Once Upon A Time In The West

Once upon a time the Oscar race meant something different because movies were the dominant form of entertainment in the West.

By "dominant" I mean that actors, writers and directors who were in the film industry considered it a step down to work in TV. They were Movie Stars. Movie people.

Film critics like Pauline Kael were regarded as intellectuals, her takes on popular culture felt at home in highbrow publications like the New Yorker precisely because film was regarded as highbrow as well.

Well, some films, anyway.

But more than that, the most successful movies served as cultural touch points for entire generations. ET phone home. Run, Forrest Run. Yo, Adrian! We all knew what those meant.

The monoculture that gave the cinema its place in the firmament is gone now. And in the age of Feudal Media, movies are also in their own little bubbles--popular and highly influential with one segment of the population, largely unknown outside of those bubbles.

That does not mean the movies that win or get nominated are worse than in previous years. Just more niche. In a way that's very different than the indie films of yore--think of The Crying Game (1993) or even Cinema Paradiso (1988)--far from blockbusters but there was something more mainstream about them than the current crop.

It was, most likely, their aspiration--they were reaching for some universal truth even if they didn't always quite get there.

Versus speaking directly to the bubble.

Which is not bad. Just different. Though it will take some time for TPTB to realize that the age of Feudal Media has different rules and that mainstream hits and the hegemony of Hollywood are largely now relics of the past.

Deal with it.