Business Model

I guess I'm a slow learner. I've been puzzled by the hype about 3D. When I was a kid I went to 3D movies. They were crap.

I just don't get why anybody wants to wear glasses to "see" a movie. I wear glasses because I'm so near sighted I can't count the fingers at the end of my hand. Wearing glass is a "must do" not a "thrilling experience for which I will pay big bucks".

But I now understand why 3D is being pushed so hard by Hollywood. Here's a bit from a Maureen Dowd op-ed in the NY Times where she talks to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the C.E.O. of DreamWorks Animation:

He knows that a 3-D revolution would be great for his business by spurring people to desert their home entertainment centers and actually go into theaters. It’s rare in this economy, he notes, for people to opt for “the more expensive, higher-end experience first.”

In other words, they are pushing this because it's a business technique to nullify all that fancy home entertainment equipment. It's a way to force people to go see something when they would rather stay comfy at home. They've pushed a "gimmick" which leaves people thinking they will "miss something" if they don't drive to the local cinema and get the "full 3D experience".

Well... I had the "full 3D experience 50 years ago... I don't plan to drive anywhere. I predict 3D this time will be like 3D last time. It is the Edsel of Hollywood. Sure it looks exciting, but in the end, after seeing a film or two, people won't leave their homes to get the "full 3D experience".

I read this and laugh. This is pure hype:

Katzenberg says that “if you look at the history of film, there have now been three great revolutions. The first was silent to talkies. The second was black-and-white to color, 70 years ago. And this is the third great revolution, a quantum leap. We’re at the top of the waterfall with 3-D. And this is going to cascade down into virtually every facet of our lives where we are encountering video imagery or even photography.”

This is especially funny because the 3D "revolution was already tried 50 years ago. Katzenberg is carefully editing history to cut out the bits that show the lie he is trying to sell. George Orwell's novel 1984 was all about editing the past to remove the bits you don't like. The Communists were very good at "revisionism". I don't need Hollywood selling me yet more "revisionism".

I especially don't like the lies when they are part of a Hollywood shakedown, a move to extract more dollars for an entertainment. The phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" comes to mind. That's the "sales technique" to sell junk as high class trash. (And it applies to 3D as well as Sarah Palin.)