In These Trying Times

Certain movies genres fluctuate in popularity--westerns, sci-fi, musicals--but comedy is such a basic genre that it's always been big. Yet, some writers try to tie particular successes into particular eras, as if it's not the movie the audience is responding to, but the tough times. Ridiculous. Quality may change, but Hollywood comedies have always been around in large numbers.

So I was saddened but not surprised to see this in the The New York Times:

....history has its lessons. Beset by a writers’ strike and a weakening economy, Hollywood saw four comedies —Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coming To America, Big, and Crocodile Dundee--sweep the box office in the summer of 1988. In the last three presidential campaign years, however, the biggest comedy hit came after the election: Meet The Fockers in 2004, How The Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000 and Jerry Maguire in 1996.

1) Moviegoers don't give a damn about the writers' strike as long as new movies are coming out.

2) 1988 did not feature a weakening economy.

3) All these films were major releases (except for maybe Croodile Dundee) with lots of promotion. They were all released during periods when big films were coming out. Whether they came out before or after a presidential campaign was not a consideration.