Among all the art forms in the whole cultural field, film is an art that has been fully capitalized since its birth. Film is not only one of the most expensive works of art in human history, but also an art form that directly aims at profit, at least it can recover its investment. And such a most capitalized art form is precisely the growth and maturity of Jewish businessmen who cultivate supporters.
The history of world movies coincides with the history of a long "historical period" after the origin of American movies, and the history of American movies is to a great extent the history of an American Jewish movie:
The five major studios that dominate the American film industry: MGM (including its predecessors, Mitro Film Company, godwin Film Company and Meyer Film Company), Paramount Film Company, Warner Bros., Radio and Television Film Company and 20th Century Fox Film Company, are all owned and controlled by Jews. Three other large film companies, namely Universal Studios, Columbia Studios and United American Studios, were also founded or owned by Jews.
Many important producers or distributors in American film history, such as Adolf Zucker (Paramount), Samuel Goldwyn (MGM and America), Karl Limler (Universal), Marcus Loy (MGM), William Fox (20th Century Fox), Harry Cohen (Columbia) and four Warner Brothers, namely Harry and Cohen.
During the development of the film industry, Jews played a leading role in film production and film funding from the start-up of the film industry to the exploration of the distribution of chain cinemas, from improving the film quality to introducing the first sound film, from the establishment of the star system to the use of the first director from a different place, until the comprehensive reorganization of film production companies in the 1930s and the merger of film production companies in the 1960s.
Jews are almost everywhere in the film industry, even causing anxiety among some non-Jewish Americans. After World War I, with the increasing influence of movies on the public, "Movies must be liberated from the devil and 500 non-Christian Jews" became the slogan of a pressure group.
This kind of demand, tearing off its hypocritical coat, is very similar to what has happened repeatedly for thousands of years: when the film industry has been capitalized and has become a safe and profitable gold mine, Jews should be "invited" out, because there seems to be no place where Jews are particularly needed now.
Whether Jews are needed now or not, the film industry did need Jews at the beginning, especially Jewish businessmen.
In the words of Ben seligman, an American economist, the film industry has sprung up in the hands of people who run the "five-point cinema", such as glove dealers, pharmacists, fur dealers, cloth dealers and jewelers (all of which are Jewish-intensive commercial industries). In other words, early movies are like watching a "peep show", paying 5 cents and watching it in a small hole for a few minutes. Who can guarantee that today's dazzling movie world will be born from that clumsy, silent and colorless early film work with only a few minutes? Who can develop from the "5 cents" fare in those years to the box office income of hundreds of millions today? The film industry is a potentially profitable industry, but who can predict how much "cash" will be needed to make this potential come true, or, more ideally, become "cash"? Even today, when the film industry as a whole has become a safe place, there are not a few films that have spent a lot of money and lost money because they are not attractive. Of the 65,438+000 movies, less than 40% finally made money. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of courage and foresight Jewish vendors have when they join the film industry!
Adolf Zuk is a Hungarian immigrant. When he arrived in America, all his possessions were $40 sewn into the lining of his coat. At first, he made a living by selling leather goods. After his business grew, he took out $200,000 and invested it in a cheap amusement park, the so-called "five o'clock theater", which he had actually started shooting at that time. It was during this period that he met Marcus Loy. Roy was born in poverty, worked as a child laborer and started out as a leather goods maker.
At the end of World War I, Zach and Roy bought a peep show and a cheap playground in partnership. Due to disagreement, they soon parted ways. Interestingly, due to the same understanding of the capitalization of the film industry, the two started from opposite directions and finally reached the same point, although they did not re-partner.
After breaking up, Zuk kept his cheap playground and continued to make movies. Later, he formed the "Famous Actors Company" and finally took over Paramount Film Company. Zuk realized the importance of controlling the cinema very early, because with the cinema, the film can be guaranteed to be sold. So he issued $6,543,800+shares and established his own cinema. 1926, he built an extremely luxurious paramount cinema in new york and dedicated it to the United States.
