"Real" to "Reel" not what Americans want

Happy Groundhog's Day!

There's an awkward segue to talk about movies.

Now this is something. I laughed out loud today while reading an article about Oscar nominees and Hollywood in general. In an article in the Christian Science Monitor (delivered to my virtual doorstep via Yahoo) titled "Moviegoers to Hollywood: 'Make it Real'", director of the film studies program at Boston College John Michalczyk is quoted:

"People want more honesty and authenticity....Twenty years ago, if you made a biopic it was a canonization of values. Now you have to make it balanced and honest."

The article offers similar opinions by other "experts" in the field and even admits that some "culture watchers" believe that the Academy Awards "reflects, and even guides, America's collective direction and values."

This is Hollywood's line of thinking. They really believe that their movies reflect and guide American values. This year's nominees for both Best Picture and Best Director deal with Middle East politics ("Munich"), race relations ("Crash"), the death penalty ("Capote"), gay unions ("Brokeback Mountain"), and media trust--or distrust ("Good Night, and Good Luck"). Have these movies guided our "collective direction"? Do they reflect our values? Judging by your attendance, I'd say no.

If the American moviegoing public is longing for "reality"-based movies, they certainly aren't showing it. According to the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the highest grossing movie of the new millennium, domestically, is "Shrek 2"! That's right. The story of a green ogre and a talking donkey, a swashbuckling cat and a bunch of wise-cracking pigs--THAT'S REALITY!

Let's not stop there. Since the year 2000, these movies rounded out the top ten in America:

2. Spider-Man
3. Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
5. Spider-Man 2
6. Passion of the Christ
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
8. Finding Nemo
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

A young boy bitten by a radioactive spider and given superhero powers. Aliens of all shapes and sizes from a galaxy far, far away. Hobbits, wizards, dwarfs, elves, ogres, trolls, and orcs battling for Middle Earth. The adventures of a lost fish. And a wizard goes to school. I see a theme here, but reality isn't one of them.

Oh, did I forget one? How about the two thousand year old story of a man who rose from the dead. True? Well, the accounts have been believed for as long as the story's been around. But Hollywood would rather not believe that the story of the Passion of Jesus Christ could possibly reflect or guide "America's collective direction and values". They'd prefer to think of Mel Gibson's masterpiece as an aberration. America is guided by female boxers having abortions and gay cowboys.

Honestly, I haven't seen any of this year's best picture nominees. They may, in fact, be wonderful cinematic achievements. It is agreed by almost everyone that the Oscars don't honor necessarily the popular movies because those aren't always the best made movies. (Note: "Titanic" is the all-time highest grossing domestic film. "LOTR: Return of the King" is eighth. Both won top honors.) But don't be fooled. Hollywood is not making many "real" movies that most Americans want to see. They are merely rewarding those films which push Hollywood's "collective direction". If they keep it up, Hollywood will go the way of it's highest grossed film. It'll be sunk.