“Every film is political. Most political of all are those that pretend not to be: ‘entertainment’ movies. They are the most…
“Every film is political. Most political of all are those that pretend not to be: ‘entertainment’ movies. They are the most political films there are because they dismiss the possibility of change. In every frame they tell you everything’s fine the way it is. They are a continual advertisement for things as they are.”
— Wim Wenders“It is, in fact, peculiarly difficult to take [entertainment films] seriously. The films themselves set up a deliberate resistance: they are so insistently not serious, so knowing about their own escapist fantasy/pure entertainment nature, and they consistently invite the audience’s complicity in this. To raise serious objections to them is to run the risk of looking a fool (they’re “just entertainment,” after all) or, worse, a spoilsport (they’re “such fun”). Pleasure is indeed an important issue.”
-Robin Wood, “Papering the Cracks: Fantasy and Ideology in the Reagan Era”