Oscar Thoughts

Mikaela says:
So Kudos to the Academy for being brave enough to have Chris Rock host this year's Award Show. I thought his commentary on how "white" the movies that make the Academy nomination really are was prescient and brave -- and important to point out. He interviewed people at California's Magic Johnson (I think) theatres -- mostly black people -- who had never seen any of the movies up for awards. Their favorite movies were blockbuster action flicks and black comedy pieces that Rock pointed out were all named for locations and not real movie titles at all.

That being said, after his opening monologue, Chris Rock was sidelined -- literally and figuratively. He didn't say another interesting thing all night, except for a brief verbal scuffle with Sean Penn, who stood up for Jude Law, whose omnipresence in movies lately Rock humorously maligned.

The Academy's herculean effort to broaden its inclusion to Black America was painfully evident as the camera's desperately panned the audience and zoomed in on each and every black face when Chris Rock told a "black joke" to see how they liked it and to cue the home audience in on how to take the humor.

To be fair, the Academy wasn't just trying for black/white diversity. Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek got to present several awards -- together as a stunning and well-endowed Hispanic set. And the Academy nominated and awarded its first foreign-language song as Best Original Song from the Motorcycle Diaries.

I applaud the effort toward inclusion, but it was so self-conscious that I found it incredibly uncomfortable. My feeling is that the effort must be made, and the discomfort must be trudged through until it stops feeling like an effort. After all, the acting talent seems to know no color lines, even if quality leading parts for people of color are still few and far between. Jamie Foxx won a well-deserved best actor for Ray, and Morgan Freeman won his first (!?!) Oscar for his supporting role in Million Dollar Baby. The all-white cast of Aviator did not manage to pull off a Best Picture sweep.

The last frontier that seemed painfully obvious to me last night was the technical aspects of movie making. Editing, sound, special effects, etc. lined up the nominees on stage and almost to a MAN, they were white and male. How often do women direct movies these days? How often do women who do direct movies get nominated for Best Director? Sophia Coppola was the last I remember, and even her considerable achievement for Lost in Translation, her first ever film, was downplayed with sour-grape whisperings of nepotism.

So, mixed reviews on social justice at the Oscars.

As for political commentary...there was none. Sean Combs made a vague reference to all the bad things going on in the world, and Chris Rock alluded to how on earth Bush got re-elected when Farenheit 911 showed just how bad a job he's done as President. He quickly (and without pretense of transition) went on to say how everyone there supports are troops and salutes the job they're doing and left it at that.

The whole ceremony can be summed up this way: it ended fifteen minutes early.