Videogames Killing The Media Star?

Glenn Reynolds links to this James Pinkerton article from Tech Central Station on Hollywood and videogames. Pinkerton asks, “Why has Hollywood proven to be so far behind the cutting edge of entertainment?”

Glenn responds:

Movies encourage passive titillation; videogames encourage active involvement, and often present consequences as well.

And maybe that’s Hollywood’s problem. A culture built around passive titillation isn’t likely to view its audience in ways that facilitate active engagement.

The situation also reminds me of something I wrote a couple of years ago for TCS, using Virginia Postrel’s model of dynamists and stasists from her late 1990s classic, The Future and its Enemies: “Hollywood Stasists Versus Silicon Valley Dynamists“.