Shouting Movie In A Fire Station: Blowing Up Hollywood

Shouting Movie in a Fire Station: Blowing Up Hollywood  By Mark Higham

Hollywood is officially America's central cultural product. This book uses the statement by Oliver Wendell Homes who, when asked what constitutes free speech said, "You can say anything short of shouting fire in a movie theater," hence the title of this book. This collection of essays uses social commentary and philosophical insights to humorously poke fun at this industry based on dreams and lies. The tone is like an uncle softly reproving his family for the dysfunctions in their lives. Not only is Hollywood taken to task over their well intentioned misdeeds, but also the reader is given background into how movies perform a function in society to replace religion in the better circumstance of visual communication where grand themes and the triumph of the human will give us a better reason to get out of ourselves, and in thinking we're being entertained, actually get insight into how better negotiate the multiple traps of living in a world that seems to target each of us for personal torture. In the end, we will come to understand that our only real job is to learn, and in the fake reality machine of the movie, find an instance of awakening into a better sense of ourselves. This is the true purpose of the movie.