Many Americas, Many Cultures, Much Breakdown...

 Back in the day, even middle-class Americans were treated to the same movie theater offerings as the ... upper crust (and their favored sons and special daughters.) Wealth was not a barrier to entertainment.  We enjoyed classics, well-made films together, even learning about ourselves, together, as a nation while celebrating artists who had performed at the peak of their crafts.  

From Tender Mercies to Shindler's List, we were not starved of good works, but celebrated our American dreams: together, united and proud that the film industry -- like the blues -- was stamped MadeInAmerica and was an industry that ... saw us.

No more.  Now the masses are dished up BigScreenAdventures, mostly warmed-over Superhero tales starring Violence, Rape and Money.  Evil is often a big part of the plot, before it is overcome with the latest military weapons systems, some only accessible to the mind, not in production in reality... yet.

Instead of analyzing where the film industry -- and the culture that once served our country so well -- went wrong (hint:  they sold out American audiences to serve the international market not keen on "mindset" films about personal growth and human growth we once celebrated in America), food reviewer-turned NYT gay columnist - turned JournolismProfessor (a minor celeb in his own right!) Frank Bruni turns his eyes toward lower-class Americans and blasts down...

When movie critics’ lists of favorite movies and performances diverge almost completely from the Oscar nominees, it’s not simply because those critics are flaunting their refinement (though there’s some of that). It’s because they’ve sampled and considered all that’s out there, while many Oscar voters have assessed only what readily caught their eyes.

No Frank.  Just ... no.  You're not helping anything by yourself enjoying the finest offerings on display, little brother of the rich (Medill!) and then snarking that culture-starved others in America today simply have no taste...

Some people gobble all.  Remember, Frank's entered the Ivory Tower culture now, safely shielded from the rest of America today even if it's not at a top university, yet he continues to blather on as one of the few non-Jewish New York Times male columnists who are allegedly addressing American culture today in the opinion columns.

Where is the diversity?  Where is the new blood?  Where are the working-class writers who once boosted our newpapers and reported on the national issues and the ways real-people were working through them here?  I know the answer... Gone with the Wind, as that medium too has kind of sold out to international markets of wealthy readers, who like to see American lessers (those not competitive in international finance markets) pounded for their pleasures in newspapers too. 

Trust me:  the people who are consuming crap in this country today are not the ones to blame for what is being done to so many of the markets that once made America great.  You can spin, you can collaborate, you can push a uni-view, but anyone with their eyes wide open can see:  it's the decisions made from above about what the wealthy are entitled to (fine films, fine food, shelter from what is happening on our own streets today) compared to the "lessers" charged with servicing them, who need to roll up their sleeves, pitch in, and make things more accessible to all of us:  all citizens and even the laboring ones without any citizenship status -- or rights -- still being assimilated into what was once a proud and strong country.

Advocate for others to enjoy what thine eyes have seen -- the Glory! of shared markets that are accessible and open to serving all.  

You see:  this country's wealthy (who have secreted wealth to share secretly with their own boys and girls) might have the power to control everything from culture to criminal charges today, but the ms:sses have the numbers.  If there's gonna be a rumble here, culturally ushering in days of rage, I believe in the power of the artists to create thoughtful change over the BigGuns who are weaker than they know, without their powerful weapons pounding away at the innocents.

The intellectual lives we save might be our own.  Diversify, even if it means simply closing your mouth, putting down your poison pen, and simply listening to others, lessers even... no matter the skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation?  The pendulum has swung too far to the extremes: yours or mine, it doesn't matter so much as trying to find that sweet spot in the middle where real nourishment feeds us all culturally.  aka, Don't Gorge yourself so much on your own riches and then blame others who refuse to acknowledge your fancy excrement with a prize...