Petrified Hollywood The ossification of empires RADIO FAR SIDE Hollywood began as a battle to the death between Thomas Edison and Georges MĆ©liĆØs, with Edison pirating MĆ©liĆØsā work, particularly Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902), leaving the pioneering French director bankrupt and destitute. Edison is analogous to George Lucas, while Georges MĆ©liĆØs would be Steven Spielberg ā the former is a consummate technician whose greatest film was directed by someone else , and the latter a consummate storyteller and illusionist. Thus, Hollywood was born as a swindle and not much has changed. For folks who follow the laments of Doomcock , Nerdrotic and Critical Drinker , much has been made of the decline and fall of Hollywood. The consensus is that Hollywood has Gone Woak and is in the process of Going Broke, and to a greater or lesser extent this is true. Certainly, the giants like Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. have nose-dived i...