Ever since the days of the Great Depression, the American public has wanted Hollywood to succeed; to continue to entertain us with tales of adventure and drama.  For if Hollywood survived, so did people's hopes for American culture.  

There was an era when Hollywood celebrities and film creators were treated as a kind of modern royalty, a representation of the heights to which the average person could strive and "make it big."  The glitz and the glamour were viewed as the culmination of the American dream.  But as with all fantasies, the story must end and reality must return.  Was the movie business always a farce?  Yes.  However, it was a farce that the public held up even in the worst of times as something of value; something more than frivolity.  

In the spans of around 7 years Hollywood has lost every ounce of social capital they had gained in the past century.  That takes an epic level of ignorance and arrogance.  It takes criminal levels of malicious intent and an unprecedented display of stupidity.  The populace was willing to put up with almost any level of degeneracy from Tinsel Town as long as they could make compelling movies, and yet, they couldn't even do that.