It has been one full year of monthly Parting Thoughts! To celebrate I thought I would take a bird’s eye view of the film and television industry. We will explore a bit of its history with some insights from systems theory, and we’ll see how the industry itself is a system impacting multiple systems. And as always, will analyze, interpret, and reflect from a Catholic parts psychology perspective.
(For more information on systems theory, Dr. Peter, Bridget Adams and I discuss systems theory in episode 163 of Interior Integration for Catholics podcast You Are One and Many: Unity, Multiplicity, and Internal Systems.)
A Brief History
The film and television industry can be seen as a “system” with many interacting parts. These include actors, writers, producers, musicians, special effects experts, production crews, talent agents, and so on. In many ways it is a world onto itself with its own rules, culture, and power dynamics.
In the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, roughly from the 1920s to the early 1950s, Hollywood studios dominated film production. The five main studios producing major films and television programs were Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and RKO Radio Pictures. Although smaller, Columbia, Universal, and United Artists were also influential studios during this time. These large studios were closed systems where actors and other workers were held to strict contracts which dictated almost every aspect of their lives.
Film production mostly happened on the studio’s own lot. Even distribution was controlled by the studios. This is called “vertical integration” where the supply chain is owned by the company. Stand-out movies during this time include Gone with the Wind, Cleopatra, The Maltese Falcon, Some Like it Hot, Singin’ in the Rain, and many an Alfred Hitchcock film such as Vertigo, Notorious, and North by Northwest.
In the 1950s we see the beginning of a “star driven” system where actors and others within the system more often worked freelance. People had more leisure time and television became increasingly popular. Often movie stars, like Cary Grant, Gregory Peck and Marlon Brando received a cut of the profits and made incredible amounts of money. These stars became household names.
From the mid-1960s to the 1980s another systemic shift occurred in the film and television industry with a new generation of younger directors taking prominence. This period is often called “New Hollywood,” and the films were stylistically different from “Old Hollywood” with more controversial topics, darker themes, atypical and often disturbing story resolutions, more sex and violence, and flawed characters.
Dubbed the “Young Turks,” Hollywood directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg came to dominate the industry. Movies that represent this period include Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary’s Baby, The Godfather, and Apocalypse Now.
The 1990s saw advances in technology and the use of CGI especially in films such as Jurassic Park, Toy Story, and Terminator 2. Films were still made for the large screen but were also made to accommodate people watching at home on larger home screens with higher resolutions. Direct-to-video films became popular during this time. Disney had a rebirth with films such as The Little Mermaid and Lion King.
In the 2000s we saw a rise in large fantasy franchises such as The Lord of the Rings, the Star Wars prequels, Harry Potter films, and many superhero films. This was a time of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, and spinoffs… Hollywood was playing it safe and catering to fandoms. By now pretty much all films were digital and computer animation largely replaced traditional animation. Some of the more popular movies included Avatar, Spider-Man sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and Transformers sequels.
In the 2010s Disney became the dominant player and even purchased Twentieth Century Fox. In 2009 Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment and in 2012 they purchased Lucasfilm (and therefore Star Wars). Most of the top grossing movies of this decade were produced by Disney including Marvel movies such as Black Panther and The Avengers films, Star Wars sequels, Frozen and Frozen II, and Toy Story 3 and 4.
And then came the 2020s with COVID. Theaters closed.
Films were delayed. The main means of distributing film and television shifted to streaming services. This is a great example how a change in the system can affect every aspect of the system. The rise of AI created fear within the industry and led, in part, to the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023.
Systems Within Systems Interacting with Systems
The historical tension between studios, actors, directors and writers parallels the power struggles that occur within families. They all need each other but they are all fighting and negotiating for dominance, influence, credit, creative control, and/or money. When a family is healthy, the overall functioning of the family improves, and its members thrive and develop. When a studio is healthy, all its parts flourish as they work together to create good films and make money.
In the history of film outlined above, we see the shifts that take place when different parts of the system dominate. When the studio system is dominated by money concerns alone, then the movies tend to be formulaic and unoriginal. Despite its great films, the Golden Age also mass produced a great deal of cheesy films. There are too many to mention but if you’re unsure, watch an old Dick Tracy or Charlie Chan movie from the 1940s.
If the system is dominated by “star power” alone, however, then the scripts tend to suffer as the storytelling becomes merely a vehicle for the actor – remember all those awful Elvis movies? When directors dominate, the audience needs might be ignored for the sake of the director’s vision.
When there’s an elite group of directors with a great deal of influence, this might lead to a lack of diverse perspectives. The point is that systems are healthier when no one dominates, everyone is respected and encouraged to thrive, boundaries are maintained, and leadership truly considers the good of the whole system. This is true in a family as well as a film studio. The goal of both systems theory and parts work is to foster harmony and interconnectedness.
