Fifty Shades & The aTV Fest

Even as the William Goldman “nobody knows anything”-quote about Hollywood slips further into cliche status with the passing years, we get reminded of how true it remains. Just think about this: the biggest selling novel of our time may turn out to be a book by a first time writer based on an erotic fan fiction of a popular Young Adult series.  It’s weird, but this week will see the release of the much-anticipated film version of Fifty Shades Of Grey.  Who could have guessed that a novel most critics labeled “poorly written”, “laughable”, and “a sad joke” would be so wildly successful?

Even the film is successful, although it has yet to be released.  Fandango has listed it as it's fourth largest ticket pre sale and it’s on-track to become the biggest R-rated film in the site’s history.  Two sequels are already on their way to the big screen (with the third likely to be split into two films, if Hollywood keeps up it’s trend of squeezing every bit of life out of a franchise).  And E.L. James has promised another novel.  We don’t have to wait until tomorrow’s release, Fifty Shades the movie is already a winner.

But how did Hollywood get around that pesky problem of not knowing anything?  Well, they did their homework and they planned ahead.  After setting a record for the fastest selling novel of all time, Fifty Shades Of Grey got a movie release date set in November of 2013.  That means fifteen months in advance, Universal Pictures made a play to own the 2015 Valentine’s Day weekend box-office.  They left nothing to chance.  They knew people wanted it and they planned to give it to them.

Jodie Foster explained recently at the Athena Film Festival that she's decided to work in TV lately because “That’s where story is now.” She said that the Hollywood studios directive now was to "create franchise content...So because there is very little support in the lower ranges, it means that story is going to cable and to TV and I think eventually that’s where it will be.”

Certainly, movies are franchised.  Fifty Shades is just one of many examples where that’s true.  But let’s not kid ourselves, TV is franchised as well.  From it’s Marvel and DC Comic shows to the countless number of adapted British series.  TV is creating new series around popular movies (12 Monkeys, About A Boy, Fargo), books (Man Seeking Woman), plays (The Odd Couple), telenovelas (Jane The Virgin), and even old TV series (Hawaii Five-0).

Maybe Foster was talking specifically about the TV projects she’s recently worked on, House of Cards and Orange Is The New Black- the former based on a British show and the latter based on a popular memoir.  Both shows were also well established programs by the time she came to them. Most would argue, those are franchises.

To the other part of Foster's statement regarding the story being in TV and cable now- maybe the longer story.  The only difference between the stories in movies and the stories in TV shows is the length.  TV can tell longer stories.  They can make an audience invest more time and emotion into a single character.  So when a character is killed off, the emotional impact feels greater, just like in a book series.  A good example of this can be seen in the hugely popular franchise/TV show Game Of Thrones.  TV is thriving on long-form stories in a way that soap operas have for years. Drawing stories out with cliff hangers and teases and surprise twists.  But making stories longer isn't necessarily making them better and the idea that TV has taken the story from films is ridiculous.  Don't forget that Hollywood's two biggest films this year, Avengers Age of Ultron and Star Wars Epsiode 7, are being helmed by seasoned TV writers.

At the aTV Fest in Atlanta this past weekend, I wanted to figure out why TV shows are so popular right now.  John Ridley observed perhaps TV's greatest development.  Promoting his new show American Crime, the show runner spoke about how TV isn't so much diverse now as it is reflective. He was pointing to networks producing content with more minorities, created by more minorities. Obviously, he’s right: Fresh Off The Boat, Black-ish, How To Get Away With Murder, Empire are all just some of the shows getting high praise and ratings.

But while TV is diverse culturally, it’s no more diverse in content than it’s ever been.  There are more shows, but they’re just more of the same we’ve seen before.  This is strange because usually more competition creates an environment of greater risk taking.  But although competition is high right now with cable networks like HBO, FX, AMC, and the CW growing in strides, not to mention Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix producing original programs, TV isn’t really taking chances on new subject matters or storylines.  The risks they are taking are completely based on ethnicity.

What networks today are doing is really not much different from what they did back in the 60s.  They are creating shows that shadow other show on competing networks. Like how Bewitched shadowed I Dream Of Jeannie, The Mindy Project is basically a shadow of The New Girl.  The shows could switch writers and most viewers wouldn't really notice.  The glowing difference in these shows isn't the story or comedy, it's the race of the lead characters- Zooey Deschanel is the quirky American girl next door, Mindy Kaling is the quirky Indian-American girl next door.

If you need further proof that TV stories are more of the same, just look at how they still rehash popular shows that have recently left the air.  You can watch Backstroke if you’re missing House. And if you're missing Breaking Bad, well, now you can watch Better Call Saul.

At this point I’d like to point out how extraordinary it is that episodic narrative shows are still with us. If you’ll remember, there was a brief time when we were told that “sitcoms” and “serials" were on their way out. This was when Honey Boo Boo and the Jersey Shore were being herald as the future, because reality TV was cheap and easy to make and everyone was talking about them at that time. And while we will forever be infected by the low bearing fruit genre they spewed the Kardashians all over our television screens, it turns out the situation wasn’t as dire as everyone had predicted for the episodic narrative show. In fact, it’s now more popular than ever, proving once again Goldman’s adage.

And how did the networks bring back the episodic narrative show?  They listened to what people said they wanted and they gave it to them.  A boring answer, but it was the viewer that told them they valued more culturally diverse content.  Viewers don’t really care about new stories.  Maybe they say they do.  But it turns out they’re happy with dressed up versions of old shows or some popular franchise that is already familiar.

