A Tiff with TIFF

Jane did not get her name on the billboard?

I have learned many things watching movies. Some movies have been educational, some god awful and some very entertaining. However, one particular movie stands out in my memory. Directed by Howard Hughes, and more than two years in the making, this movie starred Jack Beutel (Billy the Kid) and Jane Russell. The year was 1943 and I was in grade nine. This was a typical American Western Film, but when three young boys skipped school one Friday afternoon to go to the movie, it was not to see the gun fights or the pitchfork wrestle in the hay, but rather to see Jane Russell ride her horse at full gallop across the dry plains! Yes, movies can be a learning experience! P.S. I felt guilty for weeks afterwards!

In the very early days of moving pictures the spectators were not given the names of the actors, they were afraid that if the actors were made popular they would ask for a raise! But eventually the movie watchers demanded to know the names of the thespians they liked. Hollywood soon learned that giving out the name was a great way to promote the film. For example, people went to see a movie featuring the actress Mary Pickford. They  realized more money could be made if they glamorized the best performers. They came up with the idea of making them 'stars', and even 'super-stars'. The star system paid off big. And eventually having a star in a movie was like an insurance policy. Even if the story line was not that great people flocked to the show anyway to look up to the star. Today we depend more on word of mouth or our devices to determine what movie to go to. Instead of the actors being the stars in the future, perhaps the movie itself will be classified as a star!

But Hollywood (as a collective) has not been doing that well these last few years. Most of us still like story telling and movies as a way of understanding our world and our relationship to one another, but with television and all the new media, moving pictures have so many more avenues into our minds.

My tiff is that many big movie makers are still driven first and foremost by the desire for profit. Nothing wrong with making money. But movies, and access to instant media, have a global influence. Outside of the home, and perhaps even more than the school, entertainment and the media have an unbounded influence on all of us. In 1967 a couple of ABC people attempted to write a song they hoped would help mitigate the social and political unrest growing in the United States. In later years Louis Armstrong  took it to the top of the charts. The song?  "What a Wonderful World". At least it showed they understood the power of the media!

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of emphasis put on violence and not enough on our common humanity. I don't think 'Hollywood' can change the world, but it can and does arouse our emotions - our anger and our fears - and in so doing affects the way we view the world. Movies can help change the negative views prevalent in the world today and help make the world a more compassionate place. But, I guess, violence toward our fellow man can make more money! Pictures  can even attract young Canadian men to join ISIS or teenagers to drive classmates to suicide.

So my tiff with TIFF is simple: there is nothing wrong with having stars to emulate and look up to. But rather than having 'stars' who make huge fortunes having their picture taken, would it not make more sense to have stars who care for the sick, plan our cities to be more beautiful and humane, who show compassion towards their fellow man, and put building a better world ahead of building a big bank roll? But I guess that approach will never sell the way violence and porn sell!

Yeah, The Outlaw was pretty risque back in 1943. But compared to media today a pretty girl in a flimsy shirt on horseback would probably go unnoticed!

Perhaps this octogenarian is truly getting old! But it does seem to me that our little planet is getting more and more greedy and definitely more violent.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week