Letters to the Editor
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Does anyone tune in in vast numbers, indeed.
No matter how many countries have the theoretical capability of watching the Oscars (and that's always been announced during the show, another case of Hollywood congratulating itself) the actual Nielsens have been dropping. Someone with the time and resources can quote actual numbers, but every year, the morning-after ratings are always lower than the previous year.
The planned production numbers, the singing of the nominated Best Songs, the showing of the Best Costume Designs, all of it is deadly dull. Because anyone who's been around for more than a decade knows this is the requirement for the nominees, to be seen. We have to pay the price of air time so these people can have their moments in the sun recorded on their Tivos for burning to DVD later to include in their resume packages.
The only interesting things have been the unpredictable events; Michael Moore blasting Bush a couple of years ago, during his win for Bowling for Columbine, was the only moment I can recall cheering for the last decade of Oscars. Only if somehow, Britney Spears shows up as a presenter and squats down on stage - without panties - could anything be interesting this year. And even then, half of America would say "been there, done that."
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OK, let's say that the Oscar winners DID reflect more of what the viewing public wants...
It would mean that every best picture would go to some romantic comedy that looks like the one before. I think part of the problem is that many audiences have come to associate independent films as "message movies", films that are designed more to preach at you about some kind of social injustice (in the case of something like "Brokeback Mountain", the kind of injustice that much of the movie going audience itself is happily complicite in and sees no reason to stop being so) then entertainment and this isn't entirely wrong. People go to the movies to get away from their problems, not to be reminded of someone else's.
I am a comic book geek and I can tell you that things like "Good Night and Good Luck" and all the "war for profit" movies look a lot like the independant comic projects many popular artists and writers undertake in the comic book industry. These projects usually get picked up by a publisher only due to the name of the creator attached to them, are so obscure and away from the mainstream that they never really find an audience (or don't look different enough from everything else on the shelf to pay full price for) and last about three issues before being dumped in the $1.00 box at your local comic shop never to be mentioned agian. And the creator is back to writing X-Men the following month until he comes up with another idea he wants to try and the cycle begins anew.
Some of these ideas, like "Good Night and Good Luck", manage to gain enough of a cult following to stay afloat or at least make some of the money back that was used publishing them and a collected edition is put out, or, in the case of the movie industry, DVD sales, but for the most part, most of them fail. George Clooney making a jillion "Oceans" sequels works the same way. He knows a "Micheal Clayton" will never rake in that kind of money, but these are his dream projects. And the "Oceans" movies help fund them just like the X-Men fund Mecha Girl or whatever.
The comic book industry would never survive just handing out honors to all the Mecha Girls, they have to give some to the X-Men in order to survive. The academy, as much as it may not like it, will hav to throw a bone to a "Definitaly, Maybe" at Oscar time if it wants to stay relevant. No matter how much it may like "Micheal Clayton".
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Hollywood movies are all the same
It's great that the Oscars reward something different. In decades previous, it seems that mainstream, blockbuster movies were generally more interesting/less formulaic, so the big-budget moneymakers were also genuinely quality movies. Nowadays, the movies that make money are cringe-worthy. Spiderman 3? Come on! That's not going to win any awards.
I don't know what that's about -- are people just into worse movies now? That seems hard to believe, although I guess it's possible. But There Will Be Blood and other Oscar contenders aren't even released widely at first; it takes them months to be playing all over the country. Is that because studios "know" that people in middle America won't see them opening weekend? Does nobody want to see this kind of movie because our present real world situation (war, economy, etc) is unpleasant so only escapist movies are suitable?
But mainstream movies bore me to tears. You can watch ten minutes and know the rest of the plot, and then you just have to sit there and wait it out while they torture you with some stupid predictable "twist" that the characters have to overcome to achieve their happy little ending. That kind of crap should never be rewarded, even if it does alienate the heartland from the Oscars.
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Umm...didn't we have this conversation in 1999?
When "American Beauty" was all the rage?
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Home technology just might play a role
The movie industry is far from my area of expertise. However, it seems to me, as a consumer, that there are several other factors at play when it comes to box office numbers for Oscar nominated films. Going to the movies has gotten ridiculously expensive. At the same time, movies in the home are increasinly convenient to obtain. At over ten dollars a film, the box offices would gross far more of my own pocket change if the price per film were lower. As it is, I rarely go out to the movies, and if I do it's to see the Transformers, not There Will Be Blood. I would see both in the theater at seven bucks a pop, but if I'm going to pay more than ten dollars, I'm going to choose the movie with the explosions because there will be more to miss in the home experience. Going to the movies has become closer and closer to going to the Star Wars ride at Disneyland. Watching quality films without huge hollywood special effects will be saved for the DVDs by mail and instant viewing services on cable or the internet. Unfortunately, that means waiting to see most of this years Oscar nominees until after the awards have come and gone.