Changing of the Guard

Hey Cinescapists!
I meant to get this post up a month ago, since it's timely after the election and all, so sorry for the delay.
But anyway, a new era has dawned, a changing of the guard. In a few short weeks, Barack Obama will officially be the 44th President of the United States. While this will actually have quite the affect on the national and international culture as a whole, it'll probably have just as profound affect on Popular Culture as well. As the nation's attitude about the future changes from discouragement to hope, it's very possible that we'll see a change in the type of movies that audiences champion. In the past few years, we've seen a clear pattern of types of films that are both popular with critics and audiences, and they tend to be films that either deal with darker themes and anti-heroic characters, or wildly unrealistic fantasies featuring flawed superheroes. To find examples, we only need to look back to the past few years, when movies like THE DEPARTED and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN won Best Picture, and SPIDERMAN 3 and IRON MAN ruled the box office. In a time of political disillusionment, audiences were responding to either high forms of escape (superheroes) or characters that broke away from the norm (anti-heroes and villains). Most often, these themes combined, with more and more superhero films featuring protagonists that deal with darker issues. It was only this past summer when the culmination of superheroes and dark themes collided for massive success when THE DARK KNIGHT became a phenomenon for the ages.

What I believe we're going to see in this new era of hope is a turning away from darker films and people responding to lighter and more accessible films. There has certainly been historic precedence for this. Back in the 1970s, amidst a corrupt and failing government and disillusionment over the Vietnam War, the films that were produced and successful were ones that (like today) had darker themes. Movies like THE GODFATHER and THE EXORCIST were both the box office champs and award winners of the day. Truly not light fare. When 1976 came along, and with the Nixon administration gone and the war over, people were ready for change at the movies as well as in Washington. That was when ROCKY came out, and it was not only a huge box office hit, but also won Best Picture for that year. ROCKY changed everything for the movies that year and the years since, with more commercial movies from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas becoming the big hits of the era.

While we're only at the beginning of this new phase, I think what we'll see is more of a change towards that positive attitude reflected in the movies that are made and become successful. Already there is a wave of films that are on the way that reflect this new change. Movies like MILK and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE are ROCKY-like stories with themes of hope centered around protagonists who are underdogs and have to overcome adversity to succeed. While I think both of these films will do extremely well critically (I'm predicting right now that SLUMDOG will win best picture), it will be interesting to see how well they do when exposed to a wide audience. Much like JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, these movies could easily find a groove in the national zeitgeist, and become champions of a broad audience. Even though both films deal with somewhat uncomfortable subject matter (violence in India, gay rights), at the core, the hopeful themes and underdog characters are elements that any audience can respond to and root for. And while I always believe the movie will always speak for itself, it certainly does help that the national sentiments of change and hope (two themes of the coming administration) will be prevalent ideals throughout the country and in our popular culture. It would have been interesting to see how both MILK and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE would have been received had they been released a year or two ago.

So while we'll have to really wait and see if change really does come to this country with the arrival of a new President, it's already clear to see that change is coming to the movies. Audiences are ready to be inspired again. They want people to root for, and causes to champion. We're becoming a glass-half full nation again, meaning we'd rather see the hero succeed rather than just the villain fail.

As always, comments are welcome and encouraged!