In 2014, more than 40 million people watched the Academy Awards show on television. Since then, viewership has seen a steady decline, with occasional upticks, but the result is that the under 20 million who watched last year’s broadcast is considered a plus.
There was a time that I never missed the Oscars, and a time where I had seen most, if not all, of the best picture nominees. Those days are gone, not just for me, but as the declining viewership numbers indicate, for a lot of other people as well.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (a kind of high-flying name for an industry in the popcorn-selling business) announced its nominations for this year’s awards later than usual, in light of the wildfire disasters in Southern California. When I look at the 10 movies that have been nominated, I think of a different kind of cataclysm may be in the offering.
None of the movies nominated are what anyone who is counting box office receipts would call a blockbuster. Granted, in recent decades the Academy has tended to ignore movies that were too popular with audiences and deemed not “artistic” enough. Still, the nominated movies of the recent past would be mostly mainstream films produced by the major studios. There would be a few overtly preachy movies and maybe a small film or two independently produced and zeroed in on a niche audience. But for the most part it would be films with box office potential in the running.
Something else is going on now. Take the film “I’m Still Here,” the story about a leftist Brazilian who is kidnapped and disappeared by the right-wing government and how his wife deals with the struggle. If you have never heard of it, you are not alone. To date, the film has grossed just $150,000. To give that number some scale, Disney’s sequel “Inside Out 2” made $1 billion internationally. That is not to say “I’m Still Here” is not a more artistic film than “Inside Out 2,” but it certainly demonstrates that few people have seen it.
There are other movies on the list of this year’s Best Picture nominees that not very many people have seen. Even the ones that have reached broader audiences are mostly dominated by explicit messaging of the social engineering kind.
The not-so-coded messaging in these films is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the so-called “culture wars” are an ongoing battle on many fronts. Many of these films fully embrace takes on ethics and gender that are in direct opposition to what we as Catholics are obligated to affirm.
Best Picture nominee “Wicked” is dripping with LGBT characters, presented with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. It is a part of a growing list of films that turn traditional stories on their heads by presenting the “good” people as the bad people and the “bad” people as the heroes.
And “Wicked” is not the exception in this year’s lineup. The movie getting substantial industry buzz — and one I am willing to predict right now will garner more than a few Oscars — is “Emelia Perez.” It has been described as a “musical crime comedy.” It centers around a cartel boss who wants to change his gender, and the part is played by an actor who in real life has tried to change his gender. That is a win-win for gender ideology proponents and flies in the face of Pope Francis’ caution about the damage this ideology poses.
Then there is the nominee “Conclave,” which Rotten Tomatoes only gave a 73% rating. The New York Times’ review was likewise tepid. But the Academy nominated this for best picture. Besides unpacking all the usual anti-Catholic tropes, the film’s “shock” ending of the College of the Cardinals electing an intersexed person as the next pope absolutely oozes ideology. It is almost as if there is a concerted effort on the part of moviemakers from all walks of life to highlight, focus, and celebrate one particular walk of life above all others.
This is not about the artistic merits of any of the films on the list. What the list of “best” pictures exposes is the almost universal systems of beliefs about gender, ethics, and ideology that run counter to our Catholic faith, which have been grafted into the DNA of Hollywood filmmakers.
So when the big awards night comes, and the envelope for best picture is opened, we will hear: “And the Oscar goes to…” and we can probably guess that the destination will not be heaven.
