“Hollywood is no longer the center of the universe,” says producer Rob Long. How much influence does the film industry have on the way Americans think? How close is the relationship between Washington and Hollywood? Why is it dangerous to write a book about Trump? He won Emmy and Golden Globe awards with his team, Mandiner asked the screenwriter and producer who recently visited Budapest at the invitation of the Danube Institute!
Rob Long (1965) is an American screenwriter and television producer, a board member of the American Cinema Foundation. He was a student at Yale University and the UCLA School of Film, Theater and Television (he currently teaches there), after graduating he became a screenwriter and co-producer of the TV series Cheers; their team won two Emmys and two Golden Globes in 1992-93. That's when he began writing political commentary for National Review, and continues to write for The Spectator and Commentary magazines, and has a weekly podcast called Martini Shot.
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From the outside, Hollywood looks like a micro-society with its own rules within American society. As an insider, how would you describe this community?
There is a big difference between the different eras of Hollywood: it was different in the past, it is different now, and it will probably look different again in the near future.
In the past, it was a small, closed community that attracted artists from all over the world
- in the period between the two world wars, especially many producers of Hungarian origin created here. Hollywood was a magnet, and American film production was incredibly popular and successful. The situation today is that the film industry has become a global business - the most popular television series in America at the moment is Squid Game (Hungarian: Win Your Life), a South Korean film full of unknown actors. Ten years ago this would have been unthinkable. Ten years ago, America was only interested in American films.
So what is Hollywood's prestige in the film industry today?
Today, Hollywood is the place where you can raise money, you can stage productions that promise a large audience, but after the Internet distributes cultural products globally, Hollywood is no longer the center of the universe.
Movies traditionally have a great cult following in America, it is the most influential art form in the American cultural mix, and therefore has a great influence on the way of thinking of Americans. How big is this effect?
I think it's getting smaller. And I think it was never as big as it was supposed to be. I don't think Hollywood has shaped American culture, or even the way Americans think, that much. He reflected on American events, but did not shape them.
Let me give you an example: big social movements, such as the civil rights movement or the anti-war movement, were not supported by Hollywood, yet they became strong. If someone can control the culture, it will be easier for them to gain political power later - this is a well-known saying. But I think this is only half true, reality always precedes art. If views are inculcated in culture, if creators want to convey views and ideologies in their films, people will not necessarily buy it. In the 1950s, American television programs reflected the conservative family values that prevailed at the time, yet the generation that grew up on them became the hippie generation of the 1960s; and the generation that watched the very liberal TV shows of the early '70s voted for Ronald Reagan in the '80s. The political-cultural impact of the film and the media is therefore not clear.
Most people don't like direct messages; if they sense that they are being manipulated, they resist from the gut.
Why would you pay for a movie at the cinema that you know was made to brainwash you?
The full interview HERE .
