The Oscars make it clear: Hollywood is in a death spiral

The collapse of an entire industry is a sad story no matter how you slice it. The collapse of Hollywood is also something more. For years, movies were a major American export, sending not just celluloid film but also an American worldview around the globe. Now, measured strictly in dollars, the $20 billion–plus the U.S. earns from exporting films and television shows each year is dwarfed by other exports—oil, cars, and industrial machinery among them. But still, these quintessentially American products—acti ...