> That is really the big difference: directors in the studio
> system could amass enough power to make the films they wanted to make. Now
> directors are brought in as part of a package, and the stars are the major
> attraction.
True, and that's one of the reasons today's 3D videogames are so good -- studio artists have an astounding degree of freedom over their aesthetic material.
Interestingly, this autonomy is also why so many of the great postcolonial films are so good -- other culture-industries have far less power to police their media artists.
-- DRR