It’s incredibly vain to think for some obnoxious self-righteous reason that people would care about what influential pieces of art affected you over the year.
For some journalists and critics, it’s their specific job to do as such and they get paid accordingly to do so. But when you’re a former President of the United States then the gesture rings more self-serving than anything else.
And one movie former President Barack Obama included on his 2019 “Favorites” list was laughable for this incredibly vain reason.
Some people just can’t help but make themselves the center of attention especially when they’re no longer in the spotlight.
Celebrities that haven’t had much of career lately practice this frequently. Actresses like Rose McGowan and Alyssa Milano have made a career out of using social media to stay relevant.
Liberal documentarian Michael Moore goes on television and news programs to blow hot air about his disdain towards President Trump and his supporters. Director Rob Reiner does the same.
But maybe the best example of a celebrity reinserting themselves into the limelight is disgraced former quarterback Colin Kaepernick. As soon as the chatter dies down about Kaepernick he somehow makes headline news.
Former President Barack Obama has made a habit out of this at least once a year when he releases his annual “favorites” list that includes music, books, television shows and movies that he liked that year.
Some of the films Obama liked in 2019 included “The Irishman,” “Parasite,” “Little Women,” “Booksmart” and “Ford v Ferrari.” No surprises there.
Here was his tweet:
Next up are my favorite movies and TV shows of 2019. Of course, there’s also American Factory, a film from our own production company, Higher Ground, that was recently shortlisted for an Oscar. Here’s the full list: pic.twitter.com/PEcgwotcxm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2019
But if you look closely you’ll find a particular documentary that will make you roll your eyes once you see who produced it.
“American Factory” is about the true story of a Chinese billionaire, Fuyao Glass, who buys a closed General Motors plant in Ohio and makes it into an auto glass production factory, creating 2,000 jobs in just a few years.
The documentary that you can find exclusively on Netflix was produced by none other than former President Barack Obama under his Higher Ground production company. In 2018, Higher Ground partnered with Netflix to produce documentaries, movies, television shows and miniseries to be released on the streaming service.
It’s one thing to be proud of a documentary you produced, that you’re responsible for getting made, but it’s another thing to brag that it’s one of your favorites of the year. You may have noticed all of the “best of” or “worst of” the year and given that it just clicked over into 2020, many gave their list for the decade.
But can you imagine a film director like Quentin Tarantino saying his movie is one of his favorites of the year? It sounds braggadocious doesn’t it?
But we’ve come to expect that from Obama, haven’t we? Can you imagine what next year’s list will be like when Higher Grounds is behind even more projects?