Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See Review"MOVIE WARS: How Hollywood and the Media Conspire to Limit What Films We Can See," by Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago, a capella, 2000. Review by Harvey Karten film_critic@compuserve.com.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic with the Chicago Reader, is on the left politically as one can easily see from his latest book, "Movie Wars." His central position is that while we have a free press in the United States, the capacity to go to virtual or actual book stores and find just about anything we want to read (particularly in the giants like Barnes & Noble and Amazon), we do not enjoy such freedom in choosing our movies. Rosenbaum expresses a belief in the wisdom of ordinary moviegoers who might like to take in screenings of important films but who, thanks to the power of the so-called movie industrial complex, are often unable to do so. In other words, the big studios and the large newspapers, TV and radio stations scheme with one another to push certain movies our way and to discourage our viewing of others they do not wish to market.
Of all the evidence he supplies, what got me (as a film critic) thinking most is Rosenbaum's contention that the media and the big studios in effect bribe supposedly impartial critics to push certain films. Since recognized movie critics, particularly in areas of the country like New York and L.A., are given free access to hundreds of movies each year, some might be tempted to cooperate with the studios and write fluff pieces out of gratitude for the invitations. I like to think that we're invited merely with the hope that we'll spread good news about the films: that negative commentary may not be welcome but that the companies recognize that those of us who praise almost everything will lose credibility with our readers--and then what good will we be when we honesty laud a good movie? However, there is one group that Rosenbaum accuses of succumbing to outright bribery: the critics who are feted by the studios with fancy junkets. According to the author, certain select reviewers are invited to fly to L.A. or New York or even Hawaii and Paris to screen films and review the talent on site. The implication is that if these writers do not knock out what the studios would like the readers to see, they are not invited back. Now, if you were given free air tickets, put up in a first-class hotel for two nights, and given cash for daily expenses while reviewing and
interviewing, would you be tempted to be overly generous? Rosenbaum thinks so. This is one way that the big companies in effect control the output of the writers.
And what about those blurbs that you see in the newspaper ads for the movies? Some of them are not even extracts from long reviews but are supplied by professional blurb writers--with the film companies actually "suggesting" what the blurber should write.
In yet another indictment of the ways that studios
manipulate our freedom to select movies, Rosenbaum suggests that critics are persuaded not to bother reviewing movies whose advertising budgets are marginal. Important films that the public may indeed be tempted to see are not talked up by either the advertisers or the reviewers, and in fact the author was forced on a Chicago show called Chicago Tonight to speak almost exclusively about big studio releases. Rosenbaum also believes that some reviewers do not care for what they're doing and write not from their own hearts but from what they think the readers want to hear. In doing so, they are merely ratifying preconceptions set up by ads and promo campaigns. These critics assume that audiences, unlike sophisticated critics, are not tolerant of films that demand thought and patience, and what's more the critics believe that their editors are of the same view. Again: the independent film, which may move more slowly than the typical biggie, will not be reviewed by most media and will not be advertised by releasing companies.
As for foreign films? Same deal. I've heard said that only one percent of movie goers attend foreign language films at all. Why? Presumably the studios and editors believe there's no way that the ordinary people on the street will want to read the subtitles or would be interested in seeing the output of the non-English-speaking world. Whose fault is that? Rosenbaum is more of a democrat than I. My own view is
that you can advertise the latest from Theodor Angelopoulos or Krzysztof Znussi all you want--you won't find lines outside the theaters.
A short review can barely skim the surface of this author's accusations. He takes on Miramax, for example, for deliberately limiting production of potential competitors by buying up the rights and then shelving the films simply to keep them away from contesting their own releases. "Movie Wars" is to the current film industry as "The Jungle" was to the meatpacking industry--an important work charging big media and studio corporations with censorship to get us to patronize only those movies they want us to see.Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See Overview

Want to learn more information about Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now