The film and television industry is a larger system made up of multiple interacting systems (as mentioned above made up of studio heads, actors, directors, and other workers) which then interact with various external systems such as the macrosystem (this includes broad cultural, political and social contexts), and the microsystem (which includes one’s immediate environment such as a school, family, or workplace).
There is a reciprocal dynamic between these systems, in other words, the film industry impacts society and families while society and families also influence the film industry. The film industry both responds to the needs and demands of society while it also shapes the views of society.
Possible Catholic Responses
As a Catholic, how should I consider the film industry and its interconnected systems and their impact on society and my own life?
One possible response is to avoid it completely. There are parents who work hard not to expose their children to any secular media. There are people who don’t go see movies and don’t even own a television. I can certainly respect and understand this position. This creates a closed system where individuals and families are not engaging or interacting with many outside systems.
Another response is to approach the film industry with a critical mind. This is what I try to do here with this column, Parting Thoughts. We can enjoy entertainment without blindly consuming its points of view. We can be selective about what we choose to watch, and we can critique the content we do choose to watch. We can even engage with others about our perspective as we participate in the greater cultural dialogues of our time.
And yet another response is to participate in content creation. In other words, join the film industry system in some capacity. There are many young filmmakers and screenwriters and producers who create faith-based or faith-informed content. We can have a voice in this system especially now that some parts of the industry want to serve (and profit from) a faith-based audience. Recent examples of this include the television series The Chosen, supernatural thriller Nefarious or the documentary Carlos Acutis: Roadmap to Reality.
Personal Perspective
I was a child in the 1970s, and a teen in the 1980s, an adult with small children in the 1990s, and then an adult with teens in the 2000s. I’m now an Empty Nester. I’m Generation X through and through – The Breakfast Club and Ferris Buhler’s Day Off were defining movies for my generation. I was also an avid comic book and fantasy reader as a child and young teen. Star Wars was my favorite movie as a child, and I was delighted by The Lord of the Rings and Marvel movies as an adult. It seemed to me that the 2000s and 2010s were catering to all my childhood geeky dreams.
Film and television connected me to the larger world, especially to the larger culture of North America but also to a shared global experience. We all went to see Star Wars. We all wanted to know who shot JR. We were all scared to go in the water again after watching Jaws. We all know Adam West’s Batman, Michael Keaton’s Batman, and the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight series Batman. We all watched the last episodes of MASH and Seinfeld. We all immediately recognize the theme music of Indiana Jones or Mission Impossible. We can all sing the theme song of Gilligan’s Island or the Brady Bunch.
(Sidenote: if you don’t relate to all of my examples, and you’re either Gen-X or a Baby Boomer, then I’m not sure what to say… you must at least relate to some of them or know someone who does!)
My point here is that media has been a great unifier. If we ran home from school to watch Dark Shadows, or we blocked off Thursday nights for Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier, then we have a common experience and a series of shared stories, shared mythologies. We know Luke and Laura. We debate whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. Even Catholic-themed movies are familiar to all (or most) of us. We’ve all seen The Exorcist. We’ve all seen The Ten Commandments as well as The Passion of the Christ. Hollywood loves priests and nuns even when it misrepresents and stereotypes them from The Bells of St. Mary’s to The Thorn Birds.
For better or worse the system of secular media culture has impacted the system of the Church. Are we more excited about fandom (popular culture) than religious observance? In other words, are we more excited about going to see the latest Avengers movie than attending a high feast or solemnity on the liturgical calendar? How are we influenced by the implicit beliefs imbedded in most Hollywood media?
I’m not saying it’s all bad, but are we aware of how some of the images and messaging undermine our faith? Is there an anti-Catholic bias in most historical epics (I’m looking at you, Vikings)? There are movies like Spotlight that rightly identify ecclesial cover-ups and abuse. But then there are irreverent movies like Priest or Dogma which promote a very jaded view of the Church.
I imagine you’ve at least heard of most of the movies and television shows I have mentioned above if you are a Boomer or Gen-X. Millennials may recognize the names of most as well. I’m often surprised that young people (now defined as in their 30s or younger) are familiar with my favorite old cartoons or TV shows thanks to Cartoon Network (Boomerang) and pretty much all the streaming services.
I cannot deny that the film and television industry has impacted my life. I have sentimental attachments to various movies, television shows, and characters. They entertained me and taught me a great deal. They exposed me to a world of diverse ideas and perspectives. They kept me company, they made me laugh, they made me cry, they scared me, they challenged me, and they sometimes infuriated me.
This is why I enjoy writing these film and television reviews. I want to hail the beauty, imagination, and brilliance of this art form while at the same time I want to analyze, deconstruct, and critique it. In my small way, I am engaging back with this system that so often engaged me.
