Film
has become one of the dominant forms of entertainment in our society, and yet
as the medium grows in popularity, the art is diminished in quality. What has changed over the past
decade or two? It seems that the greatest enemy of film and any art is money. Film is no
longer an art simply because it is no longer produced by artists. The motion
picture industry is populated by moneymakers not artists: moneymakers who earn
their living through the everyday abuse and destruction of art and beauty. Film
is not a dying business; it is, however, a dying art.
An
artist is not merely someone who has found employment in the arts. An artist is
someone with vision, creative genius, and, most importantly, passion. Passion is
the driving force behind every true artist. It is the uncontrollable urge to
create something beautiful. “True art,” says Albert Einstein, “is
characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.” Passion is not
something one can develop. Style and technique can be developed. Artistic
passion is something one is born with. One either has passion or one does not. One
is an artist or one is not an artist. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “A
work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.” An artist is not
gifted with skill; an artist is gifted with passion. Skill and ability are
natural outcomes of passion. If one has passion, one tends to develop skill
quite fluently.
When a good filmmaker
produces a film, he produces a work of art made out of his love for filmmaking,
not money. A businessman, however, is only focused on making a good movie insofar as it gains profit. A true work of art must be made out of the passion to
create beauty. Whether or not we are satisfied with the quality of our entertainment
is of little significance to the producer, so long as we pay the eight dollars
for the admission ticket. Although we may live under the illusion that filmmakers cater
to us, we are in fact catering to them. And we cannot expect films to improve
until we stop supporting the shabby films that plague today’s cinemas.
The problem is not that they make
what we watch, but rather that we watch what they make. We as the audience are
actively involved in the degradation of art. To make matters worse, the recent
generation of films has desensitized us to true beauty, making us oblivious to
the gravity of the matter. When a good work of art makes a rare appearance in
theaters, rather than coming to a sudden realization that the movies we have
been watching have been a miserable imitation of art and beauty, we reject it
altogether dismissing it as “pretentious, sentimental, and artsy”, failing to
acknowledge or even recognize its intrinsic beauty. Although one’s opinion of
what makes a good movie is ultimately subjective, truth and beauty are
objective. English philosopher and writer, Roger Scruton says:
Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend. If there are people who are indifferent to beauty, then it is surely because they do not perceive it.
I
do not suggest that business should have no place in art. However, the question
should not be “how does art fit into business?” But rather, “how does business
fit into art?” Film ceases to be an art the moment it is perceived
as a means to an end. Art in its natural state is aimed at beauty not money. Film
producers want our money, and we give it to them. We go to the cinema week in
and week out, regardless of what is being shown. In fact, often we are
unaware of what movies are playing until our arrival at the theater. We
have made the decision to support these movies before we even leave our house. We support these movies with our
presence and, more significantly, with our money. Essentially what we are
telling the producers is: “We want to see more like
this,” even if we drive home from the cinema dissatisfied with the quality of
entertainment we so readily indulged in. We hope that perhaps one day soon film will return to its former glory. We fail to recognize, however, that every
time we support these movies, we decrease the odds of this fantasy realizing
itself.
