Appealing to Everyone

Timothy Corrigan notes in his piece 'A Cinema Without Walls Movies and Culture' after Vietnam that cinematic investments made in Hollywood, especially those made after 1970, aimed to "attract not just a large market but all markets" (12). Heaven’s Gate, therefore "seemingly appealed to no one because of its attempts to appeal to everyone" (12). As I was reading this piece I was with my housemates who were watching TV, advertisements specifically. I couldn’t help but wonder to what degree we were being targeted (any rational commercial will attempt to appeal to the largest market possible), and to what degree I could see through them? Taking it a step further, how much can political candidates ‘appeal to everyone’ without losing voters? Attracting large markets is a thin line to walk, and while VCR technology has allowed for movies like Heaven’s Gate to be “watched across the distractions rather than the collective gaze of its audiences,” (16) I’m not sure if this is the solution.