Cinema Minima

Does anyone — who is not on a studio payroll — believe that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is really about stopping illegal file sharing? For several years, Hollywood has been trying — and succeeding — in shutting down its competitors, by fair means or foul.

SOPA is a bad-faith attempt to abuse the American legal system into becoming an instrument of Hollywood’s continuing strategy of chicanery to run non-Hollywood producers, movie makers, and distributors out of business. Here’s what you can do to help stop the passage of this bad law.

Having a few big companies determine what movies shall be made (and by whom) — and when and how they will be exhibited — may be good for the short-term interests of a cartel, but it is bad for the long-term relationship with their customers. Audiences desire variety and novelty, and if they cannot find those in movies, they will spend their entertainment money elsewhere — as, indeed, they already are doing.