It’s not just the Wall Street meltdown or even the Writers’ Guild strike that is causing the Academy Award nominee announcements this morning to be met with a yawn. This new group of nominees – though worthy enough artistically – is of very little interest to the public. They didn’t want to see them for the most part when they were released and – although some will get something a bounce from the nomination – most will still not see them later. The usual core audience of teenage boys is more interested in computer games and the adult audience has far too much else to do. [Like bicker on blogs?-ed. Bickering is good.]
This is yet another symptom of the overall decline of Hollywood as a force in our culture. If you’re looking for a reason so many of the stars continue to stick their well-formed noses in politics, maybe it’s because they’d be losing attention otherwise. What’s a narcissist without a camera? [Is that a Zen koan?-ed. It is so, if you think so.]
Conspicuously absent from today’s nominees – the antiwar films.
In any case, one thing’s for sure – when it comes to movies, it’s all been down hill since 1939.
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