Keep Politics out of the Oscars!
I’m just wondering – when was it that The Oscars stopped being about films and became all about politics? On Monday morning it was too much like hard work trying to find out who had won what. Call me old fashioned, but I was actually interested to know what had been voted best film, and whether Eddie Redmayne had ‘done the double’ and won best actor twice on the trot. The answers (I eventually discovered) were Spotlight, and no, he hadn’t. But to find that information I had to wade through acres of coverage about the politics of the ceremony and its participants. Is Hollywood racist? Is it homophobic? Are we doing enough to save the planet? (In short, probably yes, yes and no.)
The political wrangling started weeks ago when the shortlists were announced; no sooner did the list hit the press than last year’s Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite started trending again worldwide. And I fully support that. In a year when no actor or actress of colour was nominated for an award, the Academy was rightly slated for lack of diversity. High profile actors Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith chose to boycott the event and there were calls for the black host actor Chris Rock to do so too. He didn’t. Instead he opened the ceremony with a stinging monologue in which he confirmed ‘You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist’. And that seemed to draw a line under that for the night.
But the politics continued. Leonardo di Caprio was finally promoted from the bridesmaid shelf, a spot he has occupied on and off since his first Oscar nomination in 1994, to win Best Actor. Hooray! And a big sigh of relief all round, especially from his best friend Kate Winslett. Of course Leo was delighted – but after a quick thank you to ‘everyone from the onset of my career’ he chose to spend the rest of his allocated speech time to make a heartfelt plea for the world to tackle climate change. Cheers, Leo, without you we’d never have realised there was a problem.
Sam Smith, on collecting his Oscar for Best Original Song, dedicated his award to ‘the LGBT community around the world. Which was a nice touch, except that in accepting his award, he mis-quoted Sir Ian McKellen as having suggested that no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar. This led to a Twitter row in which he incurred the wrath of the many openly gay Oscar winners of the past, including diver Tom Daley’s fiancé Dustin Lance Black, who won Best Original Screenplay for Milk in 2009. And he clearly forgot all about Sir Elton John, who won best song for Can You Feel The Love Tonight in 1995. Elton who? Yup, he’s hardly a household name…
Lady Gaga’s live performance of her Oscar nominated song was highly politicised too, but at least there was a point to her politics. Till It Happens to You was written for the documentary The Hunting Ground, which is about sexual abuse on US college campuses. Her spine-tingling performance, introduced by US Vice President Joe Biden, prompted tears from the audience when she was joined on stage by a group of survivors of sexual assault.
I know. Lots of the nominated films were highly political – Best Picture Spotlight is a gripping dramatization of The Boston Globe’s investigation into child sexual abuse by The Catholic Church. And I agree that film is a terrific medium with which to explore these tricky issues – it gets them into the open, and gets us talking, which can only be a good thing.
The Oscar organisers clearly know they have a problem – they are working, they claim, to address diversity, and let’s hope they get that right in the future. But can I add a plea for next year’s winners? Get on, get grateful and get off again. And keep your political messages for another night.
Please Mr Postman…
In these days of increasing internet shopping, the problem of what delivery companies and posties should do with your parcels if you are out has yet to be solved. And while central delivery points are popping up all over the place, not everyone is keen to use them.
I have no idea what this customer ordered, but perhaps he wasn’t thinking things through when his delivery instructions were to ‘leave it under the mat’. It was the delivery driver who took this photo. I kinda like his style…
This column first appeared in the SPP Group newspapers week ended 4th March 2016. If you’ve enjoyed what you have read, please share using the buttons below.