Going Political
The Academy Awards show is supposed to be about celebrating the best and brightest in movies. It’s supposed to be about reveling in the successes of our heroes of the silver screen and, just for one night, getting away from it all and spending one evening a year with those stars in our living rooms. Such a thing should be a thrill. After all, through their work, all of the people nominated – and those not nominated – provide all of us with a sense of happiness, a belief that we could be so much more if we’d just dream so much more. But most of all, they provide us a two-hour vacation from all of our problems when we just can’t get away on a plane or a car or a boat. It seems ironic, then, that those actors and actresses in recent years wrap up the year in movies with a bang – a bang that isn’t celebratory or fun, but a bang right back to whence we came: right back to the problems that plague us in our personal lives.
Yes, I was hoping this year would be different. I was hoping that just once, we wouldn’t hear a word – positive or negative – about George W. Bush, the ongoing war in Iraq, or race relations during an event that’s supposed to be a festive escape from reality. Chris Rock made damned sure that wouldn’t happen during the first ten minutes of the show, when he cracked on the President for sucking at his job and claiming – albeit lightheartedly – that Hollywood makes movies “for white people to enjoy.” Although he didn’t go Michael Moore on the audience and proclaim that nobody in America wanted a war in Iraq, the fact that he even opened his mouth bothered me.
It isn’t that I took his words too seriously or even that I put much stock in them at all. After all, it was very easy to just partially tune him out and proceed with my evening, and I even agreed with a lot of the potshots he took at people during his stand-up routine. However, the phrase, “Wrong place, wrong time” has never applied more than it does here. In my opinion, people don’t want to hear President bashing and people bringing out the race card, even if they are just jokes at the Oscars. Again, that show is supposed to be an escape, and the celebrities aren’t allowing us to escape the negative things we see on CNN and MSNBC every day of the week.
Here’s to 2006. Maybe next year will be different.
ComedyIf you ask me, Columbia Pictures is treading on pretty dangerous waters with this one, although they’re waters that badly need to be treaded upon. By my observation, it’s become okay in our society for the African-American and Latino cultures to publicly mock, chastise, and generally make fun of Caucasians at any time. Heck, during one of the scenes shown during the preview, one of Mac’s character's relatives says to Kutcher’s character, “Oh, are we being audited?” Conversely, few things are more taboo in America than a white person making a joke about a person in a minority race, creating the double standard I have a pretty big problem with. Could you imagine the outcry that would probably commence if Guess Who featured a white father who had “plenty to say about his daughter wanting to marry” a black boy? Columbia would probably have to be shut down for a period of time because of all the protestors who would show up at their gates.
A sarcastic father (Mac) has plenty to say about his daughter wanting to marry a white boy (Kutcher).
It’s a double standard that badly needs to be corrected, but not by making another movie to “even things out.” The reaction that I, and perhaps others, had to the preview is the real problem. I think it’s about time for America to become more of a less sensitive colorblind society. A society where Robin Williams cracking on minority groups becomes something we can all laugh at, where George Lopez constantly making jokes about the white folk is considered just normal, and where the court of public opinion doesn’t demand an apology from the goofy Shaquille O'Neal for joking around with Yao Ming. All of us just need to take a step back, breathe, and realize that movies that are funny for whatever reason are just funny, and nothing else.
That's a picture of the line at Hammons Field for tickets. Needless to say, this is Cardinals country. People were camped out 36 hours before tickets for the exhibition games went on sale, and those tickets -- all 3,000 of 'em -- sold out in four hours on Saturday morning.
Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is or why so many made such an effort. If Springfieldians want to see a minor league baseball team get kicked around by a legitimate team from the majors for a couple of nights this season, all they'd have to do is make the easy 2 1/2 hour drive north to Kauffman Stadium.
[ba-dump *crash*]
Thanks, I'll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitresses.