>Tired, not because it's wrong, but because it's misleading.
>It doesn't get to the heart of the issue. There's nothing
>inherent in B-movies or escapist fare that says it has to be
>crap. And Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., those movies we all point
>to as causing the death of creativity in Hollywood, they are
>very much the height of storytelling.

I'm not talking about quality. I'm talking about content. What is "the heart of the issue?" That most films are bad? Most films have always been bad, even when they were aimed at a wider audience than they are now.

And the "death of creativity" in Hollywood is greatly overhyped. The top five grossing films of 1953 were:

Peter Pan
The Robe
Shane
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
Robot Monster

Does anyone really think that 50 years later n the top five will be that much worse? I'm speculating, but these are likely for 2003:

Finding Nemo
Return of the King
Pirates of the Carribean
The Matrix Reloaded
Bruce Almighty

The public has gotten neither more or less tasteful, and the overall talent pool of filmmaking has remained about the same. Dreck gets made but so does the occasional gem. The only difference is in demographics.