Thirty years after The Buggles became a number one hit with "Video killed the radio star,” and I can’t help but wonder whether the celebrity movie star will meet a similar fate to the radio star. But this time at the hands of digital technology, not video.
Inspired by JG Ballard’s short story, "Video Killed the Radio Star" was written and performed by Trevor Horn and celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television.
Thirty years on and the entertainment industry is undergoing a far greater change than the impact of the music video or the subsequent birth of MTV. The film companies are on the ropes and the movie star’s career is in danger of being cut short by digital.
Quite simply, the internet and digital technology has made available a huge volume of films, from any genre or era, for online ordering or download – thereby lessening our exposure to Hollywood’s intended blockbusters.
We are a long way from the 1950's when Hollywood film stars (Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Marilyn Monroe, and Rita Hayworth) were at their peak. That was an age when cinemas had one screen and if you made a movie you were virtually a celebrity by association.
A recently as 10 years ago we were restricted to the 8-10 movies showing at the multiplex or the 100 movies stacked on the shelves at the local blockbuster.
Now, with the exception of the very latest films, almost every film imaginable is available at reasonably high quality for instant download via BitTorrent or online ordering at Amazon or LoveFilm.
A few months ago, my wife and I watched "Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne)" an absolutely excellent French thriller which I suspect wasn’t even close to being shown in the major cinemas, but just might have been lucky enough to make those large inner city rental stores with a foreign language section.
BitTorrent (peer to peer file sharing technology) and broadband connectivity has given us an unlimited and unfiltered access to a phenomenal library of movies, covering all genres. Type "Ne le dis à personne" + torrent into Google and there you go.
The internet has taken copying to another level. To quote Kevin Kelly, "The internet is a copy machine. At its most foundational level, it copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it."“ Once anything that can be copied is brought into contact with internet, it will be copied, and those copies never leave."
The impact of broadband penetration and BitTorrents in our new “World of the Free,” has quite simply put Hollywood on its arse. The current IFPI & Warner Bros v PirateBay trail (#spectrial) is a classic example of how the film (and music industry) have rather handsomely failed to understand the basics of the New Economy and the concept of “Better than Free”.
We, the public, have choice hundreds and thousands of films all available for viewing; niches and genres for everybody’s taste and exposure to films that goes way beyond the top 10 hits showing at the Odeon.
The impact? Where does this leave our celebrity movie star, who only appears in the hit blockbusters?
Well I believe that they will be left in a similar position to our radio star.
It’s no coincidence that of the Top 50 best selling albums of all time, none were made in the last 5 years – and films look like heading the same way.
Digital technology provides us with choice. We’ll watch fewer blockbusters, we’ll see less of Cruise, Clooney et al – and as a result their exposure and celebrity status will be diluted.
RIP the Celebrity
