You know I'm back when you see spam

[la_vie_noire]

Interesting article about Hollywood, USA and class:

Hollywood's Vanishing Have-Nots.

Today if characters aren’t superheroes, teenage wizards or sexy vampires, they’re architects, lawyers, journalists and other professionals or successful entrepreneurs overseeing chic bakeries or floral shops. Those struggling to get by economically are relegated to crime dramas — white-collar crime offers too few opportunities for shootouts and car chases— or to low-budget, independent films like “Frozen River” and “The Wrestler.”

[...] “The studios feel that the only way to get people out of the house is to show them something that’s going to entertain them in a fantastic way,” he added, “whether it’s 3-D, fantasy or crude humor.”

The second prevalent theory is that Americans have always been skittish about class: Nearly everyone in this country self-identifies as middle class and thinks he’s just one good idea or promotion away from becoming a junior Donald Trump.

“Nowadays when a studio is only releasing several dozen films a year and wants the broadest appeal, why would you make films about working-class characters or class conflict?” said Steven J. Ross, a history professor at the University of Southern California and author of the 1998 book “Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America.” “Studios are still in the moneymaking business, not the consciousness-raising biz.”

Couldn't say how much it applies. "Nearly everyone in this country self-identifies as middle class..." sounds suspicious.