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The narrative then shifts to the birth of the studio system. We see the rise of the “Majors”—MGM, Warner Bros., Paramount—as vertically integrated monopolies. They own the actors (under seven-year contracts), the cameras, the land, and the theaters. A star like Judy Garland is not an artist; she is an asset.

Meanwhile, Netflix enters. The “binge model” rewires narrative. Shows are no longer designed for weekly water-cooler chat but for “completion rates.” A writer for a cancelled-after-one-season show (interview in shadow) says: “We were told to make every episode feel like a season finale. Exhaustion was the note. ‘More.’ ‘Bigger.’ ‘Now.’ We burned out five writers in eight months.”