...and I don't know if it's because the movies have changed or if I've changed. I suspect it's the latter, because I watched "Sunset Boulevard" last night and it didn't thrill me like it once did. Maybe I just don't have the same attention span that I used to. It seems that if I don't fall asleep during a movie I often just turn it off and do something else.
The Academy Awards were last night and although I didn't watch them (why would I care what someone else thinks of a movie?) I couldn't help noticing that "Slumdog Millionaire" won Best Picture. This had been widely predicted (as had all the other major winners--another reason not to watch) and so I saw the movie about a month ago. It was sold out; I had the absolute worst seat in the house--the corner seat in the last row. While I thought the movie was mildly entertaining (I didn't fall asleep), I really could only give it a "B" at best. I didn't see the others that were nominated because they just don't sound very interesting to me. One is about a guy who starts out as an old man and ages into a baby (huh?), another is about a city worker (snore!), a third one is about a TV show (double snore!) and the last is about a love affair between a young man and a former concentration camp guard (charming!). If "Slumdog" was the best picture of the year then I think I'll take a pass on the rest.
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I have a hard time watching movies too, although I did see The Dark Knight and thought it was an excellent combination of action/entertainment and an interesting look into the complexities and inter-related character of compassion and destruction (I don't like "good" and "evil", too easy).
Of course, some people will say that the lack of interest in the movies is due to lack of attention span and the decline of civilization that seems to have been going on since the beginning of civilization if you believe the ancient pundits.
However, I think that technology and the innate need of a majority of human beings to tell their own stories and communicate them to like minded people are the two forces really driving the fracturing of American entertainment.
This decentralization seems to have been going on for a long time, really since the birth of television when people were given three viewing alternatives instead of one.
I saw some documentary that talked about how the Hollywood "star" system was created in order to give audiences a reason to get up off the couch and spend way too much on popcorn and soda. You can't see "What's His Name" on any old boob-tube!
Since people were given the choice between one director's vision and the opportunity to chose between even just three stations, Hollywood has had to fight tooth and nail for ownership of the narratives and dreams that drive "mainstream" (whatever that means anymore) society.
What started as a tough sell has only become more challenging with the birth of cable and then the internet.
People can not only chose their style of entertainment and the storylines they want to follow, but also they can create their own and send them out to anyone with a computer and internet access.
So Uncle Mike, I guess what I am saying is that you and bloggers like you are to blame for the slow decline of the movie industry! The upside is that the blog represents people's drive to choose how they define themselves rather than just subscribe to an image thrust at them by studio executives (no more runs on "The Wild One" leather jackets).
To me, this sea change is a welcome one. At its best, the blog represents a contrasting argument to the elist, realist political view that most people are mindless drones who do not want to think about what their lives mean and how they can make them worthwhile to themselves and to those around them.
I had a feeling I was at the center of all this.
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