One of the first lessons I learned when I got my job as librarian at the Henika Library in Wayland was that I needed to immerse myself in popular culture in order to provide the community with the books, magazines and movies in which they were interested.
I was something of a snob about certain writers and genres of fiction (being as I was a hot shot holder of a bachelor of arts degree in English literature). But I learned pretty quickly to double up on Danielle Steel and forego Kurt Vonnegut. The library wasn’t about me. It was about the people whose tax dollars supported the important purpose of a public library, which continues to be to provide leisure and educational materials demanded and desired by the populace it serves in a free society with a free flow of ideas and information.
Over the years I have made a conscious effort, if not to develop an interest in, to at least have a more than passing awareness of those fads, trends, and phenomena that colorfully punctuate our lives in each passing generation. Among the Beanie Babies and Anime and “Fifty Shades of Grey,” this has included watching more television than I would have liked, and the result has been that I have grown to enjoy a lot of the things at which I used to turn up my nose.
One of those things has been watching the annual Academy Awards show. Even though it always goes over the alloted time, and even though the acceptances grow tedious and repetitive, I like seeing the sparkly dresses, and actually catching a rare, original thought or idea in someone’s speech.
Though the awarding of the prizes isn’t, in my opinion, always an accurate indication of the artistic best in any given category, I can enjoy a clever host or presenter, especially if he or she can capture our human foibles in their monologues and innovative bits. (Offering a jet ski to the recipient with the shortest speech? Giving Faye and Warren a redux of best picture announcement? Precious.)
So, even though there is more that I dislike than like about this popular culture event, I watched on Sunday night, paid attention to this year’s parade of pretty dresses, and hoped for a few laughs.
And instead of the politics of Hollywood awards granting, I was treated to a satisfying parade of actual American peoples’ day-to-day politics.
What began a year ago as #MeToo and #TimesUp for sexual harassment and pay inequality, this year included a loud and renewed call to racial justice, a crescendo of voices for the Dreamers, and the long overdue demand for #NeverAgain murdering of children in school shootings (or any other group of innocents, for that matter).
The people with the most prominent platform and the most pop culture influence provided the mouthpiece for America’s frustration with a do-nothing government. They highlighted the truth that a fed up America is taking the initiative and doing the work that their elected officials either can’t or won’t do for the people who elected them.
What could have been just another inane, self-congratulatory love-fest, turned out to be a stark contrast to #OscarsSoWhite of a couple of years ago. Men and women, straight and LGBTQ, all the colors of the Crayola flesh-tone crayons were on proud display for us on the other side of the TV screen, representing theirs and our rawest emotions about America’s social condition.
This is significant to me because it means Americans are once again becoming participants in the workings of their nation. Fifty years after the significant movements of the 1960s — civil rights, women’s liberation, anti-war/peace — citizens are once again turning to protest, civil disobedience and real activism to actualize change in a country where the middle class is being ignored and systematically erased, minorities are being marginalized and blatantly debased, and the population is being deprived of what used to be highly desirable aspects of our nation’s identity — superior health, superior education and superior exemplification to the world of human rights values and high ideals for the entire human race.
Young people are grabbing the reigns, and their unsophisticated naivete and resolve are contagious and inspirational. Their willingness to forge ahead for change without a single reservation about their convictions turns nostalgia in older adults into renewed vigor that we, as citizens, can make a difference!
Art imitates life, and, in turn, life imitates art. Our popular culture affects the art, music and films that artists produce. And we look into that mirror at ourselves, to see our best, true nature reflected. Then we raise our voices in unison, loud enough for all politicians to hear, that we are the adults now, and we will not put up with petulant children turning our country into a pale reflection of what we were a few short decades ago.
I feel a revolution afoot. The rumblings were evident in the preponderance of political statements made at a seemingly superficial awards ceremony. The rumblings have been increasing with the articulate voices of the Parkland survivors. There is a fervor, maybe even a reverence, with which adults are embracing the idealism of our young people.
The popular culture continues to change. And I like the way it seems to be trending.
INCLUSION RIDER!!!