The Art of Storytelling and Why I Love the Academy Awards

I love the Academy Awards.  There, I’ve said it.

And not for the red carpets or the high glamor- though Sandra Bullock looked stunning and Clooney is simply fine.  No, I love the Oscars for the art behind the glamor.  I am the person who actually likes to see the editing nominees and the best sound mixing awards.  I even take notes.  I’m a geek when it comes to storytelling.

Tonight’s awards gave tribute to a film maker who had the opportunity to shape so many young minds of my generation.  We Gen X’ers came of age in the glory of John Hughes films.  I had forgotten the impact these stories had on my young formative teenage years until I saw the cameos of all his films played on the big screen for the audience.  Ferris Bueller.  What can I say.  I watched that damn movie so many times I’d memorized all the lines.  I even read the book over and over again.  Tonight, it dawned on me that the final few lines in that movie- brilliantly presented by a young Matthew Broderick- might have just implanted the simple mantra which I guides my life to this day.  “Life moves pretty fast- if you don’t stop to look around every once in a while, you might miss it.”  Brilliant.

We often forget that somewhere, someone is laboring over the scripts, the scene editing, the costume design, the cinematography and the directing that will take a writer’s story and give it a life.  Someone, somewhere is watching a scene unfold in front of their eyes and saying, “wow, this would be a great movie.” Several years ago, the screenwriter of Juno won the Oscar for her storytelling.  Prior to winning the Oscar, she was a stripper.

One of the featured directors in the short film category made a comment that just had to be scribbled in my notebook.  Short films are “the jewel box of storytelling.  The tools never make a great film, the story makes a great film.”

One of the thirty second speeches that resonated the most for me came from the winner of best musical score.  His father gave him a 8 mm movie camera he asked for at age 9 and never once told him it was a “waste of time” to use it.  And no one in his life ever told him that it was a waste of time to pursue his art.  How often can we say that in our own lives?  I was blessed enough to have parents who recognized the value of art and supported my endeavors- but not many can say the same.

John Wayne looks over my usual working spot at the local espresso outpost in Quartzsite.

Sadly, I had not seen many of this year’s nominees.  I realized that films have not been at the top of my agenda the past 6 months when many of these movies were released.  But I did see Blind Side and was rather happy to see Sandra Bullock receive the award for this movie.  And based on a true story and an excellent one at that.

But the overall winner for the evening was a movie I have yet to see and had barely heard of prior to tonight. Hurt Locker won multiple awards, including best screen play, best director and best film.  And to hear the writer stand on stage and tell of being a journalist and basing his screen play on his experience covering the Iraq War, well, that’s inspiring on many levels.  Another award acceptance that gave me goosebumps, was Monique from Precious and Oprah’s tribute to the nominee for best actress from the film.  I haven’t seen this film either, but it is now on the top of my list.

So, my little reporting excerpt on the Oscars will conclude with the focus on the story.  Hollywood merely takes our stories and the narratives we live everyday and creates art.  Even the more elaborate animations and computer generated fantasy movies all return to the simple human narratives we live everyday.

Love, pain, struggle, suffering, triumph, perseverance, death, grief, sorrow, war and peace.  These are our stories, they are our narratives.  And while this may be an unpopular sentiment with some, I applaud the Academy for awarding those artists who use their power and their talent to create movies that go beyond simple entertainment and reveal the human narrative that we experience everyday and filmmakers who tackle the issues that plague our modern society. If I want simple entertainment, I’ll rent an Adam Sandler film or watch a weekly sitcom.  I watch movies because they evoke thoughts, they stir my own emotions, they cause me to question my assumptions and they expose humanity at such a raw and intense level.  I watch movies because they are art.  And it is refreshing to see that the art of the story is still celebrated in the entertainment industry.

Not a big fan of the host’s performances, though.  Can we bring back Hugh Jackman or John Stewart?  Maybe Stephen Colbert should have a shot at it next year.  Jude Law would be nice to look at for 4 hours as well.  I’m just saying.