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Things are looking up. Positive signs are everywhere. People like what they're seeing.

No, we're not discussing the economy. We're talking movies.

All nine of this year's best-picture Oscar contenders have hopeful endings. For the first time in recent memory, there's not a dark, stomach-turning story without redemption in the bunch.

Contrast that with two years ago, when grimness and heartbreak dominated best-pic nominees "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious," "District 9," "An Education" and winner "The Hurt Locker."

Or four years ago, when moviegoers turned off their sets by the millions on Oscar night after "Atonement," "Michael Clayton," "There Will Be Blood" and winner "No Country for Old Men" took us down a black hole and left us there.

The odds-on favorites to be top winners at tonight's 84th annual Academy Awards: "The Artist," a feather-light confection about a chorus girl on the rise who rescues a silent-film star on the skids; and "Hugo," a heartwarming PG-rated story about an orphan, directed by Martin Scorsese, of all people.

Scorsese made his mark with brutally violent fare like "Gangs of New York," "GoodFellas," "Raging Bull," "Cape Fear" and best-pic winner "The Departed."

To be sure, conflict is the life blood of a good story. There's sadness, and less than graphic violence, in 2011 best-picture contenders such as "The Help," "War Horse," "The Tree of Life," "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" and Omaha native Alexander Payne's "The Descendants."

But there's also plenty of hope. And heart. This year's trend extends to categories like short films, foreign films and documentaries.

What gives? Are happy endings back in fashion with the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences? What about with filmmakers?

Bill Blizek, founding editor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Journal of Religion and Film, said it takes two to three years — often longer — to get a movie made. What we're seeing now, he said, was largely green-lighted at the bottom of the recession.

"The economy had just tanked," he said. "The outlook was horrible. We were panicked. Nobody knew how it would go. People started making these movies when American culture was in crisis."

Movies, he said, reflect culture. Americans have been looking for upbeat stories because reality has been so bleak. Audiences want to feel better.

Local filmmaker Mark Hoeger of Oberon Entertainment agreed.

"Conventional wisdom is that when times are challenging, films get more light," he said. "We already have enough misery in our lives. Why pay to see more?"

The Depression in the 1930s spawned Busby Berkeley, Shirley Temple and screwball comedy. Cold War fears saw MGM musicals reach their peak in the 1950s. The Vietnam War led to escapist blockbuster fare like "Jaws" and "Superman" in the 1970s.

Omaha film historian Bruce Crawford said the pendulum may be swinging away from the dark side.

"Even comic-book films can be so dark, like 'The Dark Knight,' " he said. "It was so depressing. But when things reach such an extreme, where else can they go? Violent films have gotten so graphic and outrageous they're almost comical. Extremism taken too far mocks itself. It becomes absurd."

With the war in Iraq at a close and the economy inching upward, Crawford said, the movies may be reflecting the mood of not only the public but moviemakers.

Wheeler Winston Dixon, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln film studies professor, said there's more than enough hardship to go around in the world. People are seeking not just escapist fare but stories with heart and a positive resolution, he said.

"All the nominated films reflect a renewed optimism in America," he said. "They're all about real people coping with things and dealing with adversity in a positive fashion. I think that's what audiences want to see, and it reflects the tenor of the times."

Rachel Jacobson, director of Omaha's nonprofit arthouse movie theater Film Streams, said cycles of dark movies ebb and flow.

"We've had periods where I've noticed everything we programmed is sad and bleak for months," she said. "But it just happens those are the good films coming out then. Inevitably there's a sort of backlash, a wave of positivity after that."

Clearly, movies don't need to be positive or happy to be good. Uplifting movies often include sadness at their center, Jacobson said, but she did notice that movies at the Toronto Film Festival this year were a bit lighter.

"It might be the cultural climate, where we're looking for some positivity," she said. "I'm definitely seeing that in the foreign-film and indie world. It can be a tough story, but also hopeful and uplifting. People are looking for those redemptive things."

Lew Hunter, professsor emeritus of screenwriting at the University of California at Los Angeles film school, wondered aloud if movie historians might look back at 2011 as a watershed year.

"There are so many good movies up for best picture," he said. "And every one of those movies is about loss."

Hunter singled out the hero of "The Artist," played by Jean Dujardin, as fitting the classic cathartic character arc: He rises, falls, then comes back by redeeming himself.

"People want an ending that is satisfying more than they want happy — to see a rejuvenation, a positive end solution. We love to cry, but we also love satisfaction."

Hoeger said it slightly differently.

"It doesn't have to be uplifting. But to have any shot with audiences, it has to have justice. People will put up with an ending that's sad, but they don't like one that's not just."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com