TINY GEMS

An article in the New York Times film section asks an interesting question – in light of the deepening recession (today, the Times reported that unemployment has hit a 16-year-high at 7.2%), how should Hollywood present itself in the upcoming awards season? The article cites Hollywood’s “long if not proud history of tone-deaf behavior” in response to national crises – references to Marie Antoinette abound. Opinions (of network executives, fashion designers and pop-culture pundits) differ as to whether the glitz and glamour of the typical Hollywood awards show will soothe or enrage the cash-strapped viewing public. For the time being, at least, Hollywood certainly isn’t pulling out any stops, attempting to reinvigorate flagging awards-show ratings (and, yes – the swag is back, too).

What the article overlooks, however, is that the birth of Hollywood glamour came out of the Great Depression. The Roaring ’20s laid the groundwork, but the Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking was born out of the worst economic conditions. The Depression marked the highest moment for the star and studio systems, the growth of sound and the birth of color. The 1930s gave us Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn – as well as the rise of the Western, the musical, the period piece and the horror film. Even Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz – perhaps the two most iconic films of Hollywood spectacle – both came out in 1939, at the tail end of the Depression. With cinema well past the 100-year-mark, maybe this recession will give Hollywood an impetus to go back to the well-crafted spectacle on which it was built. Could the economic crisis take us all back to the era of Busby Berkeley?

Up next – Gold Diggers of 2009. It certainly wouldn’t be the first Hollywood remake this year, or the last. Bring on the good old days!