They say that the best type of joke is one that has some truth to it.
However, there’s nothing funny about Jerry Seinfeld’s latest take in which he declares that ‘Hollywood is Dead,’ and that the filmmakers and the upper echelon, holier-than-thou elites in charge pathetically refuse to acknowledge it.
“They’re so dead serious! They don’t have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea,” the 69-year-old Seinfeld told GQ Magazine “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social and cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives.”
Jerry Seinfeld believes that Hollywood as we knew it is all but gone. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
SEINFELD RIPS HOLLYWOOD – CAN WE BLAME HIM?
“When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it,” Seinfeld continued, before adding, “We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.”
The fabled comedian does have a point. I can’t think of any significant pop culture trends that have come from movies in recent years – hell not even lame movie lines like Scary Movie’s “Wassssupppp?!” that teenagers were doing all over America when I was growing up!
That’s not to say that there haven’t been good movies – of course there have been, but Seinfeld says the significant impact of the modern film isn’t nearly what it once was.
WHAT CHANGED?
Seinfeld believes that we’re all just aimlessly running around, living on our cell phones chasing the next cheap thrill.
“Depression? Malaise? I would say confusion. Disorientation replaced the movie business. Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?’”
However, I’d add that it’s important to separate the movie experience from the movies themselves. The Covid pandemic destroyed movie theaters that are finally starting to recover thanks to the success of Barbie, Oppenheimer and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour special last year. Still however, 1 in 5 pre-pandemic moviegoers will not ever return, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But as far as the overall quality of movies themselves? I’d propose it has to do with a lack of direction, lack of innovation, a pandering to a cause that isn’t nearly as pivotal as Hollywood would like you to believe (just ask Disney) and, of course, the desire to just make a quick buck.
Newsflash to Hollywood – we don’t want remakes of classic movies that won’t ever live up to the original ones. We don’t want sequels to movies, considering there’s only a handful that are ever decent (Star Wars, Godfather, Terminator) and we sure as hell don’t need ANOTHER Marvel movie.
The truth hurts, there’s nothing funny about that.
