Lost Voices in the Multiplex

By Noah Redfield on 05/11/2009

Question: Are Diverse Voices Lost in the Multiplex?

Note from the Editor:
Junior film student Noah Redfield recently met Jim Jarmusch at an NYU event celebrating Jarmusch's storied career. Noah called this one of the true highlights of his life. This encounter led Noah to ponder where Jarmusch's art resides in this world of product placement, corporate ties to Hollywood, and increasingly high profit demands for the multiplex.

In his piece, Noah uses the example of another one of his film idols, Paul Thomas Anderson, to explore where visionary voices exist in the 21st century multiplex.

In the late 1960s, Hollywood's old studio system collapsed and opened the floodgates for a tsunami of bold and visionary American filmmakers. It was throughout the 1970s when the names Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, and Robert Altman were etched into the history books of cinema. Eventually the floodgates were closed after a string of box-office flops and Hollywood was snatched up by a handful of corporations who interpret the word "risk" much like a monk when somebody utters the phrase, "Jesus fucking Christ!"

So when a remotely original voice emerges in world cinema and even manages to let their picture loose into the consumer-friendly multiplex, it's always worth noting how it got there and what it means for the future of cinema as an art form. Observe "There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson's modern masterpiece about an oil prospector who lets his greed, ambition, and hatred get the better of him, resulting in a slow but powerful burn towards insanity.

Upon its December 26 release, There Will Be Blood was playing in a grand total of two cinemas across the country, and managed to gross close to half a million dollars in its opening weekend alone. The positive word-of-mouth resulted in a platform release which meant that theaters- more importantly, multiplexes - would start screening the film gradually as long as ticket sales kept climbing like the flames licking higher and higher up the gushing oil derrick. Ultimately the picture would peak at 1,500 screens, no doubt boosted by the eight Academy Award nominations it would receive, and found itself sharing multiplex space alongside "Meet the Spartans" and the latest "Rambo" bloodbath.

So how did "There Will Be Blood" make it onto the proverbial big screen? In an age of Netflix instant viewing, BitTorrents, and the rising price of popcorn, it's increasingly difficult to find alternative formulas for box office success. The multiplex has become a place for explosions, CGI special effects, and celebrities who put people in the seats. Within this landscape, alternative voices are often compromised. Once in a while, a "Slumdog Millionaire" will arise, which does not follow the traditional box-office smash formula, but still earn merit, success, and profit.

It's interesting to ponder whether a new breed of visionary filmmakers will arise, or whether the multiplex will push them further to the fringes of cinema. With new media lies the opportunity for new exposure. The hope is that a converged media environment will offer new and creative opportunities for diverse and visionary films to find their screen in the multiplex.

[Additional Photos: Filmmakers, NC Arts, 2008; "There Will Be Blood", Miramax 2007]

Video Supplement by Noah Redfield