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Lasagna's avatar

How about Theory 7: You can't fight City Hall?

There may just be periods of history where the creation of art is so constrained that excellence can't get any air. I doubt I'm blowing any minds if I say that most everyone - artists, studios, benefactors, museums, whoever - is more reluctant than they've been in generations to produce anything but pablum. There's just no percentage in it right now.

I wonder if there's any real way to climb out of it. The fact that every single interesting, novel, and boundary-pushing work of art in human history is available to virtually the entire human race in an instant probably argues against it. You could spend the rest of your life and never want for exciting art. That niche is filled by streaming services, Amazon, the internet. Why take any risks with new stuff?

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Carina's avatar

I'm on team "No one tells them no" along with "they're free to ignore all criticism and suggestions." Studio 60 was very revealing on this point -- in addition to the insane mushroom-induced war fantasy plots, it was about a genius head writer (Matt) and his worthless writing staff that never got sketches on the air. The staff eventually quit to make a doomed sitcom called Peripheral Vision Man, and Matt had to write the entire show by himself.

Sorkin is prolific and talented, but he obviously has some control issues that don't serve him. It seems like folks tried to reign him in on West Wing (leading to his departure) but as you observed, he obviously wrote Studio 60 by himself on drugs. If there was a paid writing staff, he rejected all of their ideas and then went back to his office muttering about incompetent amateurs -- and then put that frustration right into the script, further demoralizing the staff. I mean, imagine pitching an idea, and then Sorkin not only rejects your idea, the next episode is about the put-upon head writer blowing off steam about the untalented hacks on his writing staff.

This is why some of Sorkin's worst writing is about race and gender topics. He clearly writes those scenes himself, without soliciting feedback from anyone who is an actual woman or Black person, and the results are cringe city.

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