Three Ways the Entertainment Industry Quietly Enforces Conformity

Netflix’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ mess is a case study in cultural corruption

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Thanks so much for your continued support. Thanks to you this substack has grown a lot since the early days when I was too protective of my livelihood to publicize my work.

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Ted

It’s kind of surprising that anyone gets cancelled anymore.

Think about it. Whether it’s race, sex, transgenderism, or most any other dicey topic, we know what to say and what not to say. We know the “correct” opinions and the “problematic” ones. We collect the information that swirls around us, and our factory-installed impulse for self preservation protects our reputations, friendships, and jobs. Nearly everyone knows nearly all of the rules, and nearly all of us play by them.

And yet, people still do get cancelled.

The outrage surrounding the Netflix movie Emilia Pérez and lead actor Karla Sofía Gascón represents the kind of high-profile explosion that was so common just a short while ago. As I noted last week, the surfacing of problematic tweets quickly transformed the actor from a trans hero to a Hollywood heretic.

Maybe that’s the kind of exception that proves the new rule. Today many look around and see fewer casualties like Gascón and conclude that our cowardly and conformist culture must be loosening up.

But myopia often misleads.

Most of an iceberg remains hidden from view, but the giant part of it below the water line can sink ships. Likewise, most of what we know of as Cancel Culture remains hidden from view — and that often makes it more dangerous.

A giant censorship apparatus has emerged over the past decade, but it malfunctioned and gave us the glorious Emilia Pérez implosion. Yes, it’s fun to watch the shiny herds in entertainment and media panic about Oscars and the like, but let’s not overlook the dark side of this dustup. Far from signaling that Cancel Culture is behind us, it reveals how the giant censorship apparatus could grow stronger.

Let’s examine three largely unseen steps that filter out problematic movies and shows before they reach viewers.

1. Self censorship

The Eight Percenters who lead the most powerful entertainment institutions make their preferences quite clear. Everybody knew that Emilia Pérez’s trans-friendly angle would help make it an Oscar contender, and everybody knows what to embrace or avoid if you want to get into Sundance or sell a script.

In some cases, such as studio mandates or “network needs,” Eight Percenters actually spell out what creators should embrace or avoid. Here’s a sample from one studio: “Diversity and/or female empowerment should be incorporated into each show and are very important. Ethnic diversity and LGBTQ, especially.”

After the gatekeepers convey their “dos and don’ts,” most of their work is done. That’s because our censorship regime is mostly self-policing. As noted above, we mostly know the rules of the game. And most of us play by the rules most of the time. Directors, writers, and producers angling for airtime and funding pay especially close attention to the rules.

Splashy eruptions such as the Emilia Pérez controversy provide potent reminders to stay in line, but usually artists’ day-to-day lives provide all the incentive they need. Surveys often reveal widespread self censorship, especially about hot-button issues. But I suspect they understate the extent of self censorship. Most of us routinely make tiny adjustments that largely escape conscious reflection. It’s sort of like riding a bike. We’re largely oblivious to the tiny adjustments we make to keep ourselves from falling over.

It’s been my experience that artists self censor much more than the general public. I’ve recently completed a project where my colleagues and I conducted about 50 private interviews with successful entertainment industry professionals. Although the subjects hold a wide array of political views, the broad strokes of how they view the state of free expression remained remarkably consistent. Everybody knows what types of storylines to pursue or avoid if they want to advance their careers.

Those itching to get into Sundance or or sell a script gravitate toward the storylines they think gatekeepers will greenlight. They probably don’t even stop to consider all the promising ideas they’re avoiding.

2. Gatekeepers Filter Out Problematic Projects

Most dissident ideas get filtered out through Step 1, but the ones that remain proceed to Step 2. My wife and I have plenty of first-hand experience with Step 2. For instance, we pitched The Coddling of the American Mind movie project to a major studio in 2020. As veteran filmmakers with heterodox views, we were hardly naive. Yet the studio execs proved even more timid than we expected.

They didn’t like that I was a cis straight white male director and feared our project could ignite a social media backlash that would hurt their brand and anger their corporate sponsors. Anyone who heard about our incident—from those at the meeting to our circle of associates—added the new information to their mental archive and updated how they went about advancing their careers.

Yes, very few people were privy to our particular incident, but similar incidents happen all the time. And these incidents reinforce the self policing that occurs in Step 1. They shape what viewers see and don’t see, yet such interactions remain mostly hidden from view.

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3. Gatekeepers Filter Out Problematic People

Jim Caviezel is an excellent actor, but he will never touch Oscar gold. Gatekeepers will likely keep him away from any project that might attract awards buzz. Indeed, since the absurd controversy surrounding Sound of Freedom, it’ll probably be harder for him to land mainstream gigs. The conservative Catholic now shares the penalty box with Gascón, the anti-Catholic lefty.

Unless they’ve achieved Eastwood-level fame, the relatively few artists who openly voice heterodox views will find it harder to find work. Industry insiders lump these political dissidents with those who tried to play by the rules but slipped into controversy. Gatekeepers will filter most of these problematic actors, producers, and directors out of the highest-profile projects. That’s the preemptive side of person-specific filtering. Keep the baddies out.

But there’s another side. It’s not good enough to avoid the openly problematic contributors, gatekeepers must also ensure no secret baddies slip through. Before a project’s release, armies of publicists fan out to scrub public profiles. And it’s here that the industry’s censorship apparatus failed Emilia Pérez.

Under most circumstances, Netflix’s publicists would have quietly deleted Gascón’s sinister tweets long before Academy voters could detect any whiff of controversy. But this time was different. That’s probably because Gascón voiced forbidden views in Spanish. Yes, those pushers of a narrow brand of diversity might have been foiled by their narrow view of the world.

But the apparatus will learn from the embarrassment.

You can bet Netflix execs have updated their scrubbing protocols to include non-English social media posts. You can bet the constellation of entertainment companies, big and small, took note as well.

And you can bet the industry’s censorship apparatus will become even more effective at quietly filtering out problematic content before it ever reaches our screens.

Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His written work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Reason, and The Washington Post.

His recent film work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and the new feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Stream the very first “Substack Presents” feature documentary here on Substack or on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play.

Ted and his wife and producing partner Courtney Moorehead Balaker are now making a narrative feature film based on Rob Henderson’s bestselling book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class.