So another Oscar season has come and gone. While flicks like “Moneyball” or “Extremely Loud and Incredebly Close” might have gone home with bags full of rocks, “The Artist” came home with a bag full of shiny Carmel apples.

This odd little French film, shot all in black and white and without sound, is the first silent film to win Best Picture since 1927’s “Wings,” and the first all-black and white film to win since 1960’s “The Apartment.”

It’s been said in the past that the movies up for Best Picture say something about the year they were created, about what was going on in the world, about what was valued and what was going on in popular culture. This year’s theme seemed to be looking into the past.

Now granted, this is not exactly a new thing with the Oscars, with its never-ending love of period pieces and old-fashioned costumes, but this year seemed to stand out. Out of all nine nominees, only three takes place totally in contemporary time, and even some of those are from a few years ago at least.

Of last year’s nominees, only two could really be considered “period pieces,” with the others set in modern day. Really looking at these movies, there is a feeling of nostalgia, a feeling of looking back at the past and wondering if we are missing something that we used to have.

With the economy in the garbage, gas prices going up and technology changing things so fast it can give you whiplash, maybe people are looking at movies to see how things used to be, instead of worrying about where everything is going now.

Films like “The Artist” and “Hugo” are all about old movies and how they deserve to be seen and treasured even after the world has seemingly forgotten about them. “Midnight in Paris” is all about nostalgia, and the feeling that things used to be better, even if people in that earlier time feel the same way.

However, I don’t think it’s just nostalgia. After all, if you watch these movies based on past times, yes, some things were simpler, but they are also filled with war, economic collapse, racism and death.

Maybe this year’s movies are not telling us that the past is better, but that it was a lot like now. People worked, played, cried, fell in love-just like now, and that should never be forgotten. We don’t have to romanticize the past, just remember it, especially as society changes at just about a mile a minute.

In the end, “The Artist” probably won because it’s an excellent film (in my most humble opinion), but also maybe because it represents what this year’s crop of movies was trying to say. Just because things are quickly changing, that doesn’t mean you can’t change with them, but that doesn’t mean you should forget where you came from.

Things change, but people don’t. Movies have gone from silent to 3-D, but they are still movies and where there are movies, there will always be people to watch them.