Third World Entertainment
by J.R. Beardsley
Today, perhaps more than any time in history, the controlling
factor in the theatrical arts industry is the bottom line. The
unfortunate difference now is that at the major studios those
with little and no artistic depth or experience and a
predetermined agenda are making the decisions.
After years as an actor and fight director, seeing audiences not
know whether to clap or laugh or even when the show was over, I
made a decision to work at the university level to train students
in the art of stage combat. My career blossomed as an
artist-in-residence (which was a pleasant upgrade from starving
artist status). The artistic choices were exciting and I enjoyed
a unique freedom for discovery in the academic setting. From
there, Themed Action Entertainment was the next step. It provided
work with corporate as an independent contractor.
I quickly found respect for my original craft frustrated by
artistic decisions made by “white shoe boys” with their pricey
MBA’s and no theatrical background, expertise or training. As one
corporate executive so brilliantly explained.”Don’t waste your
time giving these people anything artistic. They won’t
understand. The audience won’t appreciate anything with quality.
They put their brains in their glove boxes before they come thru
the gates.” (Speak for yourself methought.)
This mentality has been running everything for longer than we
wish to know. We have been manipulated by “our betters” for way
too long. Rarely have I seen ethical or professional behavior
among big entertainment providers. They are bent on producing
raunchy Hollywood drivel for profits instead of inspiring,
thought-provoking stories with characters striving for noble
goals. Base emotions are played: facts, logic and character
development through dealing with conflict are gone. Degradation
of mankind, traditional morals and culture is ubiquitous.
Many actors aspire to have meaning in their work. Unfortunately,
many sell their souls for lucrative opportunities and once
committed to that, rarely turn back. Work is for those who settle
for low-end circus performing. Don’t get me wrong: I have great
respect for real circus performers. I am talking about poorly
trained performers in Pavlovian themed productions. They just run
from stage left to right for a bone without credible
interactions.
Watching quality steadily drop on what I hold dear to my heart is
disturbing. The land of the brave, free, self-reliant individual
where I was raised has transmogrified into the land of corporate
sock puppets programming the increasingly ignorant. Edward
Bernays’ propaganda techniques (which he called Public Relations)
have been employed with devastating success on a naive, trusting
public.
This has led me to focus on the contemporary art form, film,
weaving together so many areas of expertise, and the underlying
question of this essay: artistic freedom and the quality of life.
The struggle I see is goodness, honor and intelligence being
drained from our souls by design. How long are people willing to
ignore it and accept this diabolical degradation of humanity?
Recently I was asked by a friend to work on a live action pirate
show in the Caribbean. Flattered, I accepted the offer, somewhat
against my better judgement. This was allegedly a respected
production company. To say it had no production values would be
accurate.
What I learned is that everything has been sold out to offshore
interests that do not share our American/Western cultural values.
When I worked in Japan there was still quality and the
opportunity to work with people of artistic and personal
integrity. In this new third-world, arrogantly anti-Ameican
control of artistic quality, storyline and values, I found a
completely degenerate quality to the business of providing
entertainment. It was people pretending to imitate art but
producing nothing but clips and soundbytes of something they
understand about as well as they understand quantum physics.
The world is numbed by these entertainment industry frauds who
have no focus, training or discipline, much less professional
standards. That Caribbean production outfit took pride in
treating artists as slaves, stupider than themselves, aggravated
by the fact that they had no idea of how to build a production or
provide marketable entertainment. Their egos were bigger than
their brains and talent combined… on a good day.
The client had no clue; the unethical production company cared
nothing about whether the show even opened but was content to
milk it for what they could. They boasted they would open with a
viable product in four weeks. Five months later it had not
opened. There was no preparation, communication or understanding
of how to create a good product. I’ve seen this same behavior in
India, China. The only thing that matters is the bottom line for
corporate’s pockets.
Work that is being offered by corporate to artists has destroyed
true art and the quality of human life. It offers little more
than a high-end slave market, just like everything else.
Cecil B. DeMille marked the end of the Golden Era in Hollywood.
He refused to accept the terms of the bean counters and was
crushed in the process. Most great artists have all had to
produce their art for the fickle, often perverted, elite. Some
have actually educated them and raised their standards. In
France, when the artists revolted, most all died poor but with
their artistic integrity intact.
Predictive programming through movies and TV has been wildly
successful. However, general audiences may be beginning to make a
statement at the box office: witness the big bucks bombs in the
summer of 2013. Faith-based entertainment currently controls 64%
of audiences. People need hope to inspire the future, not
debauchery and transhumanist monsters.
Is it time for an Artistic Revolution? An artistic renaissance
must begin by weaning from corporate. We will have to work with
less, but indie’s are already doing that by taking their artistic
visions into their own hands, creating in a milieu of freedom and
integrity.
The answer lies in the hands and hearts of real people with sound
artistic decisions made by culturally/historically (as opposed to
politically correct) educated Americans. Artists must not be
swayed by the erroneous assumptions of the propaganda machine
about humanity. Audiences will support good material,
well-executed.
It is time to re-invent our industry: creating with integrity,
honor and joy for people hungry for the same?
J.R. Beardsley is a committee member and regular contributor to
Universal Film magazine; Executive Director for Touche
International Films, Inc.; an international Fight Director and
can be found on Linkedin. Email: jr@toucheinternational.biz
Paula Devlin is the ultimate Gal Friday, contributing on all
levels to Touche International Films.
Copyright (c) 2013 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
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