To infinity and beyond
The film industry's ability to endless feed on itself does not bode well
Stroll through a mall or an electronics store and you're likely to experience it - your own image captured on a screen in front of you.
Look more closely, and you'll notice the monitor with your image is internally framed and reproduced in smaller and smaller representations ad infinitum like Russian wooden dolls. The same phenomenon happens in barbershops, funhouses and other places where multiple mirrors figure prominently. Reflected images ricochet back and forth in progressively smaller proportions, and, while initially fascinating, the experience eventually makes you dizzy as the original image becomes distorted or lost.
This experience mirrors metaphorically recent trends - some subtle, some overt - in the entertainment industry. We encounter celebrities, most remarkably the likes of Paris Hilton and the Kardashians, who are largely famous only for being famous. We have witnessed teaser ads to whet our appetites for longer ads that were going to be broadcast during the Superbowl. Commercials for commercials? The Apocalypse cannot be far off.
The film industry indulges in this phenomenon as well. I'm not, however, just referring to movies about making movies, though those offerings continue with such titles as Be Kind - Rewind (2008) or Nine (2010), but rather to Hollywood's preoccupation with producing sequels.
Look at a list of films from the past year or upcoming releases and you will be floored by the lack of original titles. They all seem to be just one more serialized installment of an original film that experienced box-office success. From Iron Man 2 and Paranormal Activity 2 to the fourthcoming (pun intended) additions to the Scream, Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, the sequel train continues to roll.
Unfortunately, unlike Godfather II or even Toy Story 3, the lion's share of these subsequent offerings are subpar in their entertainment value. One needs look no further than Little Fockers or the Twilight films to illustrate the point.
Hollywood's deep pockets are backing an ever dwindling number of original films, but will milk a franchise (Saw, Harry Potter) for all its worth and then make DVD features on the making of those films. Taking in this irony-filled scenario is akin to watching a snake swallow its own tail. Though initially amusing, the spectacle of the industry's ability to endlessly feed on itself does not bode well for the future of entertainment that is unique or original.
Consider the dizzying reciprocal mirror images of the Mel Brooks Broadway smash The Producers which is based on Brook's 1967 film, The Producers, about Broadway musical producers trying to deliberately create a flop. The film was itself inspired by the real life flop of the 1962 Broadway production, All American, written by Mel Brooks. We fall further down the rabbit hole when we consider that in 2005 a film version of the musical based on the film about a failed musical based on the original failed musical was released. At what point does the cycle of art imitating art imitating art end?
It is worth noting that Brooks won an Oscar in 1968 for Best Screenplay for the film version of The Producers, and it is in relation to the Academy Awards that this trend first caught my attention. In 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008, television director Louis Horvitz won Emmy awards for his television direction of Academy Awards broadcasts. He received these even while directing the Emmy broadcasts during which he won. This year, Don Mischer, who has won an Emmy for directing The Tony Awards in the past, might well be nominated for another Emmy based on his direction of this year's Oscar broadcast. Awards for directing awards shows? Really?
I've got an idea. Lots of people would surely be interested in seeing the behind-the-scenes machinations of directing and producing a major awards broadcast like the Academy Awards. Show Mischer laying out the show's sequence in his office, and then have a film crew in the director's booth while he's yelling, “Cut to camera three," and “Fade to black" - in short, make a feature length documentary on the television production of the Academy Awards broadcast. Maybe Michael Moore would be interested.
If it was good enough, it could win an Oscar for best feature length documentary, and then, perhaps, be turned into a musical with enough merit, maybe, to be nominated for a Tony Award, and then...
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