Hollywood seems to be in peril. With recent events surrounding Bill Cosby found guilty on all three accounts of aggravated incidental assault, and Kanye West appearing to be losing his mind and spouting statements like, “Slavery was a choice,” it is to no one’s surprise that Hollywood is collapsing. What was once a place with glitz and glamour, has now been stripped down to its core and exposed as a cesspool filled with rapists, child molesters, money launderers, and so many more.

Though, with everything that has happened over the course of a year, we’ve also seen people in Hollywood stand up and fight against these issues. In spite of all the bad that has plagued Tinseltown, there seems to still be hope that we can change as a whole. Ever since the rise of the ‘Me Too’ movement after the Harvey Weinstein allegations, people have called for a complete reconstruction of our entertainment industry. But, is Hollywood really the problem?

It is true that Hollywood has its own set of problems: racism, sexism, and even classism. With the creation of a system made by people for the people, there is bound to be downsides to the organization. The way I see it, Hollywood wouldn’t exist without the public. Entertainment has grown over the decades due to the want for media. Before it was books, then the radio, and then film rose in western society. I asked Eleanor Roosevelt student Angel Sykes what were her thoughts about the general collapse of Hollywood.

“I think it’s good that everything is being put out into the open. All this bad stuff is, like, being exposed and everyone finally knows what goes on behind the scenes.”

All the celebrities and movies and TV shows that have become a staple for what represents Hollywood, have been given these roles because society made them known. It’s the reason why almost no one remembers who Josh Hartnett is, but everyone could recite at least one Beyonce song. Society makes these individuals famous, but doesn’t take responsibility when they let us down.

I know that we may not create these people, nor are we responsible for everything they do. After a while though, when we continuously give these people our attention, they gain nothing but clout. If we really want to fix Hollywood, and save the entertainment industry, then it would help to stop making the wrong people famous. We have the power to do that, not them.