies on annual box-office totals and critic ratings is Marvel’s critically and commercially successful
Avengers
movie in 2012.
The Avengers
signaled a tectonic shift in movie making, a shift already programmed into the industry’s DNA. Since
The Avengers
first hit theaters, other studios have been scrambling to create comic book universes that resemble Marvel’s blueprint. The results have been mixed, but irreparable damage has been done. Sequels, remakes, ensemble movies, and superhero origin stories — the kinds of movies that made Hollywood globally famous — are more rampant, with more dismal box office and critic reviews, than ever.
Perhaps the best and most ominous example of Hollywood’s franchise craze equating to bad movies and box-office numbers is D.C.’s “extended universe.” D.C.’s universe is infamous because it tries to recapture the ensemble fun that makes Marvel movies a hit, yet its monochromatic output has become notorious for poor critical receptions, with four of their five movies averaging out to a disappointing 36.75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The one notable exception is this year’s hit movie
Wonder Woman
— rated at 92 percent — which critics likened to Marvel productions for its fun and meaningful experience. Despite the success of
Wonder Woman
, DC’s
Justice League
scored a measly 40 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and opened to a ho-hum $96 million at the box office — disappointing relative to its large budgets and advertising campaign.
Some would argue that Rotten Tomatoes is affecting ticket sales, but this is likely not the case. According to the Amazon marketing website, alexa.com, Rotten Tomatoes’ website is the 143rd most trafficked site in the United States. For comparison, IMDB, a website that provides similar movie and TV information, is ranked 28th in the country. Statistically, it is unlikely that people are letting increasingly poor reviews keep them at home.
Justice League
is a microcosm of what is ailing Hollywood, and what could lead to its demise; studios are pumping money into oversaturated franchises that are rating poorly with critics and U.S audiences and not earning back the money invested in them. Relying on foreign box-office profits to break even is an unsustainable formula. There is no indication, despite the poor box-office showings and ratings, that this trend will stop, as there are at least 25 movies planned for 2018 that fall into the sequel, spinoff, and remake category.
If neither the effect of Rotten Tomatoes nor the gross public image surrounding Hollywood in the wake of the Weinstein saga is not causing low ticket sales and ratings, what is? My answer: the best stories are being told on TV instead of in the movies.
For proof, I suggest we look at the cultural clout of shows on streaming services like Netflix and HBO. Historically, all types of television shows operated in nightly installments ranging from 20 to 30 minutes. With the inception of HBO in 1971, however, there has been a slow evolution of the structural integrity of episodes of TV away from short, daily installments towards weekly feature length showings that are similar to movies in style and pace. As a result, TV and streaming services are now home to shows of equally high caliber, razor-sharp seriousness, knee-slapping humor, and heart-wrenching romances as Hollywood with one important distinction; they have the golden combination of excellent ratings and viewership which is generating unprecedented buzz.
All of the hottest shows right now are from studios like Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and Amazon. Shows like
Stranger Things
,
Mindhunter
,
Orange Is The New Black
,
Westworld
,
Curb Your Enthusiasm
,
The Handmaid’s Tale
,
Veep
, and
Game of Thrones
have dominated the internet and pop culture in recent years — with
Games of Throne
s being one of, if not the, greatest cultural unifier in recent memory. Directors of these shows repeatedly maintain that the 45–60 minute formula offered by today’s studios gives them artistic liberty and allows them to develop their plot thoroughly and convincingly. Because these shows run for weeks on end, for roughly 3–5 years, they stay in our American cultural conscience longer than movies. Because of the combination of great storytelling and cultural staying power, television is making a serious case for eclipsing the Hollywood film industry in both scope and quality.
Interestingly, many of these iconic shows are similar in narrative style to superhero movies, yet giant set pieces and action sequences are not all they have to offer. Critiques douse these shows in praise and rewards for their thought-provoking, worthwhile stories.
Westworld
, for example is actually a remake of a successful 1973 movie by the same name, yet when the characters and plot are translated to the silver screen, ratings, reviews, and award nominations do not plummet, they soar.
Westworld
has been dubbed by many to be the next
Game of Thrones
both for its intelligent, sprawling narrative and its potential to be a cultural force. Recently, Amazon Studios secured the rights to the
Lord of The Rings
universe and intends to make multiple TV spinoffs, suggesting that it is not only searching for the next
Game of Thrones
, but that it also thinks consumers and industry backers have more to gain from putting fantasy epics into methodical weekly TV installments.
Lord of The Rings
is an Oscar-winning saga and its media transferral shows that TV will be the best place to find both exciting and high-quality content for years to come.
So what can Hollywood do if television is assuredly becoming home to the best stories? Embrace the smaller-budget, more artistic, more risky projects being helmed by dynamic directors, I say. Ironically, I am almost asking for a TV-movie switch; let TV grapple with the giant spectacles since they have the narrative time and space, while you, Hollywood, focus on the stories that need telling: movies with artistic purpose and sociopolitical commentary.
Hollywood should not eschew the superhero, comic book franchise all together. That would be box office suicide and counterintuitive after Marvel movies and
Wonder
Woman
have done so well commercially and critically. Studios, however, should seriously invest more money in projects like
Get Out
,
It
, and
Dunkirk
. All three of those movies were made on comparatively small budgets (four, 35, and 100 million respectively), yet they averaged for 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and have made back, on average, 50 percent of their budget domestically. These low-budget movies are performing as well, if not better, than franchise movies with critics and audiences alike. Ratings and reviews notwithstanding, each of these movies makes powerful artistic choices, and having seen all three, I can tell you I left the theatre as an energized, conscientious audience member wrestling with the themes of each movie long after the final credits had rolled.
Is this not what we want of movies? To be entertained and challenged all at once? If these kinds of movies with smaller budgets and less immediate bankability are the way of the future, Hollywood has not yet realized it. For everyone’s sake, I hope they do.
