Now before you assume I'm writing this post in reference to the great 1977 film starring the impeccable and 12 times better than you or me Paul Newman, make note that it is not. Yet we should touch on that briefly as the reference allows me chance to mention that awesome film. Just in terms of the Oscars, Slapshot never had a chance as good as it was. That years Oscar for Best Picture was won by Annie Hall with Richard Dreyfuss taking home Best Actor for The Goodbye Girl. Lest we forget, this was also the year of Star Wars as well as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saturday Night Fever all of which gained major nominations. But the film also shares some semblance of connection to what occurred last night on live television. Apparently violence may be celebrated.
I should mention that my interest in the Academy Awards has waned considerably from what it once was. The fact that I have a subsection of this blog devoted entirely to this institution suggests that at one time in my life it meant a great deal to me. I watched every single ceremony each year from the time I understood that I loved film and movies. But after years of mind-bending choices by the members or some other, it meant less and less and less. In truth, that is much the point of these Oscarblogging posts...to single out the idiotic wins and losses often handed out by this group of people. In response to last night's slap shot, I could only post to social media that "And somehow Peter O'Toole, Deborah Kerr, Richard Burton and Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar. ::shrug::" By that I meant that undeserving wins happen all the time and more deserving performances are often overlooked. Sometimes with impunity.
I told some that I would not watch this years ceremony because I was over these egregious mistakes both in what is honored or not but also how the ceremony itself is planned and run. Much like baseball, the complaint was always "it's too long" and in attempts to shorten the time things are lost. Not just playing deserving winners off the stage because they rambled on too long, but cutting out important and welcomed (at least by myself) honorary Oscar wins - the Thalberg, Lifetime Achievement, etc. In the face of short attention spans, the Oscars always make the wrong choice and frankly never saves time anyway. You cut out a slew of deserved moments when Best Film Editor or Sound (which used to be two categories) are shortened at the least and then include a musical number that lasts five minutes when it was not even nominated? I don't have the factual numbers on this, but the ceremony last night lasted nearly as long as any other I have ever seen. Whatever time they save by cutting important stuff like...oh, I don't know...awarding deserving films which appears to be the goal on the masthead...is instead taken up by what I assume they think the audience would rather watch. No matter that Sam Jackson received an honorary Oscar given to him by Denzel Washington the other night at the Governor's Ball. Why would we want to see a thing like that?
Yet I did watch and here is where we get down to the most bizarre thing I have ever witnessed on an Oscars telecast. I remember Sacheen Littlefeather. I recall the streaker behind David Niven. I witnessed when Marisa Tomei won for My Cousin Vinny. I still feel sorry for Beatty and Dunaway when the wrong Best Picture was announced in 2017. These are all Oscars lore. Hell, I've studied it so much that I know well the incident from the 1963 contest in which Joan Crawford basically stole Anne Bancroft's statue when the latter won for The Miracle Worker (look it up.) But I do not recall ever seeing an actual assault.
What was witnessed last night was a petulant child and more, a crime. I don't care how famous is Will Smith. And I generally like him. Yet when a very famous person approaches a comic and moves to violence, they have gone too far. ANYONE that does such a thing has gone too far. Spare me the excuses that Jada has alopecia. A joke is a joke and frankly she has laughed at such before. And even if in bad taste, that does not excuse the action. My God, Don Rickles made a brilliant career out of such. If you cannot laugh (sorry Sean Penn) then much more is going on. And it holds no place in front of a live television audience. I won't go into what I think was the motivation, but I will speak to the repercussions. That is...there will be none.
Will Smith won his Oscar (however well deserved) and pleaded apology but not to the man he assaulted. He was given a standing ovation and allowed his tears and thankfully Chris Rock was somewhere backstage surely pissed but not willing to press charges. Actions indeed have consequences but it seems to me that the level of consequence is woefully inadequate in this case. Smith was feted and given reward (and award which really has nothing to do with it) and Rock is left to wonder what the hell just happened. In a proper environment, Smith should have been escorted from the premises as should (and is) done in every comedy club in this country. Yet in this case, I suppose because of infamy and the moment, the Oscars and the Academy just wanted to move past it as quickly as possible. No matter that it was the most interesting and/or impactful thing that had occurred on their broadcast for many, many years. And also a crime.
Where was the virtue signal? Oh...the Academy tweeted after that they "do not condone violence in any way." And then the bulk of the tweet was a lot of congratulations. Yet precedence has now been set. Apparently the next time Ricky Gervais or Dave Chapelle host an awards and say the joke that we all enjoy (you know you do) it is now fair game for the subject of said joke to go up and bitch slap them. You know what? That is why they won't host such. Is that what we want? And who the hell gives Will Smith the privilege to get away with such a thing? I could not. You could not. I suppose we are not famous enough.
I will end on something that has been ruminating in my mind this morning - anyone reading this that purposely showed your support of Ukraine when that war began and now supports Will Smith "standing up for his wife" need to have your thought processes thoroughly examined. Is the bully the one that spoke the words? Or the one that took action and committed an assault? Last I checked, we held free speech no matter how offensive (and that one is getting dicey) but it is still against the law to physically assault another individual. How far down the hole do want to get? And Christ...this is just Hollywood. Rules for thee but not for me? We've seen a lot of that these last two years and more. I say check yourself before you...give too hot a take without considering the outcomes of such. Last night was an embarrassment on many levels and is of a piece. Weird does not even describe it. Privilege, wealth and fame can obviously go a long way. Or...
The Church of Scientology Strikes Back!
I joke (there we go again) but last night was a major disappointment in both broadcast and action. Among all else, Denzel did not win his third which itself is a crime. I was only rooting for that. Instead I (and we) got this bullshit. And then the response. God help us because we clearly need it! That is all.
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