TV and films are the same in this respect.  Neither of them is in the story business per se, but rather in the give-the-people-what-they-want business.  It was the culture that asked Hollywood for a Fifty Shades movie.  So Hollywood is giving it to them.  Not because they think it’s an original story, they know it’s a poorly written fan fiction.  And it’s not because they believe in the writer.  I mean, her original pen name was Snowqueen’s Icedragon, for God’s sake.  Do you realize how fucking ridiculous that is?

The studios are making the Fifty Shades Of Grey movie because there is zero risk involved.  It is already a success.  Even though early critic reviews of the film are not good and it’s Rotten Tomatoes rating is 44 percent, 87 percent still say they're going to see it.  And you can bet that TV is ready to follow in Hollywood’s footsteps.  They’re probably looking for a Fifty Shades show runner at this moment.  And viewers will likely tune in.  Because it’s not just TV networks and Hollywood studios who don’t know anything, audiences can be pretty clueless as well.

American Sniper and The Super Bowl

A lot of speculation is going on as to why American Sniper has done so well at the box office. It’s supporters claim that it is because the film celebrates our veterans like no film has before, and/or it’s an excellent piece of filmmaking.  It’s detractors say it is because Americans are by-and-large angry and/or savages and/or stupid.

These arguments don't seem to get close to the actual reason this movie is defying expectations.  Firstly, we have already had a movie that celebrates Iraq War veterans while acknowledging the PTSD they acquire; it was called The Hurt Locker and the Oscars awarded it Best Picture in 2010. To the excellent piece of filmmaking argument, I would direct you to any scenes in American Sniper involving the clearly plastic, lifeless baby.  And speaking to Americans being stupid, angry savages, I’d say that is a gross overgeneralization and not worthy my time.

For me, I thought American Sniper was decent and average.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically Dirty Harry with a sniper rifle.  It was nothing to write home about.  It could have been a major film to write home about had the filmmakers been bold enough to forego dramatizing the record holding sniper’s many kills (previous sniper films already have done that to death- no pun intended) and instead had more than two scenes at a VA hospital.  Maybe even give Sienna Miller new dialogue rather than just have her repeat “Don’t go” over and over again.  But I digress.

If you really want to understand American Sniper’s success, I think you have to look at when it made its money.  American Sniper was released, wide, on January 16.  It has made its astonishing gross in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.

Just like American Sniper’s success, people have speculated how the NFL is now more successful than ever.  The sport is thriving despite a year dripping with controversy including domestic violence, child abuse, and most recently cheating.  The NFL Commissioner admitted “It’s been a tough year.” He did not clarify what was tough though.  One can only assume they are running out of places to put money, even after stashing a few bills in the “No More” Campaign ads.

The NFL has it’s own PTSD problem it’s dealing with, but it goes by a different set of letters- CTE.  CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy and it’s been found in the brains of many football-

What’s that?  I’m ruining Super Bowl Sunday?

Okay.  You're right.  My apologies.  But for a full list of players past and present who have been diagnosed with CTE, they actually have their very our Wikipedia page listing all- 

Okay, okay, okay. I'll get off it.  The point I'm trying to make is that the Super Bowl is a celebration just like American Sniper is a celebration. Super Bowl Sunday is a day where Americans gather together to eat tasty fried foods while staring at a TV screen in which a war is being fought.  Not a literal war, a figurative one.  No participants are going to die, probably.  Of course everything comes with a risk.  But these guys are trained professionals at the top of their game.  Each player is a single link in a chain of command that works tirelessly towards one goal- victory.  It may be violent, but war is hell.

I mean, God forbid, if one of the football players actually did die, it most likely will not be out on the field.  It will be years later after his career is over.  And if it turns out that a medical condition brought on by his profession caused great suffering and ultimately his death, Americans would honor him.  In fact, if he happens to hold some great record, we will probably make a movie about him.

Sure, there will be those that cry we are all responsible for creating the conditions that led to his tragic end, but the movie will mainly focus on his glory on the field.  It will not show his horrific end, but we'll get a title card that says what happened.  The movie probably won’t even mention PTSD until the last thirty minutes...I mean CTE.  Sorry, I must have been thinking about that scene at the end of American Sniper where everyone gathers at the Dallas Cowboy football stadium to honor Chris Kyle.

Seriously though, our veterans deserve better than what we give them.  I am all for reconfiguring our defense budget so that we make fewer unused tanks and guns, and more, better equipped VA hospitals.  I’d vote for a second Veterans Day on the calendar if we all agreed it would raise more awareness.  The defenders of our country deserve to be honored, but they deserve to not be put in harms way unless it is absolutely necessary and a last resort after all diplomacy has been deployed.

Similarly, I don’t think it’s necessary that football players put their mental health in jeopardy for a few months of entertainment.  I know they make more money than our war veterans- which is fucking ridiculous, by the way.  But we are basically creating a new kind of veteran with mental problems that we will have to take care of in the years to come.  And so far the NFL is doing about as good as job taking care of it's fallen players as the US Government does caring for it's veterans.  

And what is the cause that football players are fighting for- buffalo wings.... Go Daddy commercials... Billionaire owners... Teams with offensive names who refuse to change...

I just don’t think it's worth it.