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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 398073" data-attributes="member: 5079">The obviousness is, well, obvious.&nbsp; At the very point when the lower- and middle- classes were aligning against income inequity, the Establishment and its lapdogs in the media suddenly decided they were obsessed with race and later gender.&nbsp; Both guaranteed to be divisive, but which pose no threat to the profits of the 1%.Heady stuff for a conversation about celebrities, but they are part of the problem.&nbsp; I read a biography on Bob Hope that referred to him, in his later years, as the Court Jester to the Establishment.&nbsp; I think about that a lot; not in relationship to Hope specifically but all celebrities.&nbsp; They&#039;re a distraction.&nbsp; Even when they like to pretend to be socially conscious, it&#039;s performative and self-serving.This could be a whole separate conversation likely, but it seems to me that, for the first time in its history, the American movie industry is run by men who don&#039;t like movies.&nbsp; Once they started referring to movies and TV as &quot;content&quot;, they revealed their contempt.&nbsp; It&#039;s an assembly line product to them.&nbsp; These are generic businessmen running studios the same way they&#039;d run factories producing automobile parts.&nbsp; Of course, Hollywood has always been run by businessmen.&nbsp; To paraphrase Lily Tomlin, they call it show business not show art.&nbsp;&nbsp; But at any other time, the men (and to a much lesser extent women) seemed to love the craft of filmmaking.&nbsp; The Old Hollywood moguls were vile men for the most part, but they understood how to balance entertainment, art and profit.&nbsp; And&nbsp; you have a new cell phone, so we can notify you when the revolution starts.&nbsp; It would be a shame if you overslept.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 398073, member: 5079"] The obviousness is, well, obvious. At the very point when the lower- and middle- classes were aligning against income inequity, the Establishment and its lapdogs in the media suddenly decided they were obsessed with race and later gender. Both guaranteed to be divisive, but which pose no threat to the profits of the 1%. Heady stuff for a conversation about celebrities, but they are part of the problem. I read a biography on Bob Hope that referred to him, in his later years, as the Court Jester to the Establishment. I think about that a lot; not in relationship to Hope specifically but all celebrities. They're a distraction. Even when they like to pretend to be socially conscious, it's performative and self-serving. This could be a whole separate conversation likely, but it seems to me that, for the first time in its history, the American movie industry is run by men who don't like movies. Once they started referring to movies and TV as "content", they revealed their contempt. It's an assembly line product to them. These are generic businessmen running studios the same way they'd run factories producing automobile parts. Of course, Hollywood has always been run by businessmen. To paraphrase Lily Tomlin, they call it show business not show art. But at any other time, the men (and to a much lesser extent women) seemed to love the craft of filmmaking. The Old Hollywood moguls were vile men for the most part, but they understood how to balance entertainment, art and profit. [I]And[/I] you have a new cell phone, so we can notify you when the revolution starts. It would be a shame if you overslept. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?