Sunday, September 30, 2007

Please Explain #5


Sunday evening, under CNN.com's "Latest News":

"The Rock's 'Game Plan' beats Foxx's 'Kingdom'"

Why do we consider a movie's opening weekend box office take "news?" A film, even a film starring "The Rock," is a creative work. Must we quantify a creative work's value by tickets sold?

The weekly reports gushing over the profits raked in by major film studios really cheapen the art of moviemaking. Do you really care if Jamie Foxx was "beaten" by "The Rock?" Does everything in America have to be reduced a football game?

Like the United States, France is well-known for it's cinema. But rest assured, you won't see articles about "Le Box Office" on the front page of "Le Monde."

Broadly speaking, French films are based on ideas; American films are based on formulas. The quality of cinema in France absolutely blows away the United States. Now, that's a game worth winning.

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