The vaunted Golden Globes didn't even get 10 million viewers. But it dominated coverage in the same mainstream press. As for why I even bothered to write about Nikki Glaser... If you were reading the mainstream press there was a one month run-up, tons of stories orchestrated by publicists building up to this pebble falling into the lake.
There are 340 million people in America. And most don't bother to go to the movies. Not that they're not consumed by entertainment. It's just that feature films are a construct of the past, of the last century. Kind of like writing the Great American Novel. That went out with the fifties, maybe the sixties... Thank god no one writes about that anymore. Although there are still novels, purveyed by an antique business run by English majors with some of the worst marketing of all time. Which is why James Patterson came along and dominated the business, he knows how to SELL!
Unless you're living outside internet range, and with the advent of Starlink, that's impossible, you know that the mainstream press has lost credibility. The general public pooh-poohs it and doesn't trust it. You'd think the publishers would notice this and adjust, but they keep on keepin' on like they're the record companies in 1999.
Napster was all about disruption. Giving the people what they wanted, which the labels refused to do. Breaking apart the album into the desirable singles. Making available rare and live cuts.
And there are musicians still complaining about this. Songwriters bitching that only the single drives revenue anymore. Meanwhile, YouTube is a plethora of live, everybody is recording on their smartphone when the acts themselves are not putting up videos.
Things change.
And a lot has changed in the music business. Concerts have superseded recordings. The majors have less market share and less influence. The big acts have never been so small. The barrier to entry is essentially nonexistent.
Then again, all we get in the mainstream is a printing of the weekly Top Ten, which is woefully inaccurate, a complete manipulation. Taylor Swift's last album was kept atop the heap by endless iterations, sold to brain dead lemmings.
So the pandemic put a stake in the heart of theatrical distribution. Movie theatres don't work anymore, not as a ritual. The films don't start when you want them to in an on demand world, the tickets are expensive and for the price of one movie you can get a month of Netflix, or another streamer. Why go?
Which is why people do not. But Hollywood doesn't want to adjust. Which is one reason why its business has been stolen by Silicon Valley. The studio heads used to be icons, now not even people in Los Angeles know who they are.
As for what is streamed... It's not the endless films that open in theatres to little box office, but old and new series.
But series are seen as second-rate in the mainstream press. Even though every A-list actor seems to have deigned to participate in them.
But if you read the "Times," either New York or Los Angeles, you'd think that the entire nation has Oscar fever. That the general public cares about movies they have not seen and really have no interest in seeing.
I'm not saying you can't make a movie, I'm not saying a movie can't be good, but if you want to have an impact upon hearts and minds, which is what the mainstream media desires, you have to wake up and follow the people and admit things have changed.
There is some coverage of video games now, but it's de minimis, despite video games eclipsing films in revenue.
As for series...
The "New York Times" reviews every film that is released in the city, but not every series that launches on Netflix or its competitors. Why?
Because series are déclassé. For the hoi polloi. The intellectuals...
Who? Those old fart boomers and Gen-X'ers who think they know better? Who keep on excoriating the smartphone and hate on technology?
The internet is the best thing that ever happened to me. I can reach and maintain contact with people around the world. You too. But in the "New York Times" you constantly read about people who use flip-phones, who digitally detox. This is like trying to get people to stop drinking, but even worse. Sure, there can be overuse/harm from smartphones, but the solution is not abstention, but going through, possibly changing the use.
You're not going to get me to put down my smartphone, which tells me the news, the weather, allows me to research any point, make contact... Enough with the mind police.
The world changes. If you want to make a difference you must keep up with it.
The Democrats were so out of touch they lost control of D.C. They thought they could hide Biden's decline like it was FDR in the forties. But there's just too much media today, the truth always outs. And people were ultimately offended by this dishonesty. And then they told us Kamala Harris was the candidate as if we lived in a third world country. And if you were on the left and didn't line up for Harris...you were a traitor, you were the enemy.
And the end result is the further marginalization of those living in the past who keep telling us they know better. The same people and press who told us the economy was great when prices were out of control and people were hurting.
This does not make me a Trumper, but it does say I want to live in reality. Face the facts.
Movies other than the few blockbusters are a marginal business. Nearly the novel of our day. If it's not a sequel most people don't see it and most people don't care. But they keep telling us to care. Hell, the "New York Times" talked about last night's fire putting the Dolby Theatre in danger. There's nothing special about the Dolby, it was initially called the Kodak, there's no gravitas there. Maybe the foot and handprints at the Chinese Theatre, but the era of the movie star is kaput. It's been eclipsed by the dreaded influencers, who execute a completely different paradigm. Rather than withhold and massage, they're posting incessantly, with much more raw footage.
The entire landscape has changed. The general public has never had more power. And it doesn't like being talked down to. The paradigm of reading the press and watching the network news with no pushback, feeling powerless, in thrall to icons, is gone. I'm not saying to let the lunatics take over the asylum, but at least report on them and respect them, because they are what is truly happening in these United States.
People don't care about awards shows. They can get endless fashion displays and tips online. And actors are two-dimensional vessels, if you want truth you're better off listening to a musician, then again too many of them are compromised, brands with no core, like the Silicon Valley titans kowtowing to Donald Trump. These techies used to be heroes, now they're zeros. We can see what you're doing, you're playing a game to curry favor, to avoid retribution, that's not what an artist does, and you were the new artists, but no longer.
America is hungry for truth from uncompromised people in touch with the landscape. And if you think you get that in the mainstream press...
Hell, the "New York Times" is propped-up by gaming and cooking subscriptions.
The mainstream news has already been disrupted, but they don't know it.
What a sorry state of affairs.
As for the Oscars... Who won last year?
And if you haven't seen the movies why would you care?
PEOPLE DON'T!
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