Blog #254: MGM and Flexibility Presentation (Part 2)
- Jeffrey Snyder
- Jul 7, 2022
- 3 min read
In the previous part of this blog, I talked about a new presentation I am putting together about Metro Goldwyn Mayer and how it’s reluctance to be flexible can a lesson to neurodiverse and disabled individuals.
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Of course, MGM’s inflexibility doesn’t just cover its leader, Louis B. Mayer but also what went on after inflexibility cost Louis B. Mayer his job. MGM had very strong reluctance to another form of media, television, in the 1950s.
When Television came along in the 1950s, MGM was the last of the studios to view television as a necessity more than a liability. This, of course, represents what goes through the mind of a neurodiverse individual when they are facing a life changing situation.
Take for example, when I had my bedroom redone without being told. It took several months, but I ended up accepting the changes for what they were. But it was also a time where I was going through so many changes at once (transitioning out of high school, getting a job, etc.).
Looking back now, I see that had I not made those changes, I wouldn’t have what I have right now.
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MGM going to accept television for what it was mean to be, was a similar situation. Television was a threat to Hollywood and on top of that, the major studios except for Columbia and Universal were stripped of their own theater chains. All of these were a contributing mass of change that made things tougher than they should have been for something like Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
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But another factor I talk about is that MGM was struggling to survive in an ever-changing world and many of the films that they were doing were expensive to produce and they ended up becoming box office flops. Some of these examples include:
“Cimmaron” (1960)
“King of Kings” (1961)
“Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962)
“The Shoes of the Fisherman” (1968)
“Goodbye Mr. Chips” (1969)
Each of these films was a sign that MGM’s inflexibility to give the public what they want was costing them dearly. They were old-fashioned, they were stuck in their old ways and that’s what ended up costing them in the end.
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Of course, MGM’s inflexibility also introduced constant new management (another sign of MGM’s inflexible downfall) who wanted to do things their way and that brough MGM down further.
As a result, the management in the 1970’s decided that MGM needed to shed its famous backlots such as the New York street where “Singing in the Rain” (1952) was filmed or the street where “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944) took place in.
That and since MGM was being forced to become flexible, the ultimate form of shock therapy was used by selling off it’s magnificent collection of props such as Greta Garbo’s gowns and Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz”.
Eventually, as time progressed into the 1980s, the only great MGM films to come out of the studio lot itself was “Poltergeist” (1982) and “Poltergeist II: The Other Side” (1986).
By then, the studio was a mere shadow of its former self and why? Because it was inflexible to accept change for what it was.
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The Metro Goldwyn Mayer sign being dismantled from the Culver City Studio Lot in November 1986.
Of course, had MGM been flexible during its early years, then maybe it would have become like Disney, getting theme parks and becoming a conglomerate.
That’s the same that we see with neurodiverse individuals and it’s up to them and them alone to embrace flexibility and change in order to survive.
Stay tuned to this webpage and social media sites for when I will hopefully be presenting this presentation in the future.
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Catch you all later!!
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