By Phillip Johnston
The much-warranted complaint has been lodged that The Academy Awards no longer hold any relevance to the average American movie consumer. The fact that “The Dark Knight,” the highest grossing and undoubtedly best film of 2008, was not nominated for Best Picture of the year proves this definitively for many people.
“If that’s the case, then what’s the point of even talking about them?” you may ask.
Let’s get something straight: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Hollywood in general is thoroughly devoted to the craft of moviemaking. Sadly, Hollywood often panders to the lowest common denominator—uncritical viewers who are satisfied with anything that makes them guffaw or prevents them from falling asleep in their seats. This is one of the reasons why we see the sad success of films like “Disaster Movie” and “Saw V.”
The Oscars ceremony tends to sidestep popular comedy, action and horror movies in favor of more dramatic ones simply because these films seem to have been made with quality storytelling in mind.
Still, the ideals and worldview of the Hollywood system at large have never permeated an Oscars ceremony as much as this year. The awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor both went to the film “Milk,” director Gus Van Sant’s biopic of famed gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The film is genuinely compelling and well made, but it is undoubtedly a piece of propaganda. The acceptance speeches by screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and actor Sean Penn followed suit.
Penn, who played Harvey Milk in the film, sarcastically addressed the audience as a bunch of “Commie, homo-loving sons of guns” and chided those who voted for the ban against gay marriage saying that they should be embarrassed for years to come.
Dustin Lance Black was more pointed in his address: “I think [Harvey Milk would] want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.”
Black does get it right when he says that those children are “beautiful, wonderful creatures of value,” but the rest of the theological and political stew he concocts is far from savory.
Even so, a proper Christian reaction wouldn’t be to jump on the complaint bandwagon and gripe about the terrible state of the world. Instead, our undying focus should be on thoughtfully engaging the gay community with the beauty and power of the gospel that we talk about so much, showing them what Christ’s redemption looks like practically and not just theoretically.
Of course, the ceremony was not all doom and gloom. Pixar’s “Wall-E,” a profound and beautiful film directed by Andrew Stanton (a professing Christian), took home Best Animated Feature and was nominated for a slew of technical awards. “Slumdog Millionaire,” a lightning-paced, colorful film about a kid growing up in the slums of Mumbai, took many awards including Best Picture. It’s a don’t-miss film, and to see Steven Spielberg (a veritable symbol of the Hollywood blockbuster) hand over the golden statuette to a nearly overlooked little film made in India was extremely poetic.
The effects of last year’s writers strike were evident in this year’s crop of Oscar films and will continue to show in the next year. If this is the case, it may be up to filmmakers from other nations and movies like “Slumdog Millionaire” to one-up the collapsing Hollywood system. I, for one, can’t wait to see what they come up with.
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