Quote:
You can blame Hollywood's doom and gloom on the Oscars, but I'm not going to. Instead, I think it's George W. Bush's fault. Most liberal directors felt restless under his presidency, and they pushed the envelope with over-the-top, operatic tragedies. From 1997 to 2000, during Bill Clinton's second term, 20 percent of the best-picture nominees were comedies (Shakespeare in Love, The Full Monty, As Good as It Gets, etc.). During Bush's second term, the Academy nominated only two comedies—Juno and Little Miss Sunshine—for best picture, and roughly three fourths of all the films (The Departed, There Will Be Blood, The Reader) fixated on death.
Wasn't this the year of Hopenchange?