On Hollywood and Questionable Priorities.

The BBC World News website carries stories of various kinds from around the globe. Today’s headline – and it’s been there all day – is about the strike by Hollywood actors and staff writers. So the question has to be asked: why is this threat to the big studios in Hollywood today’s biggest international news item?

I suppose it’s because Hollywood is the world capital of cinematic entertainment. (Some people try to claim it’s an arm of the arts establishment, but I don’t believe it for a second. It’s about making mega bucks through the medium of entertainment.)

So let’s consider what entertainment is about. It’s about lifestyle, pure and simple. And I’ve long been concerned that life in the free market west has become so dominated by lifestyle that it stands above many of the more fundamental aspects of life in the matter of priority. It’s one of the major factors in keeping a tiny number of mega rich people mega rich, and mega rich people are highly influential when it comes to the promotion of priorities.

And that, I suggest, is why the strike is perceived as being of such importance. Hollywood is a major player in the dissemination of entertainment, and its tentacles spread far and wide throughout the world. By contrast, and for example, the food emergency in Kenya is of relatively little importance to a world obsessed with lifestyle. Am I wrong in finding that a little sad?