{"id":740,"date":"2005-08-02T08:53:51","date_gmt":"2005-08-02T15:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2005\/08\/do_movies_matter_beyond_the_go\/"},"modified":"2005-08-02T08:53:51","modified_gmt":"2005-08-02T15:53:51","slug":"do_movies_matter_beyond_the_go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/do_movies_matter_beyond_the_go.php","title":{"rendered":"Do movies matter beyond the gossip they fuel?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neal Gabler had a provocative but flawed commentary<\/a> in the LA Times<\/i> on Sunday, built on the premise that we’re now more infatuated with the backstory of entertainment (personal trials, break-ups, star behavior) than we are with the entertainment itself. Says Gabler:<\/p>\n


\nMovies, television and DVDs are attracting fewer patrons because people, especially young people, value being entertained less than they value knowing about entertainment and entertainers. Movies have become what director Alfred Hitchcock called a ”MacGuffin” — a red herring that triggers a plot but has no other inherent value. Like MacGuffins, movies have little inherent purpose except to be talked about, written about, learned about — shared as information.
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not a new argument, or a new concern. And Gabler doesn’t claim it to be. Gossip and backstories about creative icons have buzzed for centuries, in most established art forms you can think of. Scandal, itself, has been a social entertainment since the dawn of the soirée.<\/p>\n

But Gabler’s conclusion that creative content and creative experience are now irrelevant in the face of ”the inside scoop” seems more a play for hyperbole than reasoned analysis. There has always<\/i> been tension and balance between the content<\/i> of an experience and the context<\/i> surrounding it — in the mediated arts or in live attendance. That balance may shift in the face of communications technology or social trends, but it never skews entirely to one side.<\/p>\n

Back in 2000, inside.com co-founder Michael Hirschorn told the New York Times Magazine<\/i>, ”I think in a broader cultural sense, the creation of content has become more interesting than the content itself.” While ”interest” and social chatter may, indeed, be turning its gaze to the backstory, there’s still plenty of meaning and power in the moment of experience, as well.<\/p>\n

What you know and what you feel are both<\/i> part of an engaging and transformative moment — whether at the movies, or in the theater, or at the museum, or in the home. Gabler seems to confuse a shift in that ecology with its implosion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neal Gabler had a provocative but flawed commentary in the LA Times on Sunday, built on the premise that we’re now more infatuated with the backstory of entertainment (personal trials, break-ups, star behavior) than we are with the entertainment itself. Says Gabler: Movies, television and DVDs are attracting fewer patrons because people, especially young people, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}