Culture p. 79-80, Q #3

It's funny I was just wondering about this subject myself, except not with film but with diamonds.
You know if you ride the "El" train they have those ads in the cars with the diamonds that say "make hr smile" or something to that affect. I wonder why they think diamonds make women smile, I mean who said that is what women want, did people pick it or did ads from the last centurary do it and we've been swept along with it?
Not that I don't like diamonds, even though I own none, I wa just wondering.
And it's the same thing with movies...do they "give the people what they want"? or do they decide? I'm under the impression that the reason there are so many films that are just alike is because they preform private screenings to see how well it wll be "liked" by the masses.
If that is true, they need ge new people.
Although, generally, i'm under the impression that blockbuster hollywood will do whatever makes them money. Comedies are harder to translate to an audience because how do you make a joke funny? It just is or it isn't.
But action films are extremely easy to make because they have a formula down back
---> explosion + car chase + intimedating protagonist + a few solid lines of tough-sounding oneliners+ minimal plot= $$$$$
A praticularly, good formula.
My brother and Dad love those kind of cheesy, fake, explosive, hero worship action films and I, the film lover, will never understand them.
But my dad says "it's supposed to be entertaining." essentially, a cop-out for "i don't want to think, I just wanna watch".
Prehaps that's the mentality that surrounds the blockbuter boom, the need to escape from work, kids, school, social problems, etc.
and just eat popcorn and relax.
Rather then it being just a one way thing (the producers controlling the discourse/the audience controlling the discourse) I feel it's probably a reciprical reaction. Producers make films, the audience go see, then they make more films because they think that's what they want.