The Hollywood Recipe

“The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday” – Baz Luhrmann.

And it was, on one such arbitrary tuesday evening, that I somehow stumbled onto an article, that spoke about the top box office earner’s in Hollywood in the last 30 years. I have always been a fan of Hollywood for its diversity, the versatility of its actors, and the broad cross section of topics it covers, So I was naturally interested. The list went something like this

1. The Aviator

2. Beautiful mind

3. Fight club

4. Rain man

5. One flew over the cuckoo’s nest

Quite an eclectic bunch of movies, I’d say. Let us look more closely, In” Aviator”, We have leo playing an eccentric entrepreneur, who suffers from “Obsessive compulsive disorder”, adding a lot of mystery to his character keeping the audience entrenched.

In “Beautiful mind” A truly fantastic film we have Russel crowe playing John Nash, A truly brilliant mathemathician, suffering from Schizophrenia.

In “Fight club”, We have Brad pit, and Edward Norton, indulging in combat, and in the end leaving the viewer himself feeling schizophrenic.

In “Rain Man”, another fantastic Oscar winning film of yesteryear, We have Dustin hoffman with his epic portrayal of an autistic person.

Finally, In “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest”, We have Jack Nicholson and his experiences in a home for the mentally unstable. You probably, have got the drift by now. As, you must have guessed , What I am trying to convey and what all of us must think about as well is..Isn’t Hollywood exploiting, the medical field for obscure and uncommon diseases, as it gives their story a cutting edge, and secondly is it morally right?It just seems, as if a perfect recipe for a Hollywood success would be :

1. Do some research, come up with an obscure disease.

2. Cast a great actor, to play this person.

3. Put in a love story, some good music.

4. Make sure this person comes through this disease, or learns to live with it, and comes out triumphant.

5. Make it a little ambiguous and complicated so that the viewer won’t ask too many question’s in fear of being labeled foolish (Emperor’s new clothes effect) And voila! We have a Box office smash hit.

Think about it, From the director’s angle, It is a relatively safe option, for firstly not too many people know anything about the disease, so he can adapt it to his storyline.

Secondly, It is considered humanitarian, as they are showing the travails of someone, who has to deal with an incomprehensible disease and it is impossible, for someone not to take a sudden interest in the person, and in the disease itself.

Thirdly, No one would dare to say anything discouraging about the movie in fear of suddenly being considered inconsiderate and insensitive. One would more likely hear something like, “Oh Poor thing! He is suffering from Schizophrenia”. When, I’m sure if one were to ask that same person what the meaning of schizophrenia was before the movie began, The most likely anwer would be akin to something like ,”I think it is a species of an African spider”.

And Finally, Most parents would encourage their children to watch such a movie, as they might even term it educational, You get to learn about a new disease. Well, How many of us are really dying to find out about “Schizophrenia” or “Obsessive compulsive disorder” anyway, I wonder. The question’s to be pondered here,

a) Is Hollywood that short of good story line’s that it has to revert to medicine, and various memory lapses and disorder’s in order to make a good film.

b) Secondly, How many people do you and me know, who have had even symptoms of any of these diseases

c) On a lighter note, Have the number of doctor’s watching movies suddenly appreciated, that these types of movies are suddenly so well appreciated. By know, you guys must be coming up with other movies as well, which are on similar lines. Some, of these movies are really good, but you can’t help but feel that , A whole bunch of director’s have suddenly jumped onto what I’d liked to call,” ”The schizophrenic bandwagon”,and raked in the profits. For like I have just illustrated.It does makes great commercial and marketing sense.

Reminds me of that often quoted saying in Hollywood…”Money talks , Bull shit walks, That’s Showbiz!”,  or better still “Its all about the money, Honey”