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Nah, lots of directors moved to LA/NYC before directing. Many grew up in small towns. Again, this is about the fact that Hollywood is entertainment and it has little interest in "getting it right," be it small towns (inaccurate) or big cities (also inaccurate). Every other angle on this thread is simply about people's feelings of marginalization or inadequacy.
Yes and there is always some horror in the small town that the local "bumpkins" (who have lived there all of their lives) can't solve but the city slicker comes in and has all of the answers. I call it the "Newhart Syndrome".
I really have to question the efficacy of TEKS mathematics if you two believe that "90% of the movie-going public lives in big cities."
Big cities defined as "cities at or above a population threshold of the cumulative tenth percentile", then the number living in those cities is exactly 90%, by definition. That would be certainly a great deal larger than the "small towns' referenced in the OP. One half of the nation's population lives in the 35 largest metro areas -- i.e., those with a MLB/NFL franchise, about 2.5-million. In 2010, a total of 80.7 percent lived in standard metropolitan areas, That, indisputably, represents a clear majority of movie viewers, sufficient in itself of motivating the greed-based entertainment industry to gainfully assuage their collective whims.
Unless you are just one of those misguided urbanists who think you are in a small town if you are stuck in a place like Oshkosh or Yuma, and have obviously never seen a small town except maybe as a water tower while going by an interstate exit, in which case you are exactly emblematic of the cultural problem that the OP bewailed.
The line distinguishing a big city from a small town lies somewhere between a cineplex that shows first-run movies every night, and a Red Box in front of the convenience store. You would be hard pressed to show that that line is far from 90%.
Big cities defined as "cities at or above a population threshold of the cumulative tenth percentile", then the number living in those cities is exactly 90%, by definition. That would be certainly a great deal larger than the "small towns' referenced in the OP. One half of the nation's population lives in the 35 largest metro areas -- i.e., those with a MLB/NFL franchise, about 2.5-million. In 2010, a total of 80.7 percent lived in standard metropolitan areas, That, indisputably, represents a clear majority of movie viewers, sufficient in itself of motivating the greed-based entertainment industry to gainfully assuage their collective whims.
Unless you are just one of those misguided urbanists who think you are in a small town if you are stuck in a place like Oshkosh or Yuma, and have obviously never seen a small town except maybe as a water tower while going by an interstate exit, in which case you are exactly emblematic of the cultural problem that the OP bewailed.
The line distinguishing a big city from a small town lies somewhere between a cineplex that shows first-run movies every night, and a Red Box in front of the convenience store. You would be hard pressed to show that that line is far from 90%.
Add in every small town, and I'm sure it's much higher. It was a random, bunk percentage and you bought into it and then wasted time fruitlessly trying to back it for some reason. Nice job.
I grew up in a town under 10,000, and later moved in between 2 unincorporated villages as a kid. I've spent considerable time in woods and forests all my life. I know way, way more about the middle of nowhere than you ever will. The fact that I also understand urban environments allows me perspective on what this thread is really about - feelings of inadequacy, and not Hollywood's disproportionately poor coverage of small towns and rural areas.
Small country towns are simply an easy target for Hollywood. They just are, and have been for quite some time.
Little off-topic here but I was watching Glory Road not too long ago, about the 1966 Texas Western College basketball team that started 5 black players. In the movie the team travels to a real life University (East Texas State?), the fans of this school are portrayed as racist rednecks who shout vulgarities and throw things at the black players. There was verification after the movie was released that this did not happen and was entirely inaccurate.
Bottom line it is entertainment.
Last edited by Canes2006Champs; 06-18-2014 at 03:57 PM..
Every single movie i see that features small town or country has something negative to say about this life style. Its either someone saying casually that they trying to "escape this life style" or there's some horror going on and there's no one around for miles to help.
Is this just me or someone in hollywood wants people to think country life sucks? Why they doing this?
I'm guessing it's just the movies you go see.
How about:
Field of Dreams
Sweet Home Alabama
Fried Green Tomatoes
Bridges of Madison County
Brokeback Mountain
Bull Durham
Shipping News
Doc Hollywood
Goonies
Hope Floats
Breaking Away
Mystic Pizza
Baby Boom
Whether movies have influenced my perception of small towns, but as far as I know every small town I've passed thru has led to sightings of bored kids shooting up, screaming profanities, completely stuck in a rut.
Kids behave bad everywhere, but there are startling parallels between small towns and inner cities (high drug use, high teen pregnancy rates, delinquency etc). Whites in small towns have more similarities to Blacks in the 'hood than is often realized is what I'm trying to get at.
Fair point.
I remember seeing Larry Clark's film KIDS several years ago, and being rather shocked at how similar his depiction of urban teenagers in the mid-90s was to my own recollections of rural teenagers during roughly the same time-period--everything from the uninvolved, disinterested parents to the sexual recklessness and all of the other maladies those things entail. The parallels were indeed disturbing.
Enter the issue of meth abuse about a decade later, and the picture only gets nastier.
Because 90% of the movie-going public lives in big cities, and they pay ticket prices to have their egos stroked -- to be validated that they are among the trendy, who are beautiful and fashionable and drink the correct lite beer.
And another fair point.
One thing I've noticed in film, however, is that there could be an increasing tendency to portray the horrors and idiocy of rural America as basically being phenomenon of "red state America", particularly the South.
One thing I noticed from the remake of I Spit on Your Grave was the change in setting; rather than an urbanite from NYC being brutalized by rural New Yorkers (as was the case in the original), the remake depicted an urban New Yorker being brutalized in rural Louisiana.
Something about that twist didn't sit right with me, and no, I'm not coming from a personal standpoint of being necessarily sympathetic toward the South, its history or its politics per se. This film just seemed like a political indictment (and I suppose the original was, too).
But then again, now that I think about it, most of you probably have never seen either film, so this may not be the greatest example here.
Small country towns are simply an easy target for Hollywood. They just are, and have been for quite some time.
Little off-topic here but I was watching Glory Road not too long ago, about the 1966 Texas Western College basketball team that started 5 black players. In the movie the team travels to a real life University (East Texas State?), the fans of this school are portrayed as racist rednecks who shout vulgarities and throw things at the black players. There was verification after the movie was released that this did not happen and was entirely inaccurate.
Bottom line it is entertainment.
That actually sounds like a lie to protect someone or something. Nevertheless, all movies exaggerate points they want to convey.
The majority of writers of produced movies are white males under 40.
So . . . no wonder most movies are silly dreck!
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