Did you know that the sun, that great ball of life giving fire, reverses its magnetic poles every eleven years or so? I didn't. But in my mind anything with the phrase "reverses its poles" means that the shit is on and the world is coming to an end! Well, apparently this doesn't happen. I don't know that science shit behind it, but it just equalizes things inside the star.
So why I am I telling you this? Because Hollywood also has a "magnetic north" of sorts. It goes by a few different names: quadrant, demographic, audience, etc., but it all means the same thing. We define how are stories are told by the audience we are attempting to engage. Like the sun, finding this "magnetic north" benefits us.
And as storytellers, we've been doing this for millennia. Long ago, storytellers used their craft to pass on knowledge and to entertain. And they found that this sharing was much more efficient if the audience could relate to the story being told. Successful storytellers (meaning those who would tell stories for food, coin, or whatever they needed) would, out of necessity, craft different versions of the same story for different audiences. Let's face it, you told a story much differently to the commoner than you did to the King.
So why the history lesson? Well, it pertains to Hollywood now, I think. For the past, fifty years or so, we've crafted our stories mainly for one audience - teenagers. The demographic has varied slightly over the years, but it's basically males between 12 and 25. But why is that? Well, it stems from the fact that in the 1960's teenagers began to work. But they always worked, didn't they? Yes. But before the boom of the 1950's and 1960's, they worked for the betterment of the family. When the boom hit, they began to have their own disposable incomes. And they used it on entertainment.
So, as our storyteller forefathers did, we crafted stories for the audience that had the money.
Now, I've told you all that boring shit to tell you this: maybe, like the sun, it's time our magnetic north shifted.
I know, I can hear it now: "You're out of your tiny little mind."
Probably. But that doesn't change a simple fact: our intended demographic is running low on cash. Two statistics jump out really quick in our modern economy. The first is that currently only around 25% of teenagers have jobs. I don't remember where I heard that, so I don't have a source. That cuts into the cash flow of the bottom of that demographic.
But, just a severe, recent college grads are struggling to find jobs, or at least jobs that pay decently. So that cuts into the disposable income of the upper part of the demographic.
Now I'm not saying that this cause is having an effect, but it's been a pretty shaky summer for a lot of movies aimed at our loyal 12 to 25 demographic.
"So, Mr. Know-it-all, what do you suggest we do?"
Well, maybe we shift a little towards the demographic that has some money: the baby boomers. I know, it sounds crazy, but the generation that is now in their fifties and sixties were the movie generation that we once catered to. Maybe we shoot a few movies their way, and not just dramas.
What about horror movies? I'm pretty sure they are still scared of shit. Comedies? Yep, they still laugh at shit. Science Fiction? Same there. Hell, even action movies.
At the end of the day, all I'm saying is that maybe we try telling a few of the same stories to a different audience. I'm not saying target everything to just baby boomers. That would be crazy. But I've heard a lot of them say "why don't they make movies for us?"
Sounds like a market asking to be served.
But what do I know? I'm just a jester.
No comments:
Post a Comment