Films about the films have a long, if not very glorious, tradition. The public seems to like them, however, never able to get their fill. They like to know all the details. On one level they want to know how all the "special effects" are achieved, thus defeating the purpose for which they might otherwise seem so magical. Stage illusionists are at least wise enough to understand that their success depends on the audience "not" understanding how the tricks were performed, but not the movies. On another level, they can't get enough of the people. Never mind that if we know too much about what goes on behind the scenes, the business becomes tawdry and commonplace. The magic depends on our belief in the magic, and hence the less we know about the sordid affairs of those who create it, the better. But evidently we have finely arrived at that point in our culture where even soap-operas about the lives of those who create soap-operas, have become worthy fodder for amusement.
Basically, this is a pot-boiler about the debauched lives of the sorts of people who create popular, cinematic pot-boilers, but presented as though they were making a profound statement about humanity in general. What is fraudulent about the premise is that for most people (members of the audience in particular), their lives are by no means that self-indulgent or narcissistic. They don't live in million dollar mansions on sprawling estates with a fabulous swimming pool in which to experience gratuitous sex while flirting with mind-altering drugs. They may struggle with depression, alcoholism, the occasional sexual indiscretion, or lapses in motivation, just like anyone else, but to suggest that they therefore have something in common with the over-paid, self-important denizens of Wonderland, on that basis, merely trivializes them as being no better.
The lives of the people represented are pathetic. There is no meaning or purpose to their lives, and hence when they are not wallowing in self-pity, they are trying to seduce each other's friends. People don't matter to them much, not even their own children. The common guy, more typical of the average member of the audience, who comes out to exterminate their bugs, might as well be a bug himself, for all that this film thinks of him as a worthy human being. Yet these conceited peacocks in their fantasy world expect the common man to pass judgment on them for being "merely human," just like you and me! How nice to be included in their definition of humanity. Other than that, the situations given probably could take place at almost any level of society, but that hardly seems a worthy point to make.
Basically, this is a pot-boiler about the debauched lives of the sorts of people who create popular, cinematic pot-boilers, but presented as though they were making a profound statement about humanity in general. What is fraudulent about the premise is that for most people (members of the audience in particular), their lives are by no means that self-indulgent or narcissistic. They don't live in million dollar mansions on sprawling estates with a fabulous swimming pool in which to experience gratuitous sex while flirting with mind-altering drugs. They may struggle with depression, alcoholism, the occasional sexual indiscretion, or lapses in motivation, just like anyone else, but to suggest that they therefore have something in common with the over-paid, self-important denizens of Wonderland, on that basis, merely trivializes them as being no better.
The lives of the people represented are pathetic. There is no meaning or purpose to their lives, and hence when they are not wallowing in self-pity, they are trying to seduce each other's friends. People don't matter to them much, not even their own children. The common guy, more typical of the average member of the audience, who comes out to exterminate their bugs, might as well be a bug himself, for all that this film thinks of him as a worthy human being. Yet these conceited peacocks in their fantasy world expect the common man to pass judgment on them for being "merely human," just like you and me! How nice to be included in their definition of humanity. Other than that, the situations given probably could take place at almost any level of society, but that hardly seems a worthy point to make.