television off
Nov. 11th, 2007 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So I don't know if I have much to add to the conversation about the WGA Writers' Strike, but my TV is off until the strike is settled.
Part of me is sad that, of all the injustices corporate America perpetrates, the one that gets attention is the one that threatens to take away peoples' televisions. Somehow it's become unfashionable to support workers' rights in this country (you get called a socialist! Or worse: French!). This is even more disheartening as the divide between rich and poor becomes more absolute.
That said, this particular strike is close to home for me. I'm virtually married to someone who works in the media industry, which is a realm that gets away with treating people like garbage because "that's just how it works." We have friends in the production industry, and friends hoping to finagle their way into the production industry, most of whom do so because they believe that serial storytelling can, at its best, be a powerful creative medium. And the industry takes these people, grinds them to a pulp, and throws them aside.
So, yes: I support the WGA, and I support anyone who wants to take a stab at the behemoths we've created to sell us products.
Oh: and I do wish Steve Carell a speedy recovery from his unfortunate case of enlarged balls.
Part of me is sad that, of all the injustices corporate America perpetrates, the one that gets attention is the one that threatens to take away peoples' televisions. Somehow it's become unfashionable to support workers' rights in this country (you get called a socialist! Or worse: French!). This is even more disheartening as the divide between rich and poor becomes more absolute.
That said, this particular strike is close to home for me. I'm virtually married to someone who works in the media industry, which is a realm that gets away with treating people like garbage because "that's just how it works." We have friends in the production industry, and friends hoping to finagle their way into the production industry, most of whom do so because they believe that serial storytelling can, at its best, be a powerful creative medium. And the industry takes these people, grinds them to a pulp, and throws them aside.
So, yes: I support the WGA, and I support anyone who wants to take a stab at the behemoths we've created to sell us products.
Oh: and I do wish Steve Carell a speedy recovery from his unfortunate case of enlarged balls.
no subject
on 2007-11-11 06:56 pm (UTC)And while I'm totally on the side of the writer's in this current situation, I generally have no love for the WGA or any of the entertainment industry unions. Especially SAG, they're the worst -- like crooked and unfair on the level of pipefitter's unions. They create just as many problems for their workforce as the corporations do by essentially saying "you can practice you art... so long as you practice it *only* with the other people in our little club." Fuck that, that's not art, that's a dictatorship. It's almost the same mentality that led to the movie studios essentially *owning* actors like they did in the first half of the 20th century. Which is ridiculous b/c the unions were created to stop that crap.
But yeah, what are we going to do? Having the screwed up trade unions is infinitely better than letting the corporations run wild.
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on 2007-11-11 07:16 pm (UTC)It's especially difficult in the creative professions, where you don't want to be told how you have to accomplish something. Creative work is hard, and it's infuriating to have a lot of bullshit between you and what you're trying to do. There might be better ways to protect the workers than regulating who they can work with, and I do wish unions would be open to some alternate strategies. That said, having worked both union and non-union jobs in my life, I'm willing to consider organized labor the lesser of several evils.
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on 2007-11-13 05:06 am (UTC)(I was raised to support unions...it would take a lot to get that out of me...)
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on 2007-11-13 02:32 pm (UTC)I've been in a union myself for 5 years and I think that experience made me a little more critical of union policies, but not unions themselves. That said, having a union made a big difference in my life for the better.
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on 2007-11-11 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-12 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-12 08:13 pm (UTC)Fun fact to know and tell: somehow, magically, the strike does not affect animation.... not quite sure how that works.
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on 2007-11-12 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-12 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-13 03:28 am (UTC)At least in America, animation is where old and desperate writers go to die.
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on 2007-11-13 05:56 pm (UTC)We're still pleased as punch up here since a) the writer working on our script will still be working on it b) if the script moves forward we a possible movie to make and c) if we have a movie to make we all get to keep our jobs! Yay animation!!
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on 2007-11-13 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-13 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-13 09:41 pm (UTC)It makes me feel a little guilty that I only watch television on DVD.
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on 2007-11-14 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-14 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-11-14 02:01 pm (UTC)