OPINION: When Screenwriters Should Unsettle Audiences

There’s an old Hollywood saying to writers that if you want to send a message, use Western Union. The idea is that audiences want films to entertain them, not to make them think. Studio heads and producers didn’t want to unsettle the audience. This is depicted in the Coen brothers’ typically excellent black comedy BARTON FINK. Fink (John Tuturro), a playwright, has lofty ideals about creating work that the common man will relate to, and as a result struggles to

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