The Disease of Hollywood

“The only way to approach thinking about this is to look at where various kinds of cinema come from, what are the motivating forces and the prevailing conditions. The fact is that there is a great tradition, which exists in Europe and plenty of other places, not least Japan, of making films about real life, uncluttered and unfettered and uninterfered with by the kind of disease that you can—broadly speaking—diagnose as Hollywood.”—Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh’s quote of the ‘disease’ of Hollywood refers to the lack of social realism in American cinema. Frankly speaking, films in America are of lesser quality than those is Europe. It is better said that successful films in America are of lesser quality than those in Europe. Films that strive for a realistic quality are consistently less successful in America, though they may be critically acclaimed. For example, recent films like 'Revolutionary Road' have proven to be quite realistic, the box office returns on films such as this are quite small and under-advertised. When they are advertised, they are seen as utterly depressing and not worth seeing. Americans don’t want to go to the movies and see a film that depresses them because they are unable to live with the sorrow of daily life. Because of this, filmmakers react by making pointless films that have not one iota of truth or reality in them.
While it may seem logical to make films that the studios believe no one wants to see, it is, as Leigh calls it, a disease. The reason behind this is that, when film studios stop making films that they believe no one will want to watch, then they perpetuate the feeling of depression associated with these films. This creates a vicious circle where audiences avoid realistic films when they are made because they believe that they are not supposed to like these kind of films. This feeling is embedded into our brains from birth. When studios then produce films that do not reflect daily life, which is the common choice, we are told that these are the films we want to watch, and then we believe that these are the films we want to watch.
In America, we see films as an escape. It has been this way since the Great Depression. We have consistently sought entertainment from cinema, rather than seeing it as the art form it is, something that is not ignored in Europe. Because of this, we seek out cinema not to reflect our daily lives, but to distract us from the mundane cycle of life. Instead of this being a good thing and making us better, stronger, happier for it, we are instead emotionally stunted. In Europe, the social realism of cinema creates a better rounded (albeit more painful) view of life. In America, we distract ourselves with pointlessness.
Take, for example, films such as 'Dude, Where’s My Car?' A cult comedy today, this film follows two men who literally lose their car. While this could be an interesting plot if filmed by Mike Leigh or Ken Loach, in an American’s hand it is a shameless attempt to film two attractive men run around and get into ridiculous shenanigans that make no sense. Americans flocked to this film and watch it to this day. The trailer for Dude, Where’s My Car can be found here:


Take that film in comparison to the aforementioned 'Revolutionary Road,' which was of much better quality. However, this film was hardly a box office success. The movie made little money. It was a realistic look at the suburbs based on a novel, and was not successful at all, through critics or audiences. It was called “too depressing.” The trailer is below:


When we look at the two films’ trailers, we can see that one is childish and meaningless, while the other is more reflective of the human condition, and the issues facing people at a certain time. This is just another victim of the disease of Hollywood, one that has spread to audiences everywhere.