Entertain This!

The average cost to make a mid-level Hollywood motion picture is approximately five to ten million dollars. As a society do we really need to spend that kind of money on a crappy movie that nobody would miss if it didn’t exist? Can’t we (as a country) do something better with that 10 million dollars? Of course we can but the developers of that movie are not about to give all their funding to the hungry and homeless, after all, then they couldn’t make their movie, they wouldn't earn any profit and they wouldn’t be able to get any funding to make the movie to begin with, it’s a paradox. Plus, is making a bad movie really hurting anyone? Well, I guess that’s debatable… If the starving, homeless people don’t get food because the money is being used to make a crappy movie, then yes, it is hurting people but I guess that’s a big stretch. Maybe we need to look at this in a different way...

If a Hollywood Producer wants to spend 10 million dollars making a big screen version of Gilligan’s Island, he knows that most people who grew up watching that program will go see the movie and the movie will make money. What if a percentage of the profits from the movie were used to solve some of our countries (or global) problems? Of course this solution would have to apply to all movies, not just crappy ones, and maybe even other forms of entertainment. For example: Let’s just say they make this movie for 10 million dollars and it earns 20 million dollars at the box office. For arguments sake let's say after everyone is paid there is a profit of ten million dollars. Two and a half million dollars of that profit should be allocated to a cause such as world hunger, affordable housing or rehabilitation for the homeless. I’m not saying to hand the money over to some corrupt organization that’s going to disappear with the money before anyone knows what happened. The projects would have to be legitimate and covered by the media to show the public that the organizations are true and that process is genuine. I know a system like I describe here sort of contradicts an American’s right to free enterprise but if we truly want to change things we have to develop a logical way to do it.

I see so many actors, directors, producers, toy companies and even fast food restaurants profiting from movies and entertainment, isn’t there a way that some of this money can be put to a good use? Maybe profits from certain merchandise or even from concession products could go towards charities? Even in sports there are players who are awarded millions of dollars. To me it seems unfair to pay a person millions of dollars simply because they were good at gym class, or they can hit a ball over a fence. Baseball players don’t even have to be able to play the entire game! just as long as they can hit, pitch or catch they have the ability to earn millions of dollars. I don’t mean to say that what they do is easy or that they don’t deserve to earn a living playing ball, but to me the salaries often seem to be way out of the ballpark! We have doctors, surgeons and scientists doing jobs that directly affect the well being of society, who are saving people’s lives on a daily basis and don’t make nearly as much money as some actors and sports figures. The main reason for this imbalance is that doctors and surgeons don’t have the ability to push products and make money for a multitude of third party vultures. Maybe the teams and players that don’t make the cut should have to contribute a quarter of their salaries to charities! That would certainly make them play a little harder!

I realize that it would be unconstitutional to force certain people and companies to hand over their profits to charity but maybe there’s a better way to do it utilizing a system that's already in place. What if people were able to vote on how their tax money is spent? Serious issues could be voted on by the people instead of just a handful of bureaucrats who are easy to manipulate. (Maybe we can even vote on whether or not Hollywood makes that crappy movie)! I'm just joking about that but I’m sure there are countless issues that people would like to see handled in this way, after all it is our country so why shouldn’t we, the people have the right and ability to vote on how serious issues are handled and how our tax money is spent? Billions of dollars are collected every year from taxes, tolls, traffic tickets, fines, etc.. the list is endless. Does anyone really know where any of this money goes? These days almost everyone has a computer, smart phone or at least access to some type of computer. It doesn’t seem like it would be a difficult task to set up a system where people voted directly on important issues through the internet using their Social Security number or something like that. I don’t know, maybe if enough people get fed up with the way the current system works (or doesn’t work), we can eventually develop a better way. I certainly don’t have all the answers but history shows us that sometimes all it takes is a handful of people with a good idea. When the good idea gains popularity, more ideas are developed, supporters come out of the woodwork and progress begins to take motion. When the motion spreads to others it gains even more support and becomes a movement. As the movement gains more strength and momentum it starts turning and becomes a revolution!

Thanks for reading….