Cynicism

Let's get a few things out of the way, in terms of cynicism in Hollywood. People who've been here less than five years and exhibit this are annoying. Those who've made a career of sorts, well, it's earned. I know a lot of people tell you that the term "cynicism" is bad. True. If you didn't work in movies. The point is, this business, you expect the very worse in people. And if you don't have it, you either haven't tried hard enough to break in, or you haven't met enough people.

At a certain point, I understand how an older person views Hollywood. A leery eye towards what is spoken and what is done. From the Midwest, people generally just...do, and speak very little. Here, they speak A LOT and do very little. I've been guilty of it. Wild ideas pop into your head, and as quickly as they come...they go. Sucks. But let's view what cynicism is built in this town.

You expect people to be awful. So they act awful. Or, they just do what you expected. The delusional idiot believes they willed this upon themselves. You could argue an entire culture has been built on society's cynicism towards them. For instance, the Black community feels put upon by police. So naturally both sides are suspicious of one another.

The movie business is a lot of people proving what liars, thieves and degenerates they are. In fact, they often celebrate it during the Oscars, when they honor someone like Roman Polanski. Sure, I personally don't think what he did was that awful, but it doesn't matter, since it is the law. If he gets away with things like this (which he still hasn't) then we slowly start to bend. Bending means we start to accept these deviant behaviors. Slowly, it morphs into something else. That's fine. That's life. But, the hypocrisy creates a lot of eye rolling when it comes to people making these grand schemes of success and fame. Cynicism is a defense mechanism to be sure.

Some people believe cynics bring it upon themselves. That they get what they expect. Listen, someone like Kelly McGillis who was assault more times than anyone in a lifetime doesn't need to change her "chi." She bought a gun. I consider cynics actually, the last line of romantics. Because they've expected so much for society that constantly disappoints. Yes, this is life. But you don't need to go through life believing also that you are at fault, because the stars didn't align. That's stupidity at its finest (see Homer Simpson vs. Frank Grimes).

I'm sure this isn't exclusive to the film industry, but it does hit it head on. People who seem to deny this...personally, I think THEY'VE given up on humanity. They believe people are who people are and they can't change them to suit your needs. Yeah, but there is a social contract that everyone abides by. This idiot would have you believe if you get raped, well...you can't change who that person is. Yeah, you can change him from living to dead, so he doesn't rape again. The person who can justify this is living in massive denial. And it's quite frustrating to deal with people who give clear bad behavior the benefit of the doubt. Or perhaps the reality is too much for that simple mind to process.

If you decide to come out here, protect yourself. I'm not saying be suspicious of EVERYONE. But be moreso than not. I wish you well in this business. The struggle is long and difficult and focus on what you do well. The other stuff is just smoke and mirrors and people who've failed that creep in your brain that you won't make it. I hope you do, just do it with equal parts bravery and trepidation.