You either have commercial pressure or ideological pressure. I prefer commercial pressure; otherwise, you can be at the mercy of one or two idiots.
Interpretation
The quote suggests a preference for commercial challenges over ideological ones, highlighting the dangers of being influenced by a few misguided individuals.
Milos Forman's quote reflects the complexities of decision-making in creative processes, particularly in the arts and media. He emphasizes that commercial pressure, although challenging, can be more manageable compared to the unpredictability and potential harm of being swayed by a small number of individuals with extreme ideologies. The implication is that commercial demands often align better with broader audience expectations, while ideological pressures can lead to narrow-mindedness and conflict.
In practice
In a discussion about managing creative projects, this quote can highlight the importance of commercial viability.
The worst evil is - and that's the product of censorship - is the self-censorship, because that twists spines, that destroys my character because I have to think something else and say something else, I have to always control myself.
A modern hero is very ambiguous. I went through some very rough times in Czechoslovakia - the occupation by the Germans at the end of the war. We had people going against their tanks with brooms. Are they nuts, or are they heroes?
Because if you lived, as I did, several years under Nazi totalitarianism, and then 20 years in communist totalitarianism, you would certainly realize how precious freedom is, and how easy it is to lose your freedom.
Mediocrity never goes away - but neither, I hope, do those who are willing to challenge it.
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, She lives whom we call dead.
If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.
Half the world does not know how the other half lives.
He was a clot looking for a place to happen, a splinter of bone hunting a soft organ to puncture, a lonely lunatic cell looking for a mate - they would set up housekeeping and raise themselves a cozy little malignant tumor.
The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.
The only question left to be settled now is: Are women persons? And I hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not.
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