Category: media

Ever since the TiVo began to gain traction in the television marketplace, consumer advocates have worried that the ability for viewers to skip over commercials would lead to more product placement within shows. Dan Brown says that would be just fine with him. “The deal I have in mind would be a classic quid pro quo. Each side would get something. The first step would be a ban on commercials. That’s right. There would be no more commercials on TV. In return, TV producers would be allowed to do as much product placement as possible.”

Despite the tendency of comedians to embrace the topical, you don’t see a lot of Islamic-based comedy in Western countries, in part because of how easy it has been to inflame Muslim sensibilities to deadly effect of late. But a new Canadian sitcom is meeting the issue head-on. “Its creators admit to uneasiness as to whether Canadians and Americans can laugh about the daily travails of those who many consider a looming menace… The strongest insurance against outrage from the faithful is that [the show was created by] a Canadian Muslim of Pakistani origin whose own assimilation, particularly after she left Toronto for Regina, Saskatchewan, 10 years ago, provides much of the comic fodder.”

“The fight for the Oscar is often a bloody one, filled with subplots, capers, and strategic stabs to the back, metaphorically speaking. But this year an unusual amount of mayhem is showing up in the movies themselves. Academy members in the thick of screenings for the Oscars could be forgiven for wishing they had donned surgical scrubs for what has become a very bloody year.”

Hollywood’s public promotion of gay rights stands in stark contrast to its desperate cling to the inside of the closet door, writes Andrew Gumbel. “Playing gay and admitting to being gay are two completely different things. When it comes to the latter, Hollywood still adheres to the mentality that American audiences look to their on-screen idols as outlets for their own romantic fantasies and thus need to think of them as strictly heterosexual. The mentality is not necessarily wrong – homophobia is certainly widespread in the American heartland, as evidenced by the slew of recent state ballot initiatives condemning gay marriage. But it does suggest a certain failure of the imagination.”

“Thanks to spiralling copyright licensing costs, payable to whoever holds the copyright (unions, archives, creators, corporations) — and thanks, too, to the rising cost of insurance to protect against copyright claims — more and more public film footage is no longer available to the Canadian public, nor for use by Canadian creators.”

Morocco has become a hotbed of American movie production. Why? “In the post-September 11 world, most U.S. movies that deal with or are set in the Arab world have found their options for location shooting limited because of safety concerns. And Morocco has been the beneficiary.”

“A film about a secret policeman in the former East Germany has taken top prize at the European Film Awards in Warsaw. The Lives of Others – or Das Leben Der Anderen – beat Spanish production Volver by Pedro Almodovar, although this still came top in five categories. These included best director for Almodovar, top actress for Penelope Cruz plus the people’s choice award.”

As liberal as Hollywood is, many gay actors have chosen to remain closeted throughout their careers, partly out of fear that American movie audiences wouldn’t accept a known gay actor playing a straight role. “Indeed, while top straight-identified actors have for years received praise and prizes for playing gay characters — Tom Hanks in Philadelphia, for example — executives, casting directors and maybe mass audiences still seem to have a block when it comes to gay people in straight parts.”

The city of Cleveland has been making a big push to draw Hollywood films to its borders, but a major part of the plan – passing statewide tax incentives that would make the city competitive with other big film towns – has hit a snag. “An Ohio Senate committee is recommending a study of the incentives, instead of a bill that would go ahead and enact them.”

The mayor of New York is cracking down on movie piracy, pushing a new city statute criminalizing unauthorized recording. There is already a federal law banning such practices, but advocates of the New York bill hope that “such a law would spur the Police Department to crack down on piracy and minimize the economic damage it does.”