Hollywood Travels the Hard Times
By Mary Beth Gentle
Hollywood is preparing to travel the hard financial times ahead. They are making cuts and reviewing budgets. They are no different than any other big business and cannot escape the effects of the current financial crisis. In fact, Hollywood could hardly be called a newcomer to hard times. It has survived many turbulent financial periods over the years, including the Great Depression. Because no matter how hard the times get, the American public still wants to be entertained, which means Hollywood will survive. And no movie reflects this sentiment better than the Preston Sturges 1941 classic, Sullivan’s Travels.
The movie follows a young and naïve Hollywood director, John ‘Sully’ Sullivan, and his desire to make a film about the troubles of the poor and downtrodden. He decides to leave behind the comforts of his mansion, his swimming pool and his bank account to go out into the real world and experience life among the masses. Can you imagine if the CEO of one of the Fortune 500 companies or a Hollywood mogul of today decided to do that?
I, for one, cannot. Especially when my view from the Hollywood cubicle is that of the Senior Executives walking the hallways and shaking their heads at the plight of their stock options while they monitor the tumbling market on their Blackberry’s. Of course, those of us in the Hollywood cubicles have never seen a stock option, so we are not as dramatic about the effects of the current situation, we just know that our already tight budgets are going to have to get a little tighter.
In my little corner of the Hollywood cubicle world, we have decided to start brown bagging our lunches. Although, I’m sure it will do nothing for our ‘Hollywood Hipster’ images, it will keep our checkbooks out of the red. It may not be hip to sit in the corner of the commissary with a brown bag lunch, but who knows, maybe we will start a trend because we can’t be the only cubicle dwellers trying to save a buck in these hard times.
But, even if our brown bag lunches get a little leaner and times get a little tougher, the one thing we know we can count on is that Hollywood will see us through the hard times by keeping us entertained. This is the lesson John ‘Sully’ Sullivan learned on his travels. His journey took him to a point where he has lost his money, his freedom, his identity, his health and his pride. Incarcerated in a prison work camp he learned the importance of laughter one evening when he and his fellow prisoners were allowed to watch a Walt Disney Cartoon. It was there, surrounded by the poor and downtrodden that he had so desperately wanted to understand, that John ‘Sully’ Sullivan realized that even though he had lost everything, he still had the ability to laugh. He saw the true power of laughter first hand.
I think the opening dedication in Sullivan’s Travels says it all, “To the memory of those who made us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little, this picture is affectionately dedicated.” So when the gas prices go on the rise again or the scrimping and saving to make ends meet starts to wear thin, just remember that laughter may be the best medicine. Take in a movie, tune into a sitcom or if you haven’t seen it yet rent Sullivan’s Travels and escape the hard times for just a little while.
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