If you look at the entertainment industry, be it music, film, TV, whatever, it is, ironically, one of the most capitalistic industries out there. You've got a huge under class -- the struggling artist -- and an embedded upper class -- the superstar celebrities, directors, et.al. -- and a small middle class of cameramen, audio engineers, et.al. The economic rift between the upper and lower classes is greater than it is in general society.
The industry has a culture of keeping the under class down: "You've got to pay your dues before you sing the blues" and other cliches are an opiate to those yearning to hit the superstar lottery. Stories abound about entire bands living in a single apartment trying to break into the biz; the casting couch; actors and actresses getting into porn to try to get a break; and on and on.
When a star finally is born, there are hundreds just like them that tried and didn't make it. Those that did reach superstardom know what it took to get there and surmise that the entire world is just like that. All corporations must be like the big movie corporations where people are to be used and thrown away like toilet paper. The irony of it all is that the industry is behind the times--the rest of us have progressed beyond the sweatshop business model and are quite happy with what we have accomplished. In reality, it's the entertainment industry that needs reform, not the rest of society!
Will the industry reform? I don't think it's looking good. Look at the RIAA and the complete mess they've made of music downloading. The music industry is the model of an apartheid system--sheer force is used to keep those beneath the Designated Powers in line. You either play their game or you'll feel their wrath. It's tough to crack a corrupt and ingrained culture like that.
Good theory. More proof that we'll only love what we understand, and liberals don't understand capitalism!
Yes you got that right, buddy. The entertainment industry is so stratified it barely avoids looking like an oligarchy, a mafia. Performers like David Bowie are famous for paying their session musicians a pathetic salary, with the implication being that those lowlifes should be grateful to smell the flattus eminating from the great one's bowels. The caste system present in Liberal Hollywood makes Apartheid look like the Bill of Rights.
In a similar industry with mega-million-dollar salaries; the sports industry, many of the same issues are there; the mistreatment of underlings, the monetary caste system. But, one thing is noticeably absent: Sports figures do not commly mistake themselves for political analysts. Sports figures generally approach things from a business perspective, they play for a decade or so, take the money, buy a car dealership, and enjoy the good life.
Why can't Liberal Hollywood just shut up and entertain us?