Jenna came thru for me.

Couple of quotes from that clever girls essay (comparing Barton Fink and Angel City as critiques of Hollywood)…

The hellish world that Fink eventually finds himself in can be viewed as a metaphor for the state of Hollywood, decaying, corrupt and corrosive. On his first night in the Hotel Earle Fink sees the mouldy ceilings and hears the hum of mosquitoes, and is distracted from his work by the screams of his unseen neighbours. The visceral images in Barton Fink imply the moral degradation of Hollywood, with the curling old wallpaper, sweat, pus and blood conjuring up images of adding to the feeling of doom and corruption.

…

The phenomenon that is Hollywood, and the film industry that surrounds it, is one that is deeply contested in popular culture and fiction. The failure of the dream factory to deliver for its audiences, and the manipulation of both artisans and audiences by the industry, is a feature of both Sam Shepard’s Angel City and the Coen brother’s Barton Fink. The hellish world created in both these works can be read as an allegorical account of the landscape of Hollywood, and the extent of the corruption within the industry. Both are insightful critiques of the Hollywood film industry and when contrasted with each other highlight the way in which ‘dreams corrupt the artistic imagination…corrupted by the dream machine.

Good stuff.