Can Movies Save the Day?

Spring is here. That means one thing for movie fans--summer blockbuster season is upon us. Thoughts turn to Star Trek, Harry Potter, Transformers and other big action films. Spoiler alert: In the end, good prevails over evil, the world--in fact--does not come to an end and all is right in the universe (at least until the sequel).

...If only truth could imitate fiction.

This morning in our nation's capital, MPAA is bringing together the film community and the Washington policy community to talk about "the business of show business." At the start of each new Congress, we pull back the curtain on a unique and creative American industry and shine a spotlight on how movies contribute not just to our culture, but our economy.

As part of this event, we release a biannual economic impact report on the contributions of the film and television industry to the U.S. economy. Among the highlights:

· More than 2.5 million American jobs are supported by film and television--actors and writers, yes, but also truck drivers, architects, accountants, make-up artists, ticket takers, set builders, costumers, animators, digital effects folks, stuntmen and more. Overwhelmingly these are middle-class folks who earn a living wage.

· Our industry contributes $80 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

· We employ over 115,000 businesses in every state in our union.

· And, with American movies embraced around the world, we contribute $13.6 billion to the U.S. balance of trade.

Our report includes case studies that bring this creative community to life. Take the film Marley & Me. In addition to Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, 2,000 folks in Florida and 500 in Pennsylvania helped make that movie (along with the 22 dogs who played Marley).

Whether it's Clint Eastwood filming Gran Torino in Michigan, Brad Pitt playing Benjamin Button in Louisiana or Terminator: Salvation recreating the cyborg wars in the New Mexico desert, innovative policies are fueling what is fast-becoming a truly national industry. State-of-the-art production facilities are cropping up across the country. One in Pontiac, Michigan is creating 6,000 jobs 30 miles outside Detroit. What a powerful symbol of the opportunities creative industries can help deliver throughout America.

And, the benefits continue long after production wraps. Tourism can increase up to 75% after a popular film's release. In fact, 20 years after Field of Dreams won us over at the movies, 65,000 people still travel each year to Dyersville, Iowa to visit that cornfield.

Of course, one side effect of making something people love is that we follow the box office almost as fervently as we follow baseball scores. Both are favorite American pastimes.

The story at the cinema is quite positive right now. That's a good thing. It means jobs and economic opportunities. But the movie theater is just one aspect of the business. Home video and television face serious and well-documented challenges. So there remain real questions about how we keep the jobs, growth and great films coming.

In this environment, the right policies matter. We care a lot, for example, about free and fair trade. We want to make sure that American films can be seen around the globe. We also devote substantial time and resources to rallying the world to the cause of intellectual property rights and protecting the value of creative works. We just had a significant victory in the Swedish courts. But we also know that we need to innovate ourselves. We need the flexibility to respond to consumers and give them new ways to enjoy the legitimate, genuine article in flexible and fair ways--at the movies, online or anywhere they choose.

I'm proud of the starring role that movies play bringing joy and inspiration to people around the globe. But the real-world role we play at the heart of our modern, creative economy is too often overlooked.

This summer it may be Decepticons versus Autobots. But with the right policies and a focus on the value of creative industries, next summer's big hit might just be America: The Sequel. What a comeback story it could be. As they say at the movies, a brighter day awaits.

Comments

[Arkadin]

If you really believed in free trade Mr. Glickman, you wouldn't bully other countries on behalf of Hollywood.It is time to let go of the artificial division of regions for DVDs as most major Hollywood films get released globally. The effect is not to protect Hollywood films, but to make it harder for Americans to see films from other countries. It's great that everyone in the extended U.S film community is working, but it shouldn't be at the expense of smaller countries that feel like creating quotas is the only way to protect their own film industries. And while we're at it, something needs to be done about a rating board that will rate a violent big budget film PG - 13, while a smaller, less violent film might be slapped with an R rating. There's a world of terrific movies out there but you wouldn't know it if you only go to the multiplex.

[sshaler]

Have you ever read, 'Entertaining Ourselves to Death', Mr. Glickman. It has some compelling facts about where the world heads when Hollywood and entertainment leads.

