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And, if the CGI masters venture out from their geek caves and try to tell us how to vote, we’ll laugh at them – just like we do to the human ones today.

Time is running out for Hollywood’s political pundits



Time is running out for Hollywood’s political pundits The shelf life of Hollywood stars who lobby in support of liberal memes is running out. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for us, the future is headed toward a CGI end. CGI isn’t a deadly disease. But it will eliminate more than a few careers in the film industry.
When CGI fully matures, no one will care when Hollywood luminaries threaten to leave the country if their favorite candidate isn’t elected. And only on the slowest of slow news days will the media note when some starlet is featured in a street protest against, or for, some cause. Public Service Announcements featuring actors pontificating on Global Warming Weather Change, or promoting some grievance-rights campaign, will still be around, but there’ll be fewer from Hollywood. Why? Because fewer will be available. CGI is computer-generated imagery. And it will have a starring role in the future of the big screen. A future today threatened by bad acting, thin redundant plotlines, and thinner political messaging. Here’s one example of how CGI has already progressed in a relatively few years.

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One source, engadget, in a December 2016 article, entitled “Rogue One is a milestone (and warning sign) for CG resurrection,” offered this observation: “[T]he notion of placing an actor in a film decades after their death raises some serious questions about how we'll treat digital likenesses in the future.” No doubt true. But those questions will be answered because big money is involved. The article’s subtitle is even more suggestive of what’s ahead: “Death isn't enough to keep a classic character out of the latest 'Star Wars' film.” Or any other movie, for that matter. The British actor Peter Cushing, who was in an earlier Star Wars film but died before Rogue One was produced, appeared in Rogue One. At least his image did. Peter Cushing, Rogue One CGI

Cushing is a precursor of what’s to come. In the not-so-distant future, televised ads may feature long-gone movie stars, making TV ads more interesting. Imagine John Wayne advertising a pick-up truck. Katharine and Audrey Hepburn modeling a new clothing style. Elizabeth Taylor introducing a new line of cosmetics. Gregory Peck doing a promo for a law firm, Lee Marvin in a beer commercial, and Steve McQueen selling motorcycles. Replicating voices to match the CGIs won’t be hard. Eventually, there’ll be full-length movies starring whatever classic actor fits the role best. Mysteries may re-emerge on screen featuring Humphrey Bogart. Today, special effects (FX) rules the industry. Acting and dialogue have taken a supporting role. Someday some best actors from the past will be back on screen, and the era of rich dialogue may resurface.


I learned what the future may hold from a grandson. I watched him play a video game with the standard format of good creatures v. bad ones. In his game, the battle was on another planet where drone creatures fought against creepy insect monsters. The stuff of nightmares. The drones below were controlled by humans in a space ship orbiting above the planet. The setting toggled back-and-forth between the space ship and the surface. The crew in the ship reacted dramatically to the ebb-and-flow of the battle action on the surface. I didn’t recognize any of the actors in the ship. Not one. After a couple of minutes, I realized I’d been fooled. They weren’t real people – they were CGIs. So, what may the future hold for CGIs?

The on-screen resurrection of some long-gone actors like Burt Lancaster, Bette Davis, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart…to name a few…may be ahead. My grandson might not recognize any of them, but compared to today’s collection of big screen actors, as a group they had more talent. In the coming CGI era, the key performers will be the script writers, linguistic experts, and CGI development engineers. The dominance of special effects in much of today’s cinema, and the dearth of memorable dialogue and complex plot lines, will probably not end. But it will subside. After all, how many absurd car chases and gory gun fights can a person watch in one lifetime? The Screen Actors Guild will shrink. Scandal sheets about Stars’ affairs and break-ups will have less material to hype. Fantasy divorces may compete with fantasy football, though. The computer geeks will be the big winners. The Me Too Movement will lose victims, since a human movie producer can’t molest a CGI, as much as Harvey may want to. One day a CGI will win an Academy Award for Best Actor. New CGI stars will emerge, too. Consequently, today’s live action heroes won’t continue past the age where they can convincingly play physically demanding roles. Sylvester Stallone can’t box anymore. Shirtless, he shows too many wrinkles. When the era of CGI matures, if the creators of the “new” old screen talent are smart, they will not make CGIs into spokespersons for political causes. They’d have better luck having a talking Pluto pitch dog food. And, if the CGI masters venture out from their geek caves and try to tell us how to vote, we’ll laugh at them – just like we do to the human ones today.

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Lee Cary -- Bio and Archives Since November 2007, Lee Cary has written hundreds of articles for several websites including the American Thinker, and Breitbart’s Big Journalism and Big Government (as “Archy Cary”). and the Canada Free Press. Cary’s work was quoted on national television (Sean Hannity) and on nationally syndicated radio (Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin). His articles have posted on the aggregate sites Drudge Report, Whatfinger, Lucianne, Free Republic, and Real Clear Politics. He holds a Doctorate in Theology from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL, is a veteran of the US Army Military Intelligence in Vietnam assigned to the [strong]Phoenix Program[/strong]. He lives in Texas.

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