Roy's path is just the opposite of Zuk's. Roy first controlled a number of chain cinemas. Later, in order to ensure that there were enough movies in his cinema to attract audiences, he turned to production. Under his matchmaking, three Jewish film production companies, Mitro Film Company, godwin Film Company and Meyer Film Company, merged to form MGM Film Company, with the initials of the three companies as the name.
In essence, Zuk and Roy's practice of linking film producers with movie theaters has realized the integration of film production, supply and marketing, making film production directly oriented to market efficiency or box office value, and the necessary framework for the capitalization of film industry has been formed. As for the commercialization of film as an art form, especially its aesthetic taste, perhaps it should be attributed to Warner Bros..
Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack are the sons of a Polish Jewish shoemaker. They (mainly the two big ones) used to do various small businesses and accumulated funds to open a bicycle shop. 1904, the four brothers got the film projector and started their film career.
At first, they only had a projector, no theater of their own, and even a copy called great train robbery. They toured around because it was still the age of silent films. During the screening, their sister played the piano, accompanied by Jack, the youngest of the four brothers. At that time, he was only a few years old After accumulating a little money, they began to exchange movies with others and become film publishers.
19 12 years, they moved to California and founded warner Bros. ... warner company is determined to innovate, although it has experienced a series of failures and suffered heavy losses many times, but it has not changed its original intention. 1927, they finally made the first sound film "King of Jazz" in the history of successful movies. In this film, they skillfully used the mouth of the characters in the play to say a well-known quip: "You haven't heard anything yet."
Warner Bros. is often called "Mongolian in the film industry". The four brothers have different personalities and don't get along very well, but they have one thing in common, that is, they have been pursuing box office value and are committed to providing what most people can accept. Therefore, they have clear production standards. This market positioning, to borrow the words of the characters in a famous movie "Cover Girl" produced by Warner Corporation, is: "If you start to please the upper class, then you are finished."
Facing the public, even catering to the public, is an overall standard that Warner Bros. and even Hollywood follow when shooting movies. No matter what critical attitude film critics or film history researchers hold, they dismiss it as "mediocrity" or something else, but as far as the nature of the film itself and the inherent requirements of the capitalization of the film industry are concerned, a film with huge expenses can only recover its investment from the largest audience and make profits. Whether this emphasis on "popular taste" by the Hollywood Jewish giants represented by Warner Bros. is regarded as the function of the deep-rooted Jewish concept of equality or the shrewdness of Jewish filmmakers, what really shows the problem is that the film industry has been the best art field to take care of itself for quite some time. Movies can find generous audiences, and audiences can see luxurious movies. This is an example of the good progress of film capitalization.
Therefore, Hollywood giants not only provide dreams for the audience in movies, but also build a place as luxurious as the screen to enjoy movies. In the "Glaumann China Theatre" and the cinemas of major film companies, it is resplendent, with thick carpets on the ground and dazzling decorations everywhere. The audience is regarded as the emperor, and the usher and ticket inspector are as well dressed and polite as the servants of the noble family.
As a result, the most popular comedy department in all popular movies has become a real Jewish world: except for a few non-Jews, all others are Jews, such as Fanny blaise, the Marcos brothers, Jack Benny and Lenny Bruce, while the comedian Charlie Chaplin is repeatedly mistaken for a Jew because of his superb acting skills!
With the rise of television, Hollywood and even the whole film industry have declined, but at the same time, we can see that in the more commercial field of television, there are as many Jews as the film industry. The heads of the three major television networks in the United States were all Jews: William Paley of CBS, Leonard Goldenson of ABC and David Sanov of NBC; Three commercial television networks in Britain, namely United Television, Granada Television and United Radio, are also owned by three British Jews, namely, Liu Grader and Sydney Bernstein. Moreover, even in Britain, which is famous for its conservatism and conservatism, Granada TV station in Bernstein has made TV programs comparable to ABC's best programs, and at the same time, it has made high profits, becoming "the best example that commercial TV stations can even make money from culture"!