On a more serious note, I admitted that I hadn’t studied it much but that I intended to. As a film critic and historian, I always try to stay up to date with what’s happening in the entertainment industry, although I have little personal interest in current movies.
My friend proceeded to ask a series of thought-provoking questions about the awards show and, expanding on that theme, reasons behind people’s interest in theatrics in general: “From an academic perspective, is it worth studying? Why do humans like acting, theater, and production? Why do people like stagecraft and theater? Human essences? What are your thoughts from a historical perspective? What unions have come together to produce all this?” These deep questions led me to think about the very essence of entertainment and the impact it has on humanity.
Are the Oscars Worth It?
Are the Oscars worth studying, from an academic perspective? At this point in American and global history, the automatic response many of us want to give is a firm, “No!” Why should we be interested in such a wastefully extravagant celebration of the liberal elite? Well, whether we’re keeping up with the latest Hollywood doings or not, they’re having a huge effect on our society. Although more and more people have been switching off the awards shows in the last few years, Hollywood and pop culture icons still have an outsized influence on a disturbingly large amount of people. Although we may not be personally interested, it can be useful to see what is influencing our friends and neighbors.Why Do People Like Stagecraft?
Stagecraft, like films, radio, television, and music, can be classified as entertainment. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines entertainment as “amusement or diversion provided especially by performers.” That means that entertainment could be considered anything which distracts someone from the mundane reality of daily life. Sadly, that is about all most content from Hollywood in recent years accomplishes. Despite more claims of “raising awareness,” “sending a message,” and “standing in solidarity” than showmen of the past could even have imagined, the modern film industry manages to produce very little besides the most elaborate diversions from real meaning.
Entertainment doesn’t have to be a mindless sedative, though. In fact, it’s mainly in recent years that it has become thus. Historically, people enjoyed the theater because it was meaningful. In ancient Greece, the birthplace of theatrics and drama, the stage was considered a sacred place. People went there not just to be entertained but to learn. Every play had a moral, which was usually proclaimed by the chorus, a company of nameless individuals who commented on the events. This moral wasn’t a heavy-handed agenda from the playwright. It was based on eternal principles of truth, basic laws of human conduct, and undeniable concepts of right and wrong.
Entertainment of any kind is a mirror, both realistic and magical. As an ordinary looking glass, it shows us who we are and where we are, often providing a viewpoint we can’t see with our own eyes. As a magic mirror, it shows us what has been, what will be, and what could be, depending on how people behave.
During the Golden Era of Hollywood (1934-1954), when the Motion Picture Production Code guided the decency standards of American films, movies showed how the world would look if most people adhered to high morals, if correct standards of living were followed by the majority, and if justice always won out in the end. After that era, in the late 1950s and 60s, the magic mirror of the silver screen began to project a progressively liberal worldview, where swearing was more common and virtue was more rare than in the average American community of the time. If the Code films depicted an idealized worldview, films made before and since then have focused on the other extreme of the moral spectrum.
More Than Diversion
It’s fun to watch a movie or turn on an episode of your favorite sitcom and forget your trouble for a couple of hours. However, movie theaters and especially live performing arts must provide so much more than diversion nowadays to make ticket sales. In the 1930s, the average American in a rural town had few options besides the local movie theater if he wanted some entertainment after a hard day of work. That’s not the case now. All he has to do is turn on the flatscreen TV in his living room, switch on his laptop, or even pull the phone out of his pocket to see the latest Hollywood has to offer. If he’s going to spend the money, time, and effort to go the theater, it has to be for something more than the mindless distraction he could get instantly from Facebook.People still go to the theater for something they can’t find anywhere else, a genuine experience they can feel in their very souls. Everything is so artificial in our virtual world today that people are desperate to see and hear something real. Nothing can compare to the magic of witnessing art being made right in front of you, whether it’s music, dance, singing, or theatrics. Of course, to truly uplift the soul, it must be beautiful, pure, and meaningful. The sensationalism and shock value to which too many writers and directors resort is a feeble attempt to compete with genuine artistic expression.
Let Hollywood have its sensationalism, its shock value, and its fancy award shows! It’s all empty diversion. The truth and beauty of a live performance existed long before the first film camera was invented, and they will remain long after Jimmy Kimmel’s crude jokes have been forgotten.
