Hi folks. Jason here. Neophyte Idiepix-er and world-weary filmmaker. The other day I got to thinkin…

…about politics. Now, I by no means consider myself an expert in this arena, except of course in the expression of my own thoughts and opinions. I’ve got a frickin’ PHD in shootin’ my mouth off! But from my seat it really does seem like we’re in trouble. As the beloved Wrestler-Governor Jesse Ventura put it in Predator, one of my favorite guilty pleasure films, “We’re in a world of hurt.”

This blog is ostensibly about film, so I won’t go any further than that, except to say that if you’re a person who feels our country’s political system and our place in the global community is rock solid, that our mission has truly been accomplished, I suggest you stop reading now. After all, there’s surely something sufficiently distract-I mean, entertaining, on TV at this very moment…

One theory about what’s wrong with our current version of democracy blames our transforming capitalist economy. In short, that lawmakers are so irrevocably attached to big business, so hopelessly subservient to the teensiest beck and call of Corporate America, that they no longer represent the will of the people. True? Who knows. But it’s more than understandable. After all, if Exxon/Mobil offered you $200,000 for an hour-long speaking engagement, you might spend a spell considering it. C’mon, now! I can feel that defiant look. But let’s all tether our high horses out back for a sec…

The fact of the matter is that this situation is not unique to politics. It’s everywhere. The almighty dollar rules us all, twisting minds with a speed that would convince Sauron to trade in the One Ring for a new model. You see it in education and healthcare, in fashion and farming. In film? Well, I haven’t seen Spiderman 3 yet, but for some reason I’ve really been craving a big mac…

But not in independent film, right? Not there. We hope and pray that outside the studio system there lurks a small but hardy band of true artists, unconcerned with financial gains, oblivious to commercial success, who are made truly and fully complete simply through the creation of a piece of art, and the joy of sharing it with the world. That somewhere there exists an enlightened land where the words film and business have been ripped away from each other and gone their separate ways. Eh…I dunno…

What is independent, really? Is it the twenty million dollar films the studios release with that monicker, camouflaged through their independent divisions, stocked with stars, armed with a juicy P&A budget and a national distribution deal? Or is independent the kind of films I’ve made, with budgets that couldn’t get Tom Cruise’s stand-in out of bed? That must be the case, right? Beholden to no one. Free creative expression. Ah, if only. Because regardless of how small your budget is, there’s always someone to answer to. Even if that someone is your Aunt Sylvia. Unless you’ve gathered your film’s budget by racking up the Visa bill, folks want to know what’s doin’. As they should. Film investors deserve to make their money back. Heck, people who put their faith in artists to turn a buck probably deserve sainthood for how often it works out! Not to mention the fact that on the vast majority of projects, success and failure is completely dependent on collaboration. No man is an island. Except maybe Stanley Kubrick, but even he needed some dude to push a dolly.

What do you think, folks? Does true independence exist in film today? In politics? In life?

Okay, I’m gonna head back to my jungle hut now. If I don’t make a new spear before the sun sets there won’t be any weasel for dinner…