So this weekend I think there was a large movie awards ceremony.
I really have no idea. I can remember at one time when this used to be something that I would watch on a regular basis - say from when Star Wars came out to the mid-nineties. I vaguely remember seeing some of the greats on stage.
But no more.
My devolving interest has come from two major streams. The first - the most easily explainable - is that over time I have found my interests and that of Hollywood's diverging. On any number of issues really, and not just the "social" ones - frankly, they make less and less movies that I am interested in at all (the ability to make a movie without excessive sex, gratuitous violence, extreme foul language seems limited to the realm of children's films any more). I pay attention less and less as they make less and less of what I wish to buy.
The second major stream - perhaps the more important - is the enclosed sphere of it all. These awards are voted on, attended by, and celebrated in a very narrow sector of our population (truly, the original 1%). It has become an echo chamber where "we" celebrate "we". Without the vast audience that ultimately pays for attending the movies and thus gives them relevance and riches, the personnel that make and act in movies would be little more than another group that, like so many in this country and indeed the world, have an awards ceremony which is truly meaningful only to those who participate in it. Instead, the echoes roll about the room while the virtual audience is convinced that they need to watch it and become involved in it - and not only the program itself, but the "pre-game"(truly, is their nothing more telling about our narcissistic culture than a program dedicated to t people walking down a carpet to be seen)? It is the quintessential Western Culture: beautiful people in a controlled environment congratulating themselves on things that ultimately have no value.
So, I have just learned to say no. I occasionally see a film. Frankly, I more often wait for it to be on a streaming service or even in home movie format. But not much more than that. I perhaps cannot hold back the flood, but I can at least attempt to divert the water around my island.
It's a function of a number of things for me. One is intellect. Most of the actors and movies are an insult to the intelligence. The other is political - when I see Hollywood pushing sodomy, homosexuality, socialism, feminism - and taking every opportunity to portray conservatives in a poor light or openly mock or insult them - welp... I'm conservative and I won't pay some idiot good money to do that.
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it but I am watching the mainstream media die with deep satisfaction.
I find the mocking particularly curious, Glen. It is one thing to have opinions - we all do and frankly, we should be allowed to. What I do not understand is (as a business person) risking alienating a large part of your potential market. That just does not make good sense. I wonder, perhaps, if this is due to the fact that entertainment has come to consider itself as a necessary part of modern life where opinions have no ramifications. Sadly, a review of economic history would demonstrate otherwise.
DeleteThe hypocrisy turns me off. Rare is the "action thriller" that doesn't involve the firing of more rounds than an army training center uses in a year, yet Hollywood is merciless in its pursuit of "gun" control.
ReplyDeleteThe pushing of the homosexual agenda turns me off. It's not normal; never has been, and never will be. History, both biblical and otherwise, proves that out. Still, the "beautiful people" can't help but to inject their viewpoint on this any way and anywhere they can.
The pushing of the God-less society turns me off. Christians are mocked, in particular, as being ignorant and backward. Funny though; they seem to exalt Islam, even though its most visible and murderous manifestation, ISIS, is, well, ignorant and backward.
Long story short; there's very little that Hollywood is or produces that I can relate to, so I turn it off...
The gun control thing has confounded me Pete, If they truly held to their beliefs, they would simply refuse to make movies involving guns (or quite possibly violence of any kind). They do not, however. The fact they do not see this as hypocrisy is amusing, in sort of a dark way.
DeleteWith you, there is little that they produce that I find "entertaining" any more....
I don't think I have ever watched an awards show. I remember when Star Wars came out; but being in the military, all I remember thinking was "It's about time a good Science Fiction movie came out".
ReplyDeleteI think we did watch a country music awards show once; but that is all I remember, haha!
In general I never watch them Linda. The performances do not really make up for the long periods of talking.
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