The
name of Hollywood has become a long standing reference to anything that has to
do with a number cultural clichés that include; Thinking Big, creatively re-inventing
oneself, vivid imagination, a complete sellout of real artistic values, and the
commercialization of human experience, history, and accomplishment.
While
some of this may be perceived as being patently negative what Hollywood really
represents is the fact that human beings live both in the physical world and in
the world of our imaginations. Out of
this arises a tale of how we create or adopt the stories of our lives and turn
them into the cultural mythologies that define us and how we view and live our
lives.
For
better or worse Hollywood can be credited for both using and inventing the technologies
of an entertainment media that has leveraged the arts and sciences to inspire
and amplify storytelling across every human culture on Earth. The
fine arts of Theater, Music, and Dance have all been transformed into movies,
television, and commercial recording, and in doing so have opened the door of imagination
that informs the world we live in today.
This
blog is a perfect example of modern digital media, and yet the observations on
these posts are grounded in the analog origins of Hollywood, and the wry and poignant
observations that are the foundation of Western culture.