Stardust - I believe you are right, many could get out, but don't really want to, while others are honestly trying, but have no idea of the means used in their imprisionment. It's like when people talk about drugs, and how one should stay "sober" to "validate experience". Well, if my water is drugged, the food is poisoned and the air polluted, if I am constantly fed lies and being manipulated in my ideas, can I say that I am sober if I don't do drugs? Or is this a case where others decide how to drug me?
One (old) idea to overcome hollywood and tv dictatorship is to READ BOOKS! They are not limited in "run-time", and allow you to reach closer to the author, and interactively participate with your mind in the unfolding of the story. The best special FX can be had when reading books, and you can select the soundtrack to your liking! It's also a good way to practice concentration and attention.
I like watching a movie, but I get more from books. Maybe it's not as "strong" an experience, in terms of emotional response, but it's far more outreaching.
I've been trying hard to convince my teenage nephews to read books, but it's hard to explain how that can be much more interesting than playing PS3 or watching videos all the time. I remember reading the "lord of the rings" series when I was younger, and what I imagined while reading was so different from the movie (even though I liked the film version) - the characters, the different races of beings, the settings... Like I said, I liked the movie, but I was very happy to have read the book before, and taking my own journey through the middle earth before I was force-fed faces and clothes and accents - know what I mean? But it would be difficult to convince a kid these days to pick it up and begin a months-long effort of reading a single story! And, seeing it like that, making the movie was a necessary move to show the new generation what the Tolkien universe is about, but, even though they made 3 long movies, there's still a lot left out.
And another thing, for instance, I like Sci-Fi a lot. My favourite author is, by large, Philip K. Dick, and I have many of his books, either in English, or translated to portuguese, most of these being old editions from the late 70's and 80's. I went to a bookstore the other day, and found there's a new edition of "The 3 stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", which, together with UBIK and VALIS was one of my faves.I bought it, started to read, went back to the old one I have and... well it's not the same anymore. The translation is different, the whole story sounds different too, not just from the english original, but also from the earlier translation, which was, in my opinion, far more comprehensive, and ambiguous, in a good way. What are we doing to our culture ????
Oh well, another very long post. Sorry for that, I like talking to you...
Much peace,
T