Fragmentation
Something new has happened in the last 10+ years. There has been a fragmentation in the industry. There are many, many more films and television programs that are being produced than ever before. There are more streaming platforms than ever before. Back in the olden days we had the three major American networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Now we have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Paramount+, Peacock, Disney+, Tubi, Apple TV, Max, AMC+, and more.
We no longer have a unifying shared experience through film and television. There are a few recent exceptions. I would say Game of Thrones (2011-2019) on HBO was a notable unifier and many people gathered expectantly on Sunday nights to watch the next episode (17 to 19 million people in fact) just as so many also watched The Wonderful World of Disney (1969-1979) on Sunday nights back in the day.
But Game of Thrones, whatever you may think of its content, is now the exception. Even if a show is popular and watched by many, people no longer watch at the same time. We watch at our leisure and sometimes we wait, and binge watch a show at the end of its run. Netflix even figured out how many episodes of a show a person might binge watch in a weekend… and subsequently “dropped” whole seasons that were just long enough to do exactly that.
The point is that no one is rushing home to watch a show in real time anymore. The days of 90 million people coming together on a Friday night to see an episode of Dallas are long gone. In November 1980 53 percent of all U.S. households were tuned in to see who shot J.R.!
At its peak, Game of Thrones had roughly 5 percent to 10 percent of U.S. households watching – and was considered a major success. In 2025 if a television show has 9 million viewers across platforms, it is considered a strong performer. In the 1980s General Hospital, a once popular daytime soap opera, had on average 14 million viewers (live – no streaming) while today it has only 2 million viewers and still remains on the air. Meanwhile, the U.S. population in 1985 was 237 million and now in 2025 it is 341 million. The audience has shrunk while the population has increased!
(Sidenote for sports fans: The 2025 Super Bowl which aired in February of 2025 had 127 million viewers, whereas in 1985 the Super Bowl had almost 116 million viewers, so the trend is moving in the opposite direction for football… but still not proportional to population growth.)
Did you know that the most watched TV show in 2024/2025 was the South Korean dystopian survival thriller on Netflix called Squid Game? It had 27 million U.S. viewers over a 35-day period according to Nielson ratings, and 265 million global viewers over a 91-day period (which is still roughly only 3 percent of the global population). How many of you have seen Squid Game? Definitely not 53 percent of the U.S. population.
The other most watched shows of the 2024/2025 season in the U.S. included Adolescence, Tracker, Reacher, and High Potential. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t watched any of those shows. Except for Squid Game (which I have seen a few episodes) and Reacher (which I haven’t seen but know and like the main actor), I don’t even know what they are about. Conversely, in 1985 the top five U.S. shows were The Cosby Show, Cheers, Family Ties, The A-Team and Riptide. I knew and loved all these shows at the time except for Riptide which I was aware of but didn’t watch.
My point is that we live in a fragmented media world. We no longer watch shows together and we no longer have a unifying national or global shared experience of films and television. We are more isolated, less connected to others, and we have fewer shared experiences. We can connect with like-minded individuals who watch our shows, but this is most likely happening online not in person. We live more and more in our own bubbles.
As a counter point, however, we enjoy more variety in media with easy access. Back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s when media was a unifier, who was choosing the content? With limited options, perhaps we were all living in one big bubble. Was a loss of individuality and healthy diversity the price for unity? We used to be hand-fed curated media while now we can choose the media that is much more tailored to our tastes. Or is it? As a Catholic, I would love to see more high-quality nuanced faith-informed content.
What is lost with this new world of plenty where there’s more media than any one person could ever consume?
Do you recall a time when you would go to the music store and pick out an album? I know I’m dating myself, but it was often a big investment. I remember buying Hotel California by the Eagles and playing it over and over again, the same with Bryan Addams’ Reckless. I loved and listened to every song on each of those albums a thousand times. I’m sure you have your favorites too.
The same was true for my comic books. I’d go to the comic store once a month and pick up my favorites. Then I’d go home and savor each one of them, perhaps even read them more than once. I remember those stories and characters vividly just the way I remember every song on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
It was the same feeling I had when I sat in the theatre to watch Star Wars for the tenth time or when my college roommates would gather on Saturday to watch the next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We savored the experience the same way we savored a marshmallow over a campfire or a fudgsicle from the ice cream man when he randomly showed up.
Now we have so much more choice, so many more options, and so we consume, consume, and consume. We can watch 10 episodes of a series in one weekend instead of having to watch them on a weekly basis. I can read ten comics in one night on my tablet. I can listen to any song by any artist at any time. I can watch almost any movie I want whenever I want.
But am I savoring them or am I wolfing them all down mindlessly like the Simpsons at the dinner table? I don’t mean to be overly cynical, after all I enjoy all the options and access, but I fear we’ve lost some of the wonder and with it the appreciation of art. If it is worthwhile, we need to take our time and enjoy each bite.
