Category: media

In a sane world, the new biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey would have become a minor hit with a small moviegoing demographic, might have picked up a few Oscar nominations, and would have been basically ignored by everyone else. But the U.S. is no longer a sane world when it comes to sex, says Frank Rich, and the newly emboldened “moral values” crowd is chomping at the bit to impose their repressive views on anyone who dares to defy their will. Kinsey is the right’s newest target, but this battle isn’t about a movie or a long-dead scientist. It’s about a segment of the population that wants to take the country back to the bad old days when no one talked about sex, for any reason, ever, consequences be damned.

Movies on historical subjects are popular. But the history they tell is colored as much by the time in which the movie is made as the original story itself. “There’s a huge problem in that (students) assume the history they see is true. However, historical films often are more about the period in which they’re made than the period they depict.”

Some groups are protesting the movie “Kinsey,” claiming that the movie glamorizes someone they blame for weakening American morals. “Such organizations don’t really care about “Kinsey” – an art-house picture that, however well reviewed or Oscar-nominated, will be seen by a relatively small audience, mostly in blue states. The film is just this month’s handy pretext for advancing the larger goal of pushing sex of all nonbiblical kinds back into the closet and undermining any scientific findings, whether circa 1948 or 2004, that might challenge fundamentalist sexual orthodoxy as successfully as Darwin challenged Genesis.”

“Tech writers are bracing for a VHS vs. Betamax-style format war, with consumers forced to choose sides or buy two separate, incompatible players. Last week’s stumping for HD-DVD, which is sponsored by Toshiba and NEC, can only be read as a pre-emptive effort to make Sony’s Blu-ray look like Betamax 2.0—a technology that’s doomed to fail because all the movies you want will only be available on its competitor. If Hollywood makes that story come true, consumers won’t get a happy ending.”

Niche radio. Anywhere. Any time. That’s podcasting. “On terrestrial or satellite radio, one can tune into a dozen formats or maybe even five dozen formats. But with podcasting, everybody is a format of one. Podcasting is just making it easier for this new set of niche listeners and this new set of producers to find each other.”

Throughout the recent melee over the FCC “decency” crackdown, those in authority have insisted that they are only acting in accordance with the wishes of the public. So who’s behind the mysterious groundswell of anger directed at those awful people who put nipple slips and nasty words on our televisions and radios? Meet the Parents Television Council…

“A film industry group has sued a high-end consumer electronics company, claiming its home theater jukebox system makes illegal copies of movie DVDs… It’s the latest move in the ongoing, larger war the movie industry has waged in trying to prevent what it considers unauthorized usage of its content.”

Three not-yet-30-something women are making a name for themselves in the movie production business. “In the year since they formed their company, the women have already had remarkable success in a world where their age, sex and relative inexperience might be a handicap.”

A new generation of movie “soundtrack” albums is likely as not to include music that was not in the movie but might have been “inspired” by it. “Things first got complicated when filmmakers began using pop songs as product placements in their films, and the resulting soundtrack albums with those songs were released separately from the film’s original soundtrack.”

BBC director Mark Thompson shakes up the BBC, cutting thousands of jobs and relocating some staff divisions out of London. “Mr Thompson promised fewer repeats on BBC1, more money for high quality drama, comedy, news and current affairs and children’s programmes, and an increased focus on “distinctive” shows. Two and half thousand middle managers and support staff will be made redundant and a further 400 will go in the factual and learning division, the hardest hit by plans to outsource more programmes to independent producers.”