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Mar. 6, 2006 I noticed that a lot of this year's Oscar show was peppered with clips from old movies that had a message or a theme. I was especially touched by Gregory's Peck's "Gentleman's Agreement", a film about a gentile man pretending to be a Jew in order to expose anti-Semitism at a time when both here in America and in Europe it was out of control. A very appropriate theme as were "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" . All well acted and entertaining in far more subtle ways then today's films. For me, those old film clips only reminded me of what movies USED to be about, NOT how they are now. The difference is night and day. Instead of enticing me to come back to the theatres it reminded me of why I left in the first place. It dawned on me that what I was seeing was one HUGE commercial for Hollywood, justifying it's existence and reminding the American people why we should go to the theatres and see the movies. That didn't work for me and I did NOT see any of the five nominated films. It wasn't just because I was put off by the themes of those films but because it's too damn expensive to spend an evening at the movies when there is a good chance that you will feel worse when you come out then when you first walked in. That's NOT entertainment. I don't like the idea that slanted political themes are being crammed down my throat and that I have to pay for it. I can get my political news on television in the comfort of my own home. I don't have to pay to park my car, spend outrageous sums on a box of popcorn or on the ticket to get into the theatre. I don't have to worry about traffic or babysitters in order to be educated on terrorism or gender issues. Pretending that a wink and a nod from the likes of John Wayne indicated that ALL Westerns were gay cowboy movies, or showing us clips of movies that were actually entertaining while bringing up issues of importance didn't convince me that the movies of today are worth the price of a ticket. The 78th Oscar broadcast was one HUGE commercial to attempt to get the people in the fly-over states to go back to their local cinemas and spend their money on films that are nothing more then the political ideology of a few. The winning song was an embarrassment to those of us who used to go out and buy albums of Oscar winning themes. Sure, "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" is not terribly hip nor is it terribly relevant; but it was a beautiful piece of music and easy on the ears. The musical themes from Star Wars, Close Encounters, and others like it were a testament to the talent of the men and women who could actually write beautiful and empowering music and worth buying. So many other movie themes used to boom from my stereo and I loved every minutes of it. Those days are long gone and it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy an album filled with the winning songs of the past several years. "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" will NOT be playing in my home. I think that John Stewart summed it all up well when he said, "Martin Scorsese zero Oscars...36 Mafia..one" If they want us back they had better wise up and stop pandering to their own small clique. The average American in the Heartland and elsewhere is NOT going to spend their hard-earned money and precious little free time on the crap that Hollywood is currently passing off as entertainment. We will take our children to see family friendly films and people of my generation will look for films like "The Notebook" and other's that we don't feel are hitting us over the head with political themes. Pay attention to your own commercial that passed for an Oscar broadcast and maybe a few of us will come back. "Pride and Prejudice" (a remake of a remake), King Kong (a remake of a remake of a remake), and "Walk the Line" (a bio) were at least entertaining. The fact that two of those films were NOT new ideas or original screenplays gives you an idea of what Hollywood is missing..... They can write scathing indictments on racial prejudice, a sympathetic viewpoint toward terrorism , and show us gender confusion and that is supposed to pass for entertainment. I can get all the news I can handle on those subjects via television, the daily newspaper or by reading books. I don't need to pretend that I am being entertained by going to the movies for the same information. ------------ About the author: Meri has a Medical/Legal background and is a former forensic researcher specializing in psychological profiling. https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=27335 Email: writers2@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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