This was my takeaway from the article as well. The entire plot of King of Comedy is reliant on pre-internet gatekeeping. Rupert concocts an insane kidnapping plot in order to bypass the gatekeepers and perform in front of a large audience.

Today, Rupert could just do his act on TikTok without committing any crimes, and millions of people could watch it if they wanted. It would be a lot easier than kidnapping Jimmy Kimmel to land a guest spot on a network show.

A long time back I saw this movie The Definition of Insanity (2004) at a film festival. It is one of the bleaker portrayals I’ve seen of the life of a struggling actor. The main character played by writer/director/star Robert Margolis is shown to be totally miserable at the acting hustle, but he’s not really shown to be all that talented or accomplished, he’s just not quite good enough to be a successful actor and can’t accept it. It’s one example I can think of that shows the life of the suffering artist as not necessarily having a grand payoff.

Ghostbusters champions entrepreneurship. The villain is literally government regulation. Winston’s mention that his salary is only $11,500 is a laugh line.

I think Zendaya has better technical chops as an actor (I don’t think Wright could do what she does in Euphoria), and she’s just more charismatic with a stronger screen presence. I liked Wright’s performance in Black Panther 2, but I also felt like the movie put too much on her plate and she seemed a little out of her depth as the emotional center of the story.