> <http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/nyc2-m17.shtml>
> By David Walsh
> The power of money, extensive corporate control, and direct political
> pressure certainly play a role. However, there are also nominally
> independent film festivals. Individuals with video cameras and editing
> equipment can create their own works. There is very little of significance
> in this sphere, either.
The US is paying the price for having the most commodified, corporate-dominated, free-market-fundamentalist-ravaged media system on the planet. Ironically, the Golden Age of Hollywood was generated by non-market factors: the New Deal rebellions and an extraordinary influx of European emigre talent (Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, etc.).
These days, though, it seems like almost every smidgeon of dissent in the US is being channeled through the digital commons and its leading cultural expression, the videogame culture. Some examples:
1. Sony's Santa Monica Studio, "God of War" franchise (rewrites Greek mythology into anti-neoliberal uprising).
2. Naughty Dog's "Uncharted 2" (postcolonial action epic, slams neocolonial war).
3. Insomniac's "Resistance" franchise (aliens do to the 1950s US Empire what the US Empire did to the 1950s planet).
If you've never seen or played these franchises, fan walkthroughs of the cutscenes and action are available on Youtube and fansites (gameanyone.com, nextgenwalkthroughs.com).
-- DRR