Why the Writers’ Strike Isn’t Important

In a moment where talk of recession is pervasive, I find it interesting that our focus has been sharply honed on the fate of the Oscars and the writers’ strike. When labor all around the country is steadily declining (if it hasn’t already disappeared) and Americans are confronting the brute reality of poverty and joblessness, we continue to do what we do best: escapism!

Over the past 11 weeks we have been bombarded with images of the frumpy, overweight and mousy writers of the WGA. They have been made out to be the proletariat class leading a kind of Cultural Revolution. They are seen by some to be engaging in the first of many battles concerning the proliferation of media in a technological era.

The problem with this picture is that the writer’s are not protesting the consumer price on the new methods of proliferating media – they just want piece of the treasure. Furthermore, they are not the proletariats of the industry; rather, they are the middleclass. To be frank, the concept of ‘Hollywood Labor’ is certainly laughable, if not a paradox. There is nothing venerable about the plight of the writers.

writers.http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN1615156820080123