MARINA DEL REY, CA -- This year's Academy Award nominations, the annual indicator of the state of American culture, are morally ominous, said a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. Robert W. Tracinski was a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute between 1997 and 2004.
"Art is the barometer of a culture," said Robert W. Tracinski. "That which we view as good or great art is a window to our most fundamental moral values and convictions. The nominees for Best Picture fall, broadly, into two categories: the 'realistic' film such as 'American Beauty' that depicts the essence of human nature as depraved and amoral, and the 'uplifting' film such as 'The Sixth Sense' that depicts morality as possible only in a mystical realm."
Tracinski noted that the implicit message these two representatives of the "best" American films convey is that the only choices open to us are being "realistic" or upholding moral values -- not both.
"'American Beauty,' 'The Sixth Sense,' and the other best picture nominees reflect the basic false ethical alternative offered by our culture," said Tracinski. "We can be hard-nosed realists and dismiss morality as irrelevant to the world we live in -- or we can take a leap of faith and accept moral rules pertaining only to some mystical realm."
He argued that cultural decay reflected by the nominees will be cured when our movies -- and our intellectuals -- reject the false alternative between real life and morality.
"In order for our culture to improve, the movies have to show that morality not only can exist in the real world, but that it is also the key to achievement and happiness," said Tracinski.