Your argument is based on 3 premises that I don 't share:

1. that the 'community' that coalesces to make a movie is a socially beneficial thing. In my opinion that isn't the case. Any community that comes together from an over-riding principle of making huge financial profits, that creates a class system of spoiled elites and eager slaves and is temporary and, therefore, inherently exploitative of the permanent community which it uses for a short period of time is not beneficial.

2. that "bringing joy" to people is inherently beneficial. If people are getting joy out of seeing people blown up, blood smeared all over the place, the destruction of buildings and human life, that is sick and that is what people are seeing in many/most blockbuster movies. If people are getting joy during times of great sadness, such as while they are supporting the slaughter of around a million Iraqis, that is not beneficial. Better that they face the truth and feel horrible about those actions.

3. that tourism is inherently beneficial­----debata­ble. I don't think it is.

I agree with the arguments below too.

[QM2SS]

Mr. Glickman,

What you have presented here in your screed appears to be nothing more than a lengthy advertisement for an industry which has, for years now, continually substituted form over substance at the sacrifice of art. You manufacture 'stars' and promote the glorification of them while offering the public few true actors plying their craft. Your industry, while providing a variety of jobs for a number of people, quietly goes about distributing 95% of the wealth accumulated to 5% of the total participants. The plethora of Spielberg/Spelling 35,000 square foot homes belie your concern about the public and the product you offer them. While I certainly do not begrudge you your success it, never the less, astounds me with respect to the lengths you go to hype the detritus offered as "blockbuster", "best movie of the year", "thumbs-up". Your industry, while allegedly based in Hollywood, continues to seek other venues outside of the U.S. to minimize your labor costs, while at the same time arranging for tax breaks as a ruse to keep the business in the community. The cost of attending movies is skyrocketing while the content of your product is diminished to the point where "Dukes of Hazzard" is a number one movie. You've got a firm grip on an extraordinary, and ever developing medium to present art work. How about giving us some on a more regular basis?

[egaeus]

You forgot a few salient points about American films:

The creatively dead US film companies must rely on telling the same stories over and over, feeding the same garbage to the public without shame to make a quick buck.

US films in the past blatantly supported the Bush doctrine and continue to do so by normalizing torture as a viable resource for dealing with "bad guys"; they revel in ever more graphic violence against women.

American films spread racist views about non-whites, specifically Arabs.

American films promote messages that guns solve our problems, that breaking the law is fun and exciting, and that sometimes it's just necessary to murder people,

American films forego intelligence and subtlety for crunching fists and splattering gore

American films marginalize women and minority performers, usually relegating them to supporting roles and to roles as victims.

Hollywood routinely demonstrates that it hates common people by reducing working class characters to ignorant stereotypes.

I for one am against free market capitalism for the American film industry, which maintains great numbers of lobbyists in Washington to manipulate copyright laws and make legislation that benefits media conglomerates. Other countries should openly reject all American films until the industry stops rehashing the same old garbage, the same simplistic "good vs. evil" morality, the same "the military will save you" messages, and begins actually demonstrating some of the creativity that they keep going on about.

[Frank Smith]

People have been telling the same stories over and over since they started telling stories and painting on cave walls. Don't know if they over-charged for lousy popcorn.

[egaeus]

Not so. I don't recall the scene in The Iliad in which the ragtag team of soldiers get a new, inspiring coach and go on to win the game.

I've not seen the version of Alice in Wonderland in which the investigation of the diced up hooker leads the wisecracking detective to a strip club.

I don't recall the scene in The Grapes of Wrath in which the Joads are portrayed as a bunch of toothless, diseased hillbillies who capture people visiting their gas station, then slice them up and eat them.

Furthermore, oral stories and written stories are quite different from visual stories. Reading and listening require a level of skepticism that does not necessarily enter during a visual experience. In fact, visualization stimulates all of the same muscles and emotions as a real experience. Visuals also acclimate people to levels of violence. Hearing about a disemboweling is one thing. Seeing it, or seeing people's heads shattered open makes viewers used to such things; so when your government starts torturing people, it doesn't seem like such a big deal.

It's also been shown in studies that people who watch more television and movies are less likely to vote for a woman as president and view the world as more violent than it is and in need of stricter laws than people who watch less do. Frequent viewers are more accepting of things like the Patriot Act because movies make people stupid and afraid, something Grimm's fairytales don't do.