hollywood Archives - Kontroversial Keith https://www.keithwatanabe.net/tag/hollywood/ Hitting Where It Hurts and Making the Universe Like It Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:46:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 81900562 Thoughts on Kevin Spacey Being Cut From Netflix https://www.keithwatanabe.net/2017/11/04/thoughts-kevin-spacey-cut-netflix/ https://www.keithwatanabe.net/2017/11/04/thoughts-kevin-spacey-cut-netflix/#respond Sat, 04 Nov 2017 17:46:30 +0000 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/?p=2994 It was announced that Netflix has suspended (fired) Kevin Spacey from House of Cards (whom I believe he may have

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It was announced that Netflix has suspended (fired) Kevin Spacey from House of Cards (whom I believe he may have produced to an extent) after the allegations of sexual abuse came to light. Part of the situation might have been further exacerbated with him “coming out of the closet” at the same time, which was not ironically rejected by the LBGT community in poor taste and timing. In view of these matters, I wanted to provide some personal thoughts on the situation.

First, in many ways the situation does not surprise me. Kevin Spacey often played the brash, belligerent, heavily condescending yet highly intelligent jerk in many of his roles. For me the exemplary role was Buddy Ackerman in Swimming with Sharks where he played an asshole Hollywood executive producer boss. There were others before that point but I think Buddy Ackerman is the real Kevin Spacey.

It was always entertaining to watch Kevin Spacey play similar deltas throughout his career such as Horrible Bosses, Lex Luther in Superman (where he stole the show), American Beauty (mostly for the dinner scene and the way he talked down to his character wife), even the surprising John Doe in Se7ven. I will never deny his delivery, especially the conviction for which he would strike at the world that seemingly wronged him at some level. However, it’s odd how many of these parts were common and the way he kept his personal life a secret.

Now, with the truth coming out much of this makes sense. Even prior to the revelation of him being gay, I always suspected that he was odd. Hollywood leading men like himself often flaunt their excesses and the fact that he had no wife (or wives) and kept his private life so secret made me wary. Like Sean Hayes who plays a gay man in Will & Grace, Kevin Spacey remarked that he would keep his life secretive as he wanted no one to doubt his acting ability.

For me, it was never doubting what he could play. It’s more about how a person handles the criticisms about what they do. Here, the problem is that Kevin Spacey is a powerful person in Hollywood and it’s pretty evident that he uses this position to his advantage. He (and other people with all the new allegations spreading day by day) would like to think that he can abuse this privilege and hide behind the curtain of being an actor.

Instead, it simply has made someone like myself want to stay even further from Hollywood than ever. Weinstein’s situation was pretty much the top of the cancer in Hollywood, although more than likely this disease of power permeates throughout the entire entity. Hollywood has always been about perception and manages to control its image using its deep tendrils throughout.

However, Hollywood as a whole is so damaged that the whole thing needs to be built from the ground up again. Most likely, that will never happen. I think the California government alone depends too much on the tax revenue generated from Hollywood that it would be scared to make a major move against the entity of Hollywood itself. Just the unions alone probably have more influence on the state than say the fire department.

What’s sadder is watching Netflix itself distancing themselves from the situation in just isolating Kevin Spacey. Yet they can’t drop the franchise since it’s a breadwinner for them. The thing with House of Cards is that it hasn’t been good since the first two seasons and you can tell Netflix is milking it for all its worth.

But that goes to show the mentality behind this monster connected with the entertainment industry. In truth, there are no real good nor bad guys. Just people trying to grab the biggest piece of the pie to move upward or gain more territory.

Part of me wants to pull my Netflix subscription but the real justification would be the increased fees and the fact that there’s not a lot of good stuff on at the moment (not a Stranger Things fan). At the end of the day, it’s just another stupid scandal and nothing really will get done. The powerful will remain powerful and that will never change while those victimized won’t be compensated for the pain they’ve suffered.

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Harvey Weinstein/Hollywood Thoughts https://www.keithwatanabe.net/2017/10/13/harvey-weinsteinhollywood-thoughts/ https://www.keithwatanabe.net/2017/10/13/harvey-weinsteinhollywood-thoughts/#respond Fri, 13 Oct 2017 05:09:51 +0000 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/?p=2991 The hot topic in Hollywood is the aftermath of Harvey Weinstein getting removed from his own company as a result

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The hot topic in Hollywood is the aftermath of Harvey Weinstein getting removed from his own company as a result of sexual harassment charges covering over a decade (maybe even more). From this incident, much more of Hollywood’s dirty laundry has slowly been uncovered where other stars, directors, producers, etc. connected with Weinstein are either fessing up or becoming connected and complicit as part of these charges. Many women in Hollywood (as well as the more supportive men) are advocating changes within the industry specifically for this conduct but I feel that the issues are far deeper.