A Parts Perspective
From a parts perspective, what can we conclude? The industry itself is not in harmony. Actors are fearful of being replaced by AI generated versions of themselves. Writers are fearful of being replaced by AI storytellers. The only Hollywood studio that still makes movies in Hollywood is Paramount and it is presumably being bought by Skydance Media. Sony acquired Columbia and Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. There is more and more consolidation in the industry as studios struggle to make profits. Box office revenues are down, production is down, and there have been many industry layoffs.
I don’t believe, however, that movies are dying or going away, but they are evolving. Fewer people go to movie theaters, so theaters have had to adapt. When was the last time you went out to see a movie? And why? What made you go out?
I know for me, it has to be a big movie that I care about. I also prefer nice seats that recline and the option to have better food. I also prefer IMAX or some other high end visual and sound experience, otherwise I am happier watching from the comfort of home. Movie theatres are aware of these preferences and adapting.
Meanwhile, studios have responded by building out their own streaming services. Instead of full-length feature films, we have more television series/mini-series such as Game of Thrones, The Expanse, Westworld, Dune: Prophecy, Rings of Power, and Shogun with high movie-like production values. These shows often only have 8-10 episodes per season because of the time and money needed to create each episode, but there is more time to tell the story and greater character development. This is a great example of how a system can positively adapt to a changing environment.
A Christian Rebirth?
Given the interplay between media and culture, I’m curious if we are about to see a rebirth of Christian-themed media. Among conservative or traditionally minded Christians, there is a general sense that Hollywood and the film and television industry has been promoting a more left-wing agenda. For example, there is widespread antipathy for Kathleen Kennedy who was an executive at Disney and is generally accused of infusing every Disney property with unnecessary, distracting, and heavy-handed political ideologies.
The South Park special “Joining the Panderverse,” is a particularly poignant critique. The backlash against this perception has created a desire for more balanced options. Conservative Catholic influential filmmakers and actors such as Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg appear to be offering more films for conservative audiences. So here we may have an example of one system (a portion of the audience) positively impacting the film industry system in a way that creates change.
Conclusion
As I conclude my reflection here on the film and television industry from a systems perspective, I hope you will gain an appreciation for the intricate interplay between this large media system (with its own nested systems), and the larger societal systems, and your own personal and family systems.
In future articles, I’d like to continue and explore the pros and cons of recent developments in media and how we are impacted by greater fragmentation and disharmony in each of the systems we occupy. While I do that, I also want to notice and celebrate the beauty, wisdom, and truth that can still be found in the art of media.
Dr. Gerry Crete is the author of Litanies of the Heart: Relieving Post-traumatic Stress and Calming Anxiety Through Healing Our Parts which is published by Sophia Institute Press. He is the founder of Transfiguration Counseling and Coaching, Transfiguration Life, and co-founder of Souls and Hearts.
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St. Jerome Cohort of the RCC Officially Open!
Just as the film and movie industry is made up of parts and systems, so are each one of us. Meet some of your own parts, appreciate your inner system, and better understand yourself through the Resilient Catholics Community. Our community, more than 300 strong, is made up of faithful Catholics dedicated to their own human formation so they can learn to better love God, neighbor and self. Our 10th cohort, name for St. Jerome, is open during the month of June.
The application process starts with a newly revised PartsFinder Pro assessment, which is an extensive set of measures designed to hypothesize your parts and their relationships with one another. You’ll receive a personalized 6- to 8-page report, which will help both you and our staff determine if the RCC may be a good fit for you. If you are ready, launch your application today.
Hear More From Dr. Gerry
Dr. Gerry’s episode of “Book.ed” on Litanies of the Heart is available on the international Catholic TV channel Shalom World. Here’s the description:
Dr. Gerry Crete, PhD, joins host Leslie Cervantez to discuss Litanies of the Heart: Relieving Post-Traumatic Stress and Calming Anxiety Through Healing Our Parts, a faith-based approach to healing trauma through prayer and psychological insight. He explores the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, the power of litanies, and how understanding our “parts” leads to deeper peace and connection with God.
To access it, you’ll need to either create a login on their website or use their app.
Dr. Peter’s third Belt of Trust guest appearance – Episode 138
Today, the Belt of Truth podcast released the third of five episodes on shame:
In this episode of the Belt of Truth Podcast, Josh Bach and Dr. Peter Malinoski dive into the complex topic of shame, exploring its hidden nature, triggers, and the profound impact it has on relationships and personal well-being. They discuss the importance of addressing shame through therapy and support, while also emphasizing the potential for growth and healing. The conversation highlights the integration of spiritual and psychological approaches to understanding and overcoming shame, ultimately framing it as a gift that can lead to deeper self-awareness and connection with God.
Listen in here.
If you’re interested in the entire series to date, the first and second episodes are available as well.