Up in the Air

Last night we watched Up in the Air which Sarah got from Netflix. Many of you know that I'm a big movie fan and always look forward to the Oscars. This year, my pick for best picture (even though I didn't see all ten and The Hurt Locker was one I didn't see) was Up in the Air. I've explained my rationale for wanting it to win to some people, but here it is for those who haven't heard it.

I collect past movies that have one the Best Picture Oscar, and enjoy watching these movies tremendously. One of the big reasons I so enjoy these films is that they serve time capsules in their own ways to the time s in which they were made. It's very interesting to me to go back and watch a movie from the 1930's or 70's or 90's or and time period in between and try to understand why that movie was made when it was made, and why it was so widely accepted, enjoyed and acclaimed in its time. Though I haven't seen every movie that has ever won, I've seen enough to notice some loose trends. It seems to me that there is a rotation of about 5 different kinds of movies winning: symbolic social commentaries, grand achievements that are ahead of their time, that capture and encapsulate the mainstream culture (often corporate culture) of America at the time, ones that represent the plight of a particular niche or sub-society delicately and gracefully, and movies that are just superior all around films. I know that there is always talk about Hollywood politics that go into picking the different pictures, and I'm sure there are, but regardless I think these categories represent a general, not-mathematically-perfect, cycle of movies that win. If I were to break it down and actually look year to year and try to force fit every movie, I would come up with a nonlinear, super generalized list of movies Venn-daigrammed into multiple categories. But regardless of the airtightness of the trend, it is the basis for my hopes that Up in the Air would win.

As I look back at the movies that have won since 2000 (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker), it has been quite a while since a movie won and was put into this cultural time capsule that will give the world of 10, 15, 20, 50 years from now a view of what it's like to be a live in mainstream American society today. I know that the content and subject matter of The Hurt Locker, and many other films from this past year give a wonderful view of very important events and aspects of the world today, but as far as capturing the essence of middle-class, mostly corporate America of this time period of American society, I think Up in the Air was timeless for this reason. Up in the Air is the film that will give future generations the best idea of what it was like to be alive here today. I know that I'm generalizing what it means to be alive and what mainstream American society is in a vast, borderline offensive way, but if Hollywood were to make a movie that attempted to capture the broadness of middle America today, it would be either way too long and extremely hard to tie together a comprehensible story, or like Crash for the suburbs and not-so-ethnically-diverse urban areas. Up in the Air is simply a superior snapshot of the trouble, trials, tribulations and timeliness of our middle society today.

With all of that said, if you haven't seen Up in the Air, watch it. If you consider yourself a film collector or like owning movies with decent rewatchability, buy it. If you like movies that make you think, share your thoughts so I can think too. If you like to be entertained, keep checking up on me for upcoming posts!