Well, the Academy Awards have, again, come and gone. I didn’t watch them this year. I had things to think about and pictures to organize last night. I had to get my folders caught up. I lost time last month because of the Olympics.
I also didn’t watch because of my uneasiness about the whole affair. This year’s Oscars, however fun they were, didn’t appeal to me. There is something really off- no, broken- about Hollywood, despite it’s appearance of wealth and success. Or perhaps because of it.
I’ve already expounded at length about the problems in this country that are being overlooked by the coastal elites. There’s no need to detail the obvious, but a list would help the memory: dangerous levels of racial violence; the isolation and complete estrangement of the country’s largest demographic; never- before seen levels of financial inequality; a general feeling that the entire young generation has been “lost” by a lack of jobs and opportunity; record high levels of corporate and government debt; a flailing and ineffective president who seems to have no understanding of how to conduct himself on the world stage, or even domestically; and a government that is universally feared and distrusted.
With all of this in mind, which of the Best Picture nominees reflects on these problems? Let me look… ah; none of them.
There seems to be a couple of movies that touch, tangentially, on these all important issues, perhaps as an afterthought. Scorcese’s Wolf of Wall Street comes to mind. I’m sure that his paean to the unbelievable greed of his Wall Street backers includes a rueful moment or two of reflection about how they have ruined the futures of millions of their neighbors. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps there is something to see in Nebraska, though given Hollywood’s track record of late, I would doubt it.
In a way, it seems fitting that 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture. I can imagine how the after parties went in L.A. after the show. I can see the Hollywood elites, huddled around tables, congratulating themselves for addressing the problems of the 1800’s as the entire country collapses around them. I can’t think of a more appropriate picture for the twilight of the American empire than that.