News Corp to muster all units for "Simpsons" filmYour first reaction was probably, "Simpsons movie? Awriiiiiight!"
By Georg Szalai Wed Jun 14, 2:08 AM ET
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - In the months before 20th Century Fox launches its big-screen version of "The Simpsons" next year, parent company News Corp. plans to muster every part of its entertainment empire to promote the film, president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin said Tuesday.
In so doing, News Corp. will maximize the marketing muscle of its various divisions while allowing them to benefit from the halo effect of the popular cartoon franchise, Chernin explained.
Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecommunications Conference that was available via Web cast, Chernin said News Corp. held a three-hour meeting last week with about 40 executives from across the company, including its licensing, home video, book, satellite TV and broadcast network operations from around the world, as well as the film's executive producer, James L. Brooks, to discuss broader strategies related to the film's release.
And then I thought a bit about this headline: News Corp. That also includes, well Fox News. And various newspapers across the country.
And I began to think about how Rupert Murdoch will pander to both the neo-con christofascist element AND the low-brow Neaderthalic elements of this country, and remembered that Murdoch will pimp the Simpsons movie in ways that will make thinking people cringe.
Bad news for Bush one morning? No problem: Banner headline in the New York Post reads "230 Days To Simpsons' Movie" and in the lower left in the tiniest possible print Bush indictment handed up.
See where I'm going with this?
The American audience is, let's face facts, a herd of sheep. Marshall McLuhan once pointed out that TV is a "cold" medium, in that it involved little or no participation from the audience. Just sit. And watch. And imbibe the stream of information being fed to you.
The entertainment divisions ran with this so fast it wasn't even funny. How else do you explain the "Beverly Hillbillies" or "My Mother, The Car"?
It wasn't until the news divisions were incorporated by all the networks into the profit center of the entertainment division that suddenly American information channels collapsed. Add to that the abhorrent amount of money invested by certain political factions who can afford to spend it in buckets to keep the status quo, and now you understand why the biggest story "Dateline" can break in the 21st Century is a seventeen part (and counting) series on PEDOPHILES! *cue startling and eerie music*
Or ABC can actually devote an entire hour of prime time to "Doc-TAH Billy Graham's CROOsade!".
News has become a joke in this country, and I'm afraid that we have lost quite a bit for that. Yes, the Internet will provide all the information you need, packaged and delivered, but nearly half the country thinks the Internet is what fishermen use to catch medium size fish, and half of those who use the 'Net think it's all about the pr0n.
That you're reading this tells me you know better. Whether you agree with me on most issues or none, isn't important. What's important is you see the yawning gap and are determined to do better by yourself.
Good for you. Now go tell five friends.
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