Patrick McElroy on why the Academy should trust the young to discover a movie for what it is

At this years Oscar ceremony, there were many major moments that were discussed, one moment in particular that if you go on the internet that you can’t possibly escape. But there was one moment during the show that has been overlooked, and that was the 50th anniversary tribute to The Godfather.

I’m not talking about the moment when Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro came out to speak, I’m referring to the video montage they did of the three films before they came out, that recalled the state of film literacy in today’s audience. T

he Godfather films are landmarks, even that puts it lightly, when I was 12, I saw the film, and that was the film that got me into movies. When the montage was presented, it was made to look more like a typical action movie with explosions, and gun shots, with rap music playing over it, where the films are ultimately more nuanced and subtle.

It made me question; can we still present movies to people in their true form without dumbing them down? I trace this back to the MTV generation where everything is flash and fast, then came computers, video games, and cell phones that have ruined the attention spans of future generations. But I still believe that if you get them to watch a film like The Godfather in its pure form, they can enjoy it.

A few years ago I showed the film to a group of my friends who grew up with the technological boom, and they loved the movie, because it speaks something very direct to people which is family and capitalism. I think that the Academy underestimated people when they presented the movie to look more like a Fast and the Furious movie, and this was a night that was supposed to be honoring the best in film. If they presented it in that fashion hoping to boost ratings, maybe they aren’t the place for the best in film anymore.

Patrick McElroy is a movie writer and movie lover based in Los Angeles. Check out his other writing at: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mcelroy.3726 or his IG: @mcelroy.patrick