I thought this was a very interesting article about the current state of the Summer Blockbuster, and in a sense the film industry as a whole. We were discussing this at work recently. We also touched on it here, in Gaffer's G.I. Joe discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/movies/09scot.html?8dpc

This passage from the article really stood out to me;

...those reliable axioms about the taste and expectations of the mass movie audience are not so much laws of nature as artifacts of corporate strategy. And the lessons derived from them conveniently serve to strengthen a status quo that increasingly marginalizes risk, originality and intelligence.

To me, reality television falls under this same umbrella strategy. If the studios (film & TV) serve only crap - then that's what people will watch when they tune in or go the local theater. The studios created the world they claim we want. The truth is, they seldom offer up alternatives. It's like the owner of a sea food restaurant claiming that his customers only want fish because that's what they always order.

To me, it doesn't feel as though there are any signs of this trend letting up. We've had multiple discussions on this very board - a board where films are a major theme and the members span several generations - and it doesn't appear to me that being spoon-fed two hours of shiny objects and pretty colors is what movie-goers really want. Yet, we continue to get it anyway. No wonder so many people feel disenfranchised these days. We're losing our voice, while the studios continue to say they hear us.