No matter where you looked for cinema, 2017 was a great, rich, and varied year for the art of film. It was most assuredly not a great year for the business or culture of film, and this must be addressed before we get back to the art, for any assessment of 2017 would be grossly incomplete without that consideration. A growing revolution in American culture had a major part of its epicenter in the film industry, as the abuses of a seemingly endless parade of awful, powerful men were revealed, exposing an insidious and systemic rot that has hurt more people and robbed the world of more great careers than we may ever truly understand. Multiple online film coverage outlets and the gatekeepers controlling them were similarly outed, while a major theatre chain whose arms extend into film festivals, distribution, and much of modern film culture was revealed to have a CEO who actively covered up and enabled a serial sexual harasser. No American industry, no segment of American life, has been or will be immune from the #MeToo wave, nor should they be, for this is a systemic cultural cancer that we are all of us, men especially, responsible for recognizing and taking active steps to improving. But the entertainment industry was a major and critical part of this revolution, and will continue to be going forward, and as long as we enjoy and discuss and write about film or television, we must also be vigilant in supporting the voices of those who have been hurt and working, in whatever small or large ways we can, to change and improve our culture going forward.
Jonathan Lack's Top 10 Films of 2017
Jonathan Lack's Top 10 Films of 2017
Jonathan Lack's Top 10 Films of 2017
No matter where you looked for cinema, 2017 was a great, rich, and varied year for the art of film. It was most assuredly not a great year for the business or culture of film, and this must be addressed before we get back to the art, for any assessment of 2017 would be grossly incomplete without that consideration. A growing revolution in American culture had a major part of its epicenter in the film industry, as the abuses of a seemingly endless parade of awful, powerful men were revealed, exposing an insidious and systemic rot that has hurt more people and robbed the world of more great careers than we may ever truly understand. Multiple online film coverage outlets and the gatekeepers controlling them were similarly outed, while a major theatre chain whose arms extend into film festivals, distribution, and much of modern film culture was revealed to have a CEO who actively covered up and enabled a serial sexual harasser. No American industry, no segment of American life, has been or will be immune from the #MeToo wave, nor should they be, for this is a systemic cultural cancer that we are all of us, men especially, responsible for recognizing and taking active steps to improving. But the entertainment industry was a major and critical part of this revolution, and will continue to be going forward, and as long as we enjoy and discuss and write about film or television, we must also be vigilant in supporting the voices of those who have been hurt and working, in whatever small or large ways we can, to change and improve our culture going forward.