At 16 I was told to do something lucrative with my life, like coding. Of course. One's life purpose: coding. Jira tickets. Workflows. Well now computer science majors are the new baristas and I am making the most I ever have with my communications and film degree. That's not a flex; just an observation.
But now, Tech hasn't just sucked the life out of the individuals stuck in it, it's sucked the life out of Hollywood, too.
**As a disclaimer, all my perspectives are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer andddd other legal jargon that would never hold up in court anyway.
In 2008, a beloved Super Hero film ('Super Hero' was trademarked until late 2024, btw, which is also part of this ridiculous ass equation) was produced by a company that rhymes with shmarvel. Shmarvel was founded in the 1930's by a real artist and has produced decades worth of meaningful fan engagement and community. That's most important. Shmarvel the production company would not exist without the painstakingly crafted fan community from original, tedious publishing work. Why? Because fandoms can't be synthetically created; it takes TIME, effort without shortcuts, and most all, genuity. But, unfortunately, fandoms CAN be synthetically fostered. With great copywriting and false sense of inclusivity as a means of generating sales, of course.
I thought we were at a point in time where inauthenticity could be easily sniffed out. I thought we had learned from that short era in the 2010s when companies pretended to care about ethics, just to roll back their DEI teams in under 10 years time. Yeah, that. Well, this is an unfriendly reminder that over 50% of Americans read below a 6th grade reading level. They're not sniffing out shit. They love Brands. Brands are personality. Brands are a status. Brands are a façade, and I've been living in a bubble.
This isn't to shit on that 50-something percent, though. It's actually deeply unfortunate how exploited these people are; it's also a "gotcha" for the wild and unbased claim that arts & humanitarian studies are non-lucrative. Their value might not be definitively monetary, but they are rich in developing a dwindling skill: critical thinking. A pillar of filmmaking.
Tech is not about critical thinking. It's about yielding the most profit in the shortest duration of time with the least amount of roadblocks. It does not care about your feelings. It does not care about effective communication. It does not care about the layman's comprehension, and in Hollywood, it does not care about what it wants (not needs) to destroy to increase its profit margins. To tech, meaningful things like genuine community and deep-rooted admiration for a brand like Shmarvel become assets; a leverage of legacy. While profits increase, quality is cheapened. To tech, there's always more corners to cut.
–
The continually beautiful thing about filmmaking is that it's a collective of creative strength–a mosaic of incredible communication and problem-solving to express an idea with so much fucking care. There is a technical aspect to this kind of work, but it's far from sterile. My partner wrote an article about AI and Hollywood and put it like this: "sounds contradictory, but we meticulously engineer authenticity."
Correct. But then why is meticulously human-engineered authenticity very easy to differentiate from synthetically produced ideas? Why can you still spot a Chat GPT essay from a mile away? Because even with the same words, cadence, and "capabilities", there isn’t a replacement for personhood. There is no replacement for trial and error. There is no substitution for the human condition.
Even in science, it's a necessary. I mean, fucking penicillin for example. Success after failure.
But now, with billions of dollars of studio debt, the risk tolerance in Hollywood has plummeted. There is no opportunity for failure. The already slim margins for new talent to cut their teeth have become paper-thin. Arts are hardly ever rewarded the same grace for failure as tech, even IF Open AI's partners are carrying almost one hundred billion dollars of debt.
These are people pulling the strings now. So where does that leave us?
-Nostalgia for the way things used to be. Old Sharmvel.
-Misdirected anger towards artists that have been forced to adapt, either with streamlined processes (bean mouth animation) or a change in format (vertical dramas for those with short attention spans).
-AI slop.
-Misdirected anger towards the worker bees in corporate who have to maintain these systems to cover their own asses and make a living.
-AI slop fatigue.
-And lastly, hopefully, an intellectual and artistic renaissance.
-Misdirected anger towards artists that have been forced to adapt, either with streamlined processes (bean mouth animation) or a change in format (vertical dramas for those with short attention spans).
-AI slop.
-Misdirected anger towards the worker bees in corporate who have to maintain these systems to cover their own asses and make a living.
-AI slop fatigue.
-And lastly, hopefully, an intellectual and artistic renaissance.
Resistance to change has never gotten us anywhere, and neither has hopelessness. The bad thing about Hollywood being taken over by fat cats is that now we're all broke and looking for PA gigs.
The good thing is, we're all broke and have nothing to lose. Or in better words, YOLO.
