By Abe Greenwald
Monday, March 13, 2023
Sunday
night’s Academy Awards show contained virtually no America-bashing. There were
no calls to protect our democracy from fascists within, no stark warnings about
warmongers leading our children to death on the battlefield, and no scolding
American society for its mistreatment of disenfranchised peoples. Aside from
the politics behind the picking of winners and losers, this wasn’t much of a
political event at all. For once, we were spared the lessons and the marching
orders, and permitted to watch a silly award show with the hope of simply
enjoying it.
How did that happen?
There
are two related causes here. First, a Democrat occupies the White House. It’s
no secret that Hollywood is majority liberal and serves as the chief cultural
conduit for progressive ideas wending their way into the mainstream.
Universities indoctrinate the young and self-righteous; show business comes for
the rest of us. When the president is a Republican, Hollywood takes it as an
aesthetic felony and an intolerable insult to its dominance. How could the
country that the industry tries so hard to elevate with obviously noble ideas
be so dense and so unappreciative of all its selfless work? Clearly, audiences
need a talking to.
So, for
example, during the 2019 Oscars, when Donald Trump was president, Spike Lee, in
his acceptance speech for best adapted screenplay gave a lesson on the slave
trade and the country’s “genocide of its native people.” And he closed with
this: “The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilize.
Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love
versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!” That same year, Javier Bardem took a
shot at Trump’s border policy while introducing the best foreign language film
category, saying, “There are no borders or walls that can restrain ingenuity
and talent.”
These
speeches amplify the liberal causes of the moment. It’s hard to envision an
Oscar show today in which a winner takes the stage and gives a MAGA rant.
Imagine a filmmaker saying, “We have fictitious election results that
elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us
to war for fictitious reasons.” But that’s precisely what Michael Moore said in 2003, when he accepted his
best documentary Oscar. Only he closed with, “Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on
you.”
When a
Democrat is president, however, all is well in La La Land. It doesn’t matter
whether, say, the crisis on America’s southern border is worse than it’s ever
been. It’s really not worth mentioning. And railing against “fictitious
election results” is obviously verboten (for now). Everyone can relax and have
a good time, you see, because the country is, generally speaking, “on the right
side of history.” The good works of filmmakers are being taken to heart and
America, as a result, is on its best behavior.
But—and
here’s the second reason for our politics-free evening—no one in Hollywood
likes the current Democratic president, Joe Biden, enough to be triumphalist
about it. For example, on Sunday night’s broadcast, we didn’t see, as we did in
2013, the beloved first lady appear in a ballgown on a giant screen to announce
the best picture category. And this isn’t only because Harvey Weinstein,
Hollywood’s former chief liaison to the White House, is behind bars for rape
and sexual misconduct. It’s because there is no beloved first lady. Yes, Joe
and Jill Biden are Democrats, and they require some defending here and there.
But no one really wants to get into the weeds on his record or, more important
in Los Angeles, his daily performance. Barack and Michelle Obama, on the other
hand, were the gleaming, cinematic king and queen of liberal America and the
darlings of show business. Which explains why, after leaving the White House,
they transformed seamlessly into movie producers.
The
point is that we’re hovering in a cultural Goldilocks zone. At least as it
pertains to the entertainment industry. Our moral instructors in Hollywood are
pacified enough to refrain from correcting our failings. Yet, they’re not
exactly filled with the kind of victorious exuberance that makes them want to
rub it in. Which made for a perfectly delightful Oscar show.
Except
for the fact that Everything Everywhere All at Once is a
terrible movie and shouldn’t have won anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment