I caught part of an interview with George Lucas the other day on CBS and loved what he had to say about the democratization of film. Charlie Rose asked him about the state of movie making today and he said it’s “soaring”.
Because of the changes in technology, he said, it’s getting easier and cheaper to produce films. The cool thing is, he didn’t see it as a bad thing at all, even though he, as the creator of Star Wars, is now one of the “big guys”. He thought that the democratization of the medium only enhanced it overall.
He also said the same thing was happening with writing. And he’s right. Think of how many more people are publishing their writing in all forms, not least of which is on blogs. Though it’s not all good quality, there is a lot more good content out there because of the sheer volume. Some great writing, and some great film, which would not otherwise have been seen, is getting an audience.
Also important: a wider variety of subjects is more accessible to people.
Communication, when funneled through a few channels, tends to get very homogenized. But people are not homogeneous! We are beautiful and interesting in our variations, and we are all richer for being exposed to these differences.
I also reflected on this during the recent protest against online censorship. Though there is plenty of content out there I find abhorrent, when we give up our rights, we lose. I was thrilled to see the people take back their power.
Our ability to wield our power of expression benefits us not only individually but as a society. Whether it’s the ability to make films, to publish books, or to effect political change, the more the people have a voice, the better off we all are.
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Vivi Barnes
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This blog is so helpful for new bloggers.Blogging is like composing the lyric or singing tans(shorts & long pieces of music notations for reciting) in the imagination.By & large,it’s a flight of imagination.I’d like to thank WordPress & Mr.Blogger for such worthy blogs <
Great post. Makes me want to look up the interview to see if I can watch it myself.
Spending almost a month in Nepal last year and over three months in Haiti has taught me so much, not the least of which is that what we see in our mainstream media here in the states is not truth…it is angling for a story and drama. And this is all fine and good as long as everyone understands that, but we don’t. I didn’t.
My two favorite things about the democratization that the publishing options on the Internet provide are that, one, if you really want to know more than sound bites of partial truth, you can find it and, two, that giant media companies and publishing houses can no longer decide what it is that the entire country wants to, and is going to, read…and social media makes it easier to stumble on them as well.
Big publishing and media companies are not evil…they are in the business of catering to the masses and need to provide to a common denominator to ensure the easiest sell and the biggest profit. But its nice to have options. And we do now.
Wow, long comment. Apologies. Love the blog.
Thanks.
Kim
Thanks for sharing! I love long comments 🙂 Here is a link to the interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505271_162-57362574/george-lucas-billionaire-down-on-capitalism/