Editorial: Materialism with Modern Culture

One of my favorite actors is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I find his underwhelming style to be fantastically intriguing. From one of his earliest appearances in ’10 Things I Hate About You’ to ‘Inception’ in 2010, he has only bettered himself in the realm of acting. However, this is article isn’t about Mr. Gordon-Levitt. Its about a specific passage from one of my favorite of his films, called ‘(500) Days of Summer’. In ‘(500) Days’, he works as a greeting card writer while trying to woo a new employee. Predictably, the film is about the evolution of the main character and the ideology of love. One particular scene stands out:

Tom [speaking about greeting cards]: This is lies. We are liars. Think about it. Why do people buy cards? It's not because they want to say how they feel. People buy cards because they can't say how they feel or are afraid to. And we provide the service that lets them off the hook. You know what? I say to hell with it. Let's level with America. Or at least let them speak for themselves. Right?

Independent Filmmaking

                                           (500) Days of Summer--Dir. Marc Webb--
                                                                                      Dist. by Fox Searchlight Pictures


What does it mean to be an independent filmmaker? Does it mean that I have little to no budget, or that I work with no name actors, or that I have no chance of making money? Not really, as many independent films these days have budgets in the millions, work with actors such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and George Clooney, and have at times made large amounts of money. So, moving past the superficial aspects of the independent system, we can now look into what it means, at least to me.