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| Past Lives Director Celine Song, Where's the Outrage? |
A lot of people are upset that Greta Gerwig did not get an Oscar nomination as best director for Barbie and that Margot Robbie did not get a best actress nod for the same film.
Take a breath.
Let’s get this clear at the start: It’s a fucking awards show. This should be very low on the list of things a person gets upset about. Have you seen the state of the world? Ever hear any reference to Gaza? Are you aware that Donald Trump still walks the Earth? Last I heard global warming had not been eradicated. Roe v. Wade has been struck down by a racist, sexist Supreme Court. Famine and disease and totalitarian regimes still exist. The list of things to get riled about goes on and Oscar snubs is low on them. Sometimes we need perspective.
Another thing: why the selective outrage? People are upset at Gerwig not being nominated. How about Kelly Reichardt who directed Showing Up? She’s been a director for far longer than Gerwig and has never gotten a nomination. Or how about Celine Song who directed the highly-acclaimed Past Lives which was, like Barbie, nominated for best picture? Gerwig made millions of bucks on Barbie. Reichardt and Song not so much. Reichardt is a lesbian and Song an Asian-American. But people are just angry about the straight white multi-millionaire not having a chance to win a bobble?
Here’s another thought: maybe voters didn’t think Gerwig’s direction was worthy of a top five spot and thus not good enough to warrant a nomination. I didn’t think it was. And I didn’t think Robbie’s performance, good as it was, merited a nomination.
If you have a year in which no female is nominated for best director or no African-American is nominated for best actor, we are not necessarily seeing the consequence of institutionalized sexism and racism. If women and Blacks are repeatedly being ignored then you surely DO have evidence of those sins. As we have most certainly seen in the past. The academy is much better than it used to be though still not good enough at recognizing diverse voices. However that doesn't mean Barbie's failure to get more nominations is reflective of sexism in the industry.
Still believe that Gerwig and Robbie were deserving? Welcome to the Oscars. Do you how many great films and great performances have been ignored by the Academy? Do you know how much mediocrity has been rewarded over the years? If you do, why are bothering worrying about what they did or did not nominate this year? It’s not worth it.
This is an organization that I believe is guiltier of incompetence than racism and sexism (and they have indeed been guilty of racism and sexism). Check these out for best picture winners: How Green Was My Valley, Gigi, Cavalcade, Around the World in 80 Days, Oliver!, Crash (vomit), The King’s Speech, Green Book, Slumdog Millionaire, The English Patient and whatever the hell won last year (CODA?). Contrast those with some of the pictures that DIDN'T win: Citizen Kane, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, The Searchers, The Third Man, Bonnie and Clyde, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Reds, Double Indemnity, It’s A Wonderful Life, City Lights . And that’s not to mention foreign films that should have won but weren’t even nominated.
No, the Oscars are nothing to take seriously and nothing to get upset about regardless of what they do.
If I were to get worked up about this year’s nominations I’d wonder how All of Us Strangers didn’t warrant a best picture nod and a raving mediocrity (that word comes up a lot when discussing the Oscars) like Maestro did. I’d also be livid that Finnish director Aki Kauriskmak’s Fallen Leaves didn’t get a best foreign language nomination or for that matter that Christian Petzold’s Afire was ignored in the same category. I’d also wonder at May December’s exclusion from the best film nominees. But I’ve learned not get into a lather at anything the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does. They’re a bunch of idiots.
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Speaking of idiots….I heard another athlete after a big victory give “all the glory to God,” after his team's victory. Imagine not giving “all the glory” to God. Wouldn’t he be pissed? God must have a fragile ego. He needs to be “worshipped” at “worship services" on a day set aside for him. And don’t you dare use his name in vain, Goddamn it. Quick question: what if you gave most of the glory to God, say eighty per cent, and kept a little for yourself? Would that be so bad? By the way, what does one do with the glory? For that matter, what does God do with it?
Maybe I should pray about it. This reminds me of when the Daily Show showed an ad from Glenn Beck’s TV show in which the conservative nutcase was shilling — I believe it was gold coins (solid investment) — in an ad. He ended by suggesting to viewers that they “pray about it.” Yes, God is all about guiding people as they ponder their financial investments. What could be more important for the almighty?
A former student of mine recently lost his son to cancer. The child died on Christmas Day which was one day before his sixth birthday. God was too busy getting “all the glory” and helping people figure out the best way to make bank to save the little boy. Priorities.
(By the way, I've used the masculine pronoun for God because only a male would have such a fragile ego.)
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I’d like to plug a book that I didn’t write: Prequel An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow. It’s the story of the sundry Nazi and other far right groups that proliferated in the U.S. in the 1930s and right up to Pearl Harbor. I knew a fair amount about this from the research I did for my second novel, Threat of Night but after reading Maddow’s book I know one helluva lot more. There were Nazi sympathizers scattered all over the country including within the halls of Congress. And anti-semitism was rampant (not that its eradicated today) and people weren't shy about expressing it. Perilous times and credit goes to a lot of heroes — well documented by Maddow — who exposed them. Not that it always did any good. Many who should have been locked up for sedition were given a pass. Sequel is an absolute delight because the author paints such vivid pictures of the characters and the times. She also employs a ready wit. I like her much better as a writer than I do as a TV commentator where I find her speaking style unappealing. Sequel is one of the best non fiction books I’ve read in many moons. The fact that there are parallels to today is a sad commentary on this country.
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