Facebook Friend's Lament

Well, it's been almost a week since the 83rd annual Academy Awards took place. It was a night of fabulous glamour, superstardom and hot men, hosted by two of Hollywood's most promising young actors.

I still get bummed out every time I think about it.

If by chance you read my first entry, you know that I worship at the altar of "The Social Network," and that I was rooting tirelessly for it to win Best Picture. In any case, you know now. So it should come as no surprise that when "The King's Speech" took both Best Director and Best Picture, I was unaccountably disappointed. Yes, I liked "The Social Network" better than "The King's Speech," but that's not why I'm so heartbroken. Let me tell you why.

First off, I just want to clarify something: I loved "The King's Speech." It's a fantastic movie, beautifully directed, superbly acted, totally worthy of all the Oscar nominations it received. I thought it was one of the best movies I saw all year.

But it wasn't better than "The Social Network."

At least, I don't think so. While "The King's Speech" may have deserved to win Best Picture any other year, it did not deserve to win it this time. Because even though it was a spectacular movie, when you really think about it, it's nothing we haven't seen before. Think about it: protagonist has the potential to be great, but is afflicted with some sort of physical or mental hinderance; reluctantly seeks the help of an unconventional but brilliant mentor who helps our protagonist make progress; at some point in the film, the two have a brief falling out, but reunite in the third act in time for the final ordeal, during which the protagonist demonstrates just how far he's come. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because we saw it play out in "Good Will Hunting," or "The Miracle Worker," or even "The Karate Kid." Inspiring story, but totally unoriginal.

"The Social Network" was not unoriginal; on the contrary, it was completely fresh. That's because it's an of-the-time, of-the-moment movie that celebrates the power of modern day ingenuity in a way no other movie has before. The first time I saw it, I sat in the theater completely awestruck because I was watching a movie about me - about my life, my time, the social and technological world that I helped create. And not only was the movie about me, it also happened to be incredibly well-done. So when I found out it was nominated for so many Oscars, I was genuinely overjoyed. A movie about my time was getting recognized and respected. I felt so totally, unashamedly proud of my generation. It was the first time I've ever felt personally invested in the Oscars. To see a movie like that lose Best Picture to yet another uplifting movie about intelligent old white men was, as Mark says in the former, "a little more than mildly annoying."

I don't mean to rant like a psycho - that's not why I started this blog. I just wanted to say how I felt. And how I feel is, basically, disappointed in the Academy for awarding Best Picture to a movie that was not the best movie of the year. I guess I should have figured the Academy would shy away from something so bold and unconventional and unprecedented (it's happened before), but I'm tired of that being the standard. When is it going to be our time?

What do you all think?