A moral dilemma

If you were didn't agree with guns you wouldn't want to work in a gun shop would you?

If you didn't agree with animal testing, you would work in a lab that tests on animals would you?

The above statements are just a few examples on decisions we as humans face when we have morals we like to keep up. Now, everyone has different morals... some people think animals are inferior to humans, and so testing on animals is perfectly fine, thus the second of those issues wouldn't bother them greatly, and in the same way, some people, cultures even, think guns are perfectly fine.

I understand both of these viewpoints, and could probably in some way understand any other viewpoint on those subjects, though it doesn't mean I agree myself.

In the same way, I keep coming up with a dilemma that I can't explain to people but which I doesn't morally fit within what I find comfortable.

If a film industry is more focused on profit and shareholders than actually giving film-makers a chance to shine, why would you work in the film industry?

Okay... I've heard every possible answer to this, looked at it from many angles, and to me, morally, I couldn't. I don't know if people just think they can't get by without huge corporations putting money into projects, and I don't know if people just feel they are losing a battle that can never be won, but to me, morally and in my heart, I can't do it, and don't want to.

The thing for me is, at the moment, many films are made because they have a pre-built audience, someone to sell it at and market it towards, something they know can make them money back, and so we see the same old stuff pumped out all the time, sometimes and often, from the same people, with the same people in them...

There are exceptions to this, I will admit, but for the majority of films, money making profit is one of, if not the most important aspects of the business... because that's what it is, a business. The people who run these companies often don't have a passion for films like we do, they have a passion for figures, and if something will give them figures, they will be happy to give the all clear.

Now, imagine for a moment that every film anyone wanted to make was made... there would be some shite, I know, but imagine also all the amazing films we could have seen already had they been given a chance. There are people in this world, people I know even, who have so much talent, but very little way to output it and who never get the chance to show people. Trust me when I tell you I know people who could easily make a film that is out of this world and that people will want to see, but without that chance, without a clearly defined market, it never gets seen/made.

When money becomes involved, it puts me off, because then there is something called compromise... Now, I understand compromise is important in every day life, and important in this industry, but often the intentions behind that compromise is to maximize viewers, and in return, maximize profit.

There is so much I could go into, so many problems and so many things I don't agree with within this industry, but for now I'll leave it at that... all I can say is, I have always wanted to make films, for pretty much my whole life, and I always will, but I don't want art, my art, to be governed by a business that is simply out to make money, and that will actively try to change that art to make more money... and I don't want to play a game where I would feel I would always be losing.

That is something people don't understand... I always get told that I need to play the game, the game of the business, but I don't, and won't. In the end, if I can look back at my life and say I tried my best and did what I believe to be right, that will be the best thing I could ever hope for... If I looked back and saw that I had to bow to industries only interested in money, or that I couldn't create art in a way I wanted, how would I feel? Cheated. I would have cheated myself and been cheated.

We all have different reasons for doing what we do... and for me, it's all about the art, the passion, the way that art is made, the reasons behind making it. If I were to make art in a corrupt system, that art wouldn't be as pure as I would want it to be, and I wouldn't be making something in a way, and for the reasons, that I felt would be right.

Where does this leave me though? I do wonder about that... but one thing I know is that no matter where this road takes me, or this dream I have, I'll always, ALWAYS, in some way, live my life through creativity, imagination and passion, and I will always try and do that in the best way possible to stand with my morals and ideals.

Again, going back to the top of this blog, we all have different morals... this is just one of mine, and I will fight it tooth and claw.

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