I mean, the Oscars were last night. I'm not really a movie buff, but I love lists. And I can name just about every Best Picture winner of the 20th century. Including the ones that really didn't deserve to win. But I couldn't even name a single nominated movie from the past year. More importantly, I don't care; I watched maybe two movies that came out last year, and both of them sucked. I can't even name them now; they made no positive impression on my mind whatsoever.
And I'm not an isolated case; the Oscars set a new futility record for apathy, producing the lowest rated show they've ever had. Nobody was watching. And this is in a time when people are being forced to stay home, with nothing to do but watch TV. Hollywood hasn't just lost its glitter, it's been tarnished to an ugly green mess.
Sports is another example of this. The sports leagues are trying to explain away the loss of viewers, but every major sports league is plummeting in the ratings. Again, this is at a time when people have been stuck at home for over a year. It's the most captive audience in television history...and nobody is watching. The Super Bowl's ratings were dreadful, the lowest they've been in fifteen years. The NBA Finals were the lowest rated Finals EVER. They were getting more people to tune in during the 1970s. Baseball is also seeing lower ratings, though not as bad as the other two leagues.
Why is this happening? In a time when the vast majority of people are desperate for something to do to escape the boredom of being locked in their homes by governmental decree, why aren't people watching movies and sports? It's not even that they're not gaining new viewers who previously had better things to do; they've lost a lot of people who DIDN'T have better things to do in the past.
Well, a lot of people have found better things to do. Spending more time with their families, for one thing. I used to follow football religiously on Sundays, but I haven't for quite some time now. And my family is better for it. And I've cut way back on my movie watching as we get ready for the planting season, not to mention tax season at work is reaching crunch time.
People are looking for better things to do, and a lot have found them. Frankly, I think it's for the better. Ironically, in a time where we are separated from our loved ones and friends, people are getting closer as a result. It's as if we've started to realize what we've been missing for so long as we chased bigger and better things, things that didn't provide us with the happiness we wanted so badly.
It's a very significant shift, a reversal of a trend that has been growing for decades. It will be interesting to see the end result of this shift. People are rediscovering old values. I just hope it's not too late for society.
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