|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
David Puttnam: A Righteous Social Critic
| Article
# : |
11538 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1986 |
3,984 Words |
| Author
: |
Cynthia Grenier
Cynthia Grenier is contributing editor to the Arts section of
The World & I. |
ARE HUMANIST MOTIVES WHAT COCA-COLA REALLY WANTS FOR AMERICA?
This summer in Atlanta the corporate overlords of Columbia Pictures - Coca-Cola - in quest of a new formula for their movie company made an unusual decision. They named as chairmen and chief executive officer of Columbia a forty-five-year-old Englishman. An independent producer since 1970, David Puttnam was well known to Hollywood. Indeed, in recent years the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science had voted two of his productions best film of the year. This is no small achievement in a deeply parochial industry. Although neither Chariots of Fire nor The Killing Fields - both made overseas - was a mega-box-office hit like a Star Wars or a "Rocky" film, they had a very considerable success d'estime with critics and with those alienated children of the 1960s seen in The Big Chill. What makes David Puttnam's appointment significant is that he represents the same generation and, judging from his work, shares its values.
In the 1960s and early 1970s million of America's young considered themselves radical - anti-establishment, anti-Vietnam War, counterculture - and radical-Left movies found many viewers. These were the prime years of Miss Jane Fonda. But studies show that today's youth - who dominate movie audiences - are more professionally oriented than their counterparts of the 1960s. They are the ones calling for a third term for Ronald Reagan. The mass market for overtly leftist movies has largely vanished.
The cinema is the only art large enough, in terms of both its audience and the number of people it employs, to provide an accurate gauge of the sociological and
... (1991 of 23823 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
