Last night were the Oscars: the annual ceremony to honor the best films of the year and the people who made them. I love to watch the show. I have seen every one for well over a decade and a half now, and this year's was very good. Not only was the show entertaining, but virtually every one of my expected winners did win (I knew Kate Winslet would pull it off). And as anticipated, Slumdog Millionaire took just about every award it was nominated for including the coveted Best Picture. The only exception (and indeed disappointment) of the night for me, was Sean Penn getting Best Actor for Milk.Now, I will admit, I did not see Milk, so I won't discuss my disappointment here. Because who knows? I may have really enjoyed it. But what I do want to talk about is the grandstanding people do when at the podium. And more particularly, I want to discuss Sean Penn's comments about how I am shamed for voting yes to prop 8. Here we go...
Inevitably, every year at the Oscars, somebody has to speak out about something politically oriented. Over the past few years it has primarily been against the war or talking about the "urgency" of "global warming." I think the funniest one ever was the year that Michael Moore won best documentary for Bowling for Columbine. He got up there and started shaming on President Bush for starting a fictitious war. But what was funny is it happened at the height of Bush's approval ratings, so Michael Moore was booed from the stage.
Cut to 6 years later, and he is deemed a liberal hero. He would be cheered for making the same statement, perhaps cheered on even more if he added extra venom to his words (and they were already pretty venomous, Fahrenheit 9/11 anyone?). I think that example shows how easily swooned the sheep crowd is; how everybody is so easily manipulated. Look at how everybody is blaming everything on President Bush, when in reality the recession wasn't his doing. People love to jump on the current bandwagon and ride it till we are told to ride another. But I'm not getting into that right now, that is another long post in the making
I don't want to talk my politics or my beliefs or downplay those of others. I have respect for the beliefs of others. I will trash somebody for making a spirited, uninformed, stupid remark, but I won't trash their beliefs. I respect my fellow Americans. I respect that people think differently than I do. So why can't others? I really want to talk about why people do this? Why do people stand up on the podium after winning an award for a performance in a movie, and feel they have to tell the world how it should be? The Oscars are about films. They are about the art of making movies. It isn't about promoting a person's agenda. The Academy Awards are not political!! Leave your preaching for some other, far more appropriate venue, such as a rally, a parade, or daresay a city hall meeting where change can be really enacted.
So is it silly to think that an Oscar Telecast can be politically free? I think that it is an impossibility. Especially when a liberal pompous hothead like Sean Penn gets on his pulpit and tells the majority of Californians they should be ashamed for voting on their morals. I'm sorry, but the Country was founded on those morals and to spit in my eye for voting on what I believe to be right, is in itself shameful.
OK, we knew I wasn't going to be able to make it to the end before that came out. *sigh* OK, that's that.
OK, so Celebs do it. We see it all the time. Now why do they do it? I think firstly there is the aspect of being in front of a crowd, and you have something to say. Another part of it is that as a celebrity you have more influence than the average person. Lastly I think most celebrities carry an air of "better than you." So when people in the country disagree with them, they feel the need to speak out wherever they can.
The latest items on the Celebrity Agenda: Gay Marriage, Darfur, Global Warming, Tibet, on and on and on. And it will go on and on, until people say "Enough!!" It bothers me greatly to hear snobby speeches made about how I am doing wrong, especially to hear them at a ceremony that isn't focused on the issue at all. Granted, I will give you that Sean Penn was remarking about the plight of homosexuals, and his movie that he won for was about Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to office. So one could then argue that he was talking about a relevant subject. But the tone, the words, and the attitude he employed was disdainful and filled with vitriol (yes, I actually know that word). My point is: he could have said it better, without stomping on so many Americans.
These are speeches that are spoken in the name of the betterment of humanity, but point of fact it is really somebody riding a high horse. My plea to the Academy, and to smug celebs, please, come down off your horses, and maybe we can actually celebrate something as wonderful as film, and not bloat your self-righteous ego any more. Let's leave the Oscars to the films, not your agendas. Sphere: Related Content
