Hurray for Globowood.(Hollywood as a global institution)

Poor Jean-Marie Messier: he's so misunderstood. He became a national hero by turning an old French water company into Vivendi Universal, international media giant. That gave the French what they had never had before: real power in Hollywood. But Messier never intended to Gallicize Hollywood; he intended to globalize it. He moved to New York and made it clear that he was in the hunt for profit, not national glory. People back home felt betrayed. Protesters hit the streets of Paris, demanding Messier be fired as a traitor.

Yet history may still remember him as a conqueror. Hollywood is dying as an all-American town, and Messier has done as much as anyone to hasten ...