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The Oscars: Yes, It Is About More Than Just Movies!

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By Anthony “Zute” George

The Oscars are supposed to award the very best in filmmaking. Many may take issue with that, and for good reason. Indeed, an entity that has failed to recognize either Stanley Kubrick or Spike Lee as the best director cannot have much credibility. Can it? The answer is complicated. A profound onion to peel. As are the Oscars itself. There are so many idiosyncrasies attached to the sometimes four-plus hours that is the Oscars, a whole book can be written about them. And probably has. We are going to try and cover some in one article.

With the advancements of social media, we get to see just how obnoxious some people really are. Who loves all those keyboard clowns that feel they have to let us know how much they think the Oscars are a waste of time, and they are not watching? No, I don’t have much use for them either.

Let me get this straight, you feel the Oscars have no importance, but you think you are important enough to believe that we care that you are not wasting your time with it? So essentially, you are wasting your time posting about how the thing you are focused on is not worth your time. Indeed, you are brilliant. The simple fact of the matter is the Oscars mean a whole lot for a whole lot of people. And if you care about movies at all, you should too. That does not necessarily mean you are obligated to watch it. But it would be best if you acknowledged it as an important event because Oscar has a significant effect on the film industry, as well as those making a living in movies. And that brings me to my second pet peeve about Oscar.

One of the other idiosyncrasies about the Oscars that really gets my goat is the negative feedback if a winner/presenter makes a political comment. The Hollywood Elite, they say have no business making such comments right. Well, let me educate you about how this country works; indeed, it is my turn to be obnoxious, these politicians work for us, and we all have the right to use whatever platform we have to speak out when we feel these elected officials are not doing their job, or have issue with what they might be doing. Now, you have the absolute right to disagree with their comments. But to suggest that actors, or anyone else who might be on Oscar’s stage, do not have a right to exercise their freedom of speech, well then you are probably the type of person that cannot buy a clue if it was free. Not the kind of person I would want to have a beer with. With few exceptions, of course.

I do not get the mindset. And the idiocy is two-fold. First, the comment about the Hollywood Elite makes no sense. Most of these actors were not privileged. They came from nothing and did whatever they had to survive before they made it. I do not have the data to back me up, but I am willing to bet most people who work in film were born into much less privilege than our so-called elected officials of today. Steve Buscemi was a firefighter, Harrison Ford was a carpenter, Jim Carrey was a janitor, George Clooney was a construction worker, Queen Latifah worked at McDonalds and Jennifer Hudson at Burger King. The list goes on and on. They scraped by while following their dream. Now they have to keep their mouth shut? I do not comprehend that mentality.

And for those who say it is not fair because they can speak their views on a platform that most have access to, I have two words for you, Fox News. Thanks to the Fairness Act, conservatives have access to a plethora of platforms to spew their agenda. And to get down and out on their luck people to identify an enemy that does not exist. It is anything but news and the best of them on these conservative shows are nothing more than actors in their own right. If you could live with them making political statements for a living but lose your mind when DeNiro says “F*** Trump”, well, I guess we’ll never have that beer. To explain it another way, if Fox News and all the other Conservative think tanks do not have to be about news, why does the Oscars just have to be about movies? (If you indeed think Fox News is about news, I cannot help you in any way. You probably stopped reading a long time ago anyway).

Also, when did the narrative that movies were not political take shape? Because it is a narrative that is pure science fiction. Films have always been used to make political statements. There have been so many movies directly about politics as well. So, what right does anyone have to try and muzzle an industry on its biggest platform? As long as movies are about politics, the Oscars can never be just about movies. You do not have to agree with me, but I hope you at least understand me.

It is worth mentioning that there are some people working in movies who would not agree with me. Paddy Chayefsky, the great screenwriter, took offense to political comments made by actress Vanessa Redgrave when she won her Oscar for the film Julia. Paddy was essentially telling her to shut up and act. Which was wrong of him since many of his scripts were political and heavy in social commentary. Paddy said what he said because he is not like Vanessa’s comments. Which he has a right to. But instead of expressing why he disagreed with her, Paddy said she had no right to speak her mind on the film industry’s biggest stage. How dare he. I wonder if Paddy would have reacted the same way if a man had made those some comments. Just asking.

If you still wish the Oscars were just about movies and actors should not use the platform to make political statements, I respond by saying I wish you luck in your convoluted journey through life, and highly recommended you stay away from Oscar this year. As it is bound to get political.

Who will make the first comment that makes the heads of the right explode?

Stay tuned…

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