Emma Thompson recently spoke at the Royal Television Society conference, which apparently had a lot of “drama students” in the audience. As in, students who attend drama schools in the UK. Emma put on her professor’s hat and spoke to them about the SAG-AFTRA strike and her problem with referring to television and films as “content.”
On viewing art as “content”: “I think the relationship between the executives and the creative branch just has to be much, much closer. To hear people talk about ‘content’ makes me feel like the stuffing inside a sofa cushion. It’s just rude, actually. It’s just a rude word for creative people. You don’t want to hear your stories described as ‘content’ or your acting or your producing described as ‘content.’ That’s just like coffee grounds in the sink or something. It’s, I think, a very misleading word.”
On the strike: “Everyone is affected. I’ve been writing to friends who are crew people, who are costume people, who are make-up people who aren’t working. It’s a very, very, very hard time, people are suffering so much.”
Authenticity is key, not creating “content”: “You find your audience by being completely authentic. These formulas don’t work… And then you sit there and you watch them and you wonder why, at the end of it, you feel a bit ill. And I think that’s something else that we don’t talk about as creators in television and in film. How does it make us feel inside ourselves after we’ve seen something? I want to feel as though I’ve been shifted slightly, even if it’s just my mood or I’ve learned something extraordinary. That is something we just have to keep on thinking about because that takes you away from this thing of ‘content.’ What is the story that you want to hear and that you want to tell that you think will make people feel different, safer, stronger?”
I totally understand her perspective and I agree that creative people hate to think of their art as “content” or “work product.” But… there is a lot of content out there and not all of it is “art.” Some stuff really is just mindless filler, reality shows and sh-t with zero stakes or just-going-through-the-motions monotony. There’s so much of that out there, that when a piece of actual art, a real piece of creativity breaks through, it feels so special.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
-
- Emma Thompson at the ‘Dolittle’ film premiere, London, UK,Image: 563103323, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
-
- Emma Thompson arrives for the premiere of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ at the opening of the Sundance Film Festival London on June 9, 2022,Image: 698429694, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
-
- Emma Thompson attends the World Premiere of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical, released by Sony Pictures in cinemas across the UK & Ireland on November 25th. The premiere was also the opening night for the annual BFI London Film Festival.,Image: 728425499, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ana M. Wiggins / Avalon
-
- Emma Thompson photographed at The 2023 EE BAFTA Film Awards Arrivals at the Royal Festival Hall in London, UK on 19 February 2023.,Image: 757152831, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
-
- Emma Thompson attending the EE BAFTA Awards 2023 at the Royal Festival Hall in Waterloo, London, United Kingdom.,Image: 757163827, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
I’m sure it’s no fun to hear but that’s how the executives think. Sure, they would love awards based on artistic merit, but their bottom line rules all. They have slots to fill, demographics to reach and ad dollars to pursue.
When I lived and worked in the industry, Iearned that even independent film isn’t immune to that line of thinking. These people crunch the numbers and analyze what will reach certain demographics or play well internationally. There’s a reason why superhero movies blew up. Because action, adventure, thrillers and horrors are universal.
It’s dehumanizing to call art content but that’s the point of capitalism.
If she or the industry doesn’t want to be “content” than stop making clickbait movies and TV shows. I’m tired of being tricked into spending money. Example: The Oppenheim pr/marketing showed/talked a totally different movie than what was on screen.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like Oppenheimer. I’d already decided not to watch the movie because I hate to waste money on Emily Blunt. However, American Prometheus is definitely on my book list. There’s a great NYT (non-paywall) article by Andy Kifer about how the book came to be written the way it was –
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/books/oppenheimer-american-prometheus-sherwin-bird.html
It’s just a race to the bottom with everyone and everything trying to go viral. So many things competing for eyeballs. Also, content is written, produced, and labelled/tagged also for search engines.
Off topic a little, but I liked Oppenheimer on some level. However, at some other level, it was the usual Chris Nolan self-important smug-machismo energy. Florence Pugh’s character was actually 10 years younger than Oppenheimer and a worldly psychiatrist. FP vs Cillian Murphy = 20 years. She was woefully miscast and her nudity felt like a stunt, as in, “Look at Chris Nolan being so daring.”
Can’t fault Cillian and Emily’s acting; they are such good actors. In fact everyone was great but RD Jr always slightly overacting and Rami was kind of awkward and uneasy; don’t know if deliberate. Liked Josh H’s presence. Too many cameos that were distracting. Just don’t like Chris Nolan’s energy and vision that much.
I agree with her. It is the cynicism of knowing the price and not the value.
Filming your food experiences while you travel is content, I guess. V-logs and blogs often qualify as content. If it’s deeper intellectually, then it’s an article or a piece of art. Content is usually made just to generate clicks whether for revenue directly from channels like YT or for advertising purposes that translate into conversions/purchases. Art is for its own sake or serves to enlighten in some way.
I have to agree with here, hearing and thinking of my artwork and videos as content really gets to me and just feels like blindly being part of capitalism.
Tangent: Not everything on the internet is art but I think people are being unnecessarily snooty here, to people like my sister who absolutely love reality tv, there is art in reality tv, it’s not just content. Just like pulp fiction is still fiction (art!) and Ukiyo-e wood prints of kabuki actors were basically like celebrity magazines of the time and I’d argue are objectively art. Now, AI generated storylines, Ai generated videos, etc, those I’d call content.