Although there are various stories and scandals that are ever present erupting periodically from the tabloids, nothing seems as profound as this one (except for perhaps the pedophile charges). This one essentially shows the type of power people in Hollywood that run their own empire to say the least and how their wealth, connections, etc. have allowed them to stay afloat and almost get away with murder.

The closest keen insight into the actual dealings might be a scene from The Godfather where we see Tom Hagen approach one of the producers from a fictional Hollywood company in trying to muscle the guy. In one of the cut scenes, we see the so-called favors that this man provides a young, underage actress, suggesting pedophilia where the girl examines Hagen from behind a closed door mysteriously.

All these closed door dealings have been shuttered for years by power players in Hollywood as we’re now hearing how people like Matt Damon have attempted to stifle reporters from blowing the true nature of these stories. Even today, there was a story about Rose McGowan having her Twitter account shutdown by Twitter itself for instigating certain comments. This seems like nothing more than Hollywood muscling their way to censor her.

Now, this really isn’t a Hollywood only issue. Many other issues face similar situations. I know the Japanese entertainment industry does this with Avex being one of the more notorious institutions. And it’s not just women but young men seeking to build their careers by any means necessary, which means thrusting themselves for some sick minded producer or whatnot.

But that’s part of the problem with this level of corruption in the entertainment industry. Many of these hopefuls allow themselves to be preyed upon by the powerful just to get a career push. Some were probably just ruthless in the way they climbed to the top. Swimming With Sharks hints a bit at how the reverse role can occur where a woman with good looks can fuck her way to the top. And doubtlessly many people probably had to pull favors to get their scripts read or a key role.

Right now, many actresses (and actors to a degree) are calling for a change within Hollywood but not really specifying what exactly needs to change. The most obvious thing is providing some sort of sexual harassment protection for people. But the way humans are, this aspect will never change.

The real change that needs to be implemented is that Hollywood itself needs to be torn down and rebuilt up from scratch. Its culture stinks of extreme decadence where it has existed in its own bubble for far too long. Greed and vanity infiltrate Hollywood where it’s hard to respect what’s left these days. It’s quite obvious that the actual art of entertainment has been lost to the allure of fame and fortune.

So at the core the values of fame and fortune need to be gutted systematically. Get rid of these things as positive and cast them in a negative light. Make it so that people make far less money and these big wig producers, etc. work for the people rather than the other way around. Get rid of the circle jerking via awards ceremonies, red carpets and other ego inflating aspects. Return to the average where so-called stars get their anonymity back.

I can’t really feel sorry for the people involved here. I feel that there really isn’t any “good guys” nor true “bad guys.” It’s more like an epidemic caused by a dying and dated system. If Hollywood were to suddenly disappear off this world, I feel as though I wouldn’t really miss it. Sure, I may not see the next Game of Thrones season but outside of a useless distraction, there really isn’t much to miss.

Also, I feel that the average person in general really won’t care. The problems in Hollywood seem inflated because the people in Hollywood tend to inflate things. Most of us will never get close to any of these people and to be frank, none of these people have ever done a damn thing for us. They may argue they’ve created entertainment for us, but if we’re consuming it, then we’re helping them as we’ve provided their livelihood. This whole situation is a conscious choice that they’ve made and they must deal with it.

The only reason why I wanted to blog about this incident is that I feel that the situation is blown out of proportion. But it’s being forced down our throats like many other non-existent issues celebrities and Hollywood end up making us deal with. The average person just is trying to survive so why should we waste that much more trying to fight someone else’s battle?

Someone might argue, well their problem IS your problem. How? These greedy, vain people think of themselves too fucking highly. These are the same assholes that have Beverly Hills and voted against allowing a Metro to be placed through them since it would inconvenience their million dollar mansions. These are the same assholes who act as puppets through their sponsored overlords to be their mouth pieces in attempting to get us to think as they do.

These people don’t give a fucking crap about us. They seriously don’t unless you agree like some stupid sycophant with them. I’m not saying all of them are like this. Just the big people. I do feel the people struggling on the lower rungs are more like us and I don’t mind them as much. But for those that did make it, I doubt it was raw skill on average.

 

 

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