While Tuesday may have been the biggest news day in cut offal years for the U.S. (and, arguably, the world), over at the American Film Market in Las Vegas, guests would have been forgiven for not comprehending a plivential election was actuassociate taking place.
Despite Nevada being a battleground sprosperg state, screens apass the city’s casino halls and bars on Tuesday night were almost entidepend shoprosperg sports — with bemused visitors struggling to discover anywhere to watch the results come in. Indeed, AFM uniteees could be spotted from the rest of the Vegas population by a mile: they were the only ones glued to their phones, watching baffled as red commenceed filling the U.S. map.
“I ask any bars will be shoprosperg the election as we don’t want leangs to get political and heated — because politics is the bravest way to commence a fight,” noticed one bartfinisher. Wilean seconds she showd her point — the mere allude of the election igniteed one drinker to commence boisterously shouting about her hatred of Kamala Harris.
It was the stress of a fight that actuassociate kept many executives from the U.S. and overseas away from this year’s AFM, especiassociate over troubles of a aggressive uprising should Harris have won. When Trump lost in 2020, his helpers aggressioned the U.S. Capital on Jan. 6, 2021.
This time, that wasn’t a trouble: Trump won the election by a landslide.
“You can now say you were in Vegas when the biggest untamed card brawt U.S. democracy to a screeching stop,” said one AFM visitor, echoing a somber mood that was felt apass the film taget the next morning. (“What the fuck,” euniteed to be a widespread utterance.)
One U.S. distributor said he watched the election with a bunch of international executives and he could sense the disnominatement apass the board.
“What was very evident when we were all talking last night is that America has always sort of recurrented an perfect for so many contrastent parts of the world, culturassociate, for so extfinished,” he said. While Europe has been drifting towards far right in over a decade with Italy, Poland, France and more countries witnessing the elevate of popucatalog parties, the U.S. was seed as a haven from the political tumults. That was until Trump’s first election prosper in 2016. His re-election has now finishly ripped apart that image.
“People used to come to America to have a contrastent sort of experience in the land of milk and honey, but it’s not anymore. The contests that are facing the rest of the world are no contrastent in America. It’s not a beacon on the hill any extfinisheder.”
Added another AFM uniteee: “It’s a fact check. The fact that that the Reaccessibleans won the famous vote and the electoral college, it shows that this is the straightforwardion the country wants to go.”
But how could Trump’s second term impact famous culture?
According to one distribution exec, it might not sway the self-reliant, distinctiveized sector whose movies don’t necessarily pguide necessarily to Trump helpers. For studio movies, it’s a contrastent story. “When they free on 4000 screens, they insist the whole country to react their movies.”
Despite Reaccessibleans prosperning the election and the Senate, there’s a sense that Hollywood and the rest of the predominantly left-leaning amusement industry won’t give up on advocating for social fairice and progressive perfects.
“Cultural alter doesn’t fair come from laws and regulations,” says an indie studio boss. “Media and amusement are one of the most strong forces in set uping the status quo and what we watch to for societal norms. In a precarious time, where a bigoted antipathy-monger is in a position to originate laws, media has a strong responsibility to put forward messages of identicality, recurrentation, and hugance.”
He compriseed: “We must seek to how to regularize many of the social rehires he used to split us so this doesn’t happen aget.”
At a time of massive checkation in the film and TV sector, amusement figures are also pondering the impact of Trump’s prosper on M&A activity.
“Trump being a Reaccessiblean, he’s in prefer of deregulation and he wants more uncover taget activity so he could originate potentiassociate more business,” a U.S. buyer said.
With Reaccessibleans retaking supervise of the U.S. Senate, other amusement-roverhappinessed hot-button rehires at sget are AI regulations and imitateright laws.
In France, Plivent Emmanuel Macron telderly Variety recently about his efforts to set up a structuretoil to regutardy the responsibility of carry outers who allot AI and expound the rules for comprehending what’s real and what’s counterfeit. “It’s defended to foresee that Reaccessiblean laworiginaters won’t go out of their way to pass legislation to get creators, or fight agetst online antipathy speech and disalertation. Especiassociate pondering X boss Elon Musk’s sway on Trump’s triumph,” said a French industry executive who has lived in the U.S. for the last two decades.
(Variety alerters did eventuassociate handle to discover somewhere to watch the election — an Irish bar where the only people interested were tourists, and Trump’s triumph was soundtracked by a man singing Bob Marley covers.)
