And the Best RV Movie Winner is: Nomadland
RVing has dominated the headlines for the last year or so. Already enjoying an upswing in popularity, RVing became a national darling when the pandemic hit and it was the only travel option available.
Now, an industry so popular that supply is far outweighed by demand can add another feather to its cap, an Academy Award.
Nomadland Oscar award timing is impeccable
A movie about RVs and van life winning an Oscar in the pandemic era seems all too convenient. That is until you remember where the camera is pointing. Take the most popular activity on the planet. Add in the unbelievably talented multiple Oscar winner Frances McDormand. The result is a winning recipe for Best Picture Of the Year.
Nomadland is helmed by up-and-arrived Director Chloé Zhao. It won a total of three Oscars that include Best Director (Chloé Zhao) and Best Actress (Frances McDormand). Nomadland tracks McDormand as she hits the road in a camper van. She started after her town’s only industry shuts down, followed by the death of her husband.
Van life portrayed in Nomadland
Van life is more popular than ever. The popularity of Class B camper vans and van conversions has soared and attracts a younger RVing audience.
Blog sites and Instagram accounts like Vanlifers.com portray the freedom that the van life crowd enjoys. Van life seems appealing. We see images of surfboard clad RVs headed to the beach. Others are parked by picturesque lighthouses at sunset. All reinforce our ideas of freedom and youth. The thought of taking a camper van deep into the unspoiled areas of our national lands and living off the grid is what dreams are made of.
The lead character in Nomadland is Fern, played by McDormand. She portrays a lonely “houseless” RVer hitting the road to find work and a new life. While we won’t spoil the movie for you here, Brian Tallerico’s review is worth reading.
“Hitting the road in search of work as a seasonal employee at an Amazon center, Fern starts living in her van, eventually getting involved with a group of modern nomads, people who sometimes form makeshift communities, but she inevitably ends up alone again, traversing the American landscape. “
RVing is here to stay
With mainstream offerings like The RVers, popular culture has embraced RVing at every level. Shows depict RV purchases, RV remodels, and flipping RVs. Our lifestyle is all over digital media and streaming.
As RVers, most of us have enjoyed the antics of Robin Williams and crew in the movie RV, often repeatedly. In Nomadland, the story, acting, cinematography, and score take us to another level.
“It’s a beautiful film just to experience, and it’s not just in “beauty shots.” Everything about the visual language of “Nomadland” is striking—just the way (Joshua James) Richards and Zhao slowly glide their camera with Fern through a community of van-dwellers can feel lyrical while somehow never losing the truth and grit of the moment either.”
Conclusion
Whether Nomadland adds fuel to the already raging popularity that is the RV industry, particularly the Class B segment, only time will tell.
What it certainly does add is an Oscar-worthy film you can watch after putting the kids to bed, having experienced Robin William’s poop geyser one more time.
All around RV industry enthusiast who has been RVing for 8 years and enjoys trips with his wife and dogs in their diesel pusher.
I have got to see this movie!! We are full timers and enjoy the lifestyle very much@
I wonder if we watched the same Nomad Land. It did not glorify the RV way of life. It looked to me to be a story of people living on the edge struggling to make a go of it. Sure some are doing okay, but this is not about RVing as many of us know it. We live fulltime in our coach, but it is a well maintained diesel pusher with all the comforts of home, even a washer dryer. This is not to put down the movie which we thought was a marvelous representation of vanlife and deserving of the Oscar.
I would never tell anyone to aspire to that life style.