Image Courtesy of Huffington Post
Scene: Hollywood, CA.
Action: Slow camera pan to the big eight studios in tinsel town.
Set: Studio Exec Offices where 94% of the ROWM (rich-old-white-men) are seated behind their sprawling desks in their state of the art panoramic fish bowls, with a view. Fat Cuban cigars hang between their lips as they finger through a pile of hit ‘n miss movies of the past year.
Their task? To make zillions and send AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) their picks of their best movies of the past year. AMPAS will then send out the 6,000+ voting ballots to the academy members for each to vote in their respective categories, (i. e. Actors for Actors, Directors for Directors, blah, blah, humbug) to determine the best of the best.
You get the picture.
J.J. Abrams was duly criticized on one side of the isle for repeating an old story thread in ‘Star Wars – The Force Awakens” that played out with no real “force” behind it other than including a few pretty young people. I say J.J. did what he knew works best coming from the dream factory.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Don’t upset the formula, we might start a fire.
Last year the academy heard the loud and raucous backlash from the public on #OscarsSoWhite that forced the president of Hollywood's movie academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs to bravely declare, during the hoopla, that "the whole discussion about diversity is a great discussion, because now it's at the top of everybody's mind, not just the academy's."
Oh Fun! We are ALL discussing the purified racial snobbery that STILL exist in the Hollywood in 2016. And in the year since making that statement and listening to many other voices accurately denounce the academy for being stuck in the silent era of reality, she, and the rest of the inglorious bastards (oh my!) have done nothing to help move the industry’s needle along.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not casting aspersions on Boone-Isaacs. She is agreeably qualified for the position she holds, but one wonders whether she is the proverbial ‘placement’ that the ROWM put forth to appease the loud voices they hope to shush. And since she is the voice of AMPAS, what exactly will she put forth this year as an explanation for #OscarsSTILLSoWhite? (Yes, we are still discussing!)
One of the reasons the racial snub is so difficult to comprehend is due to the deep effect the magic of movies has in our lives. Movies take us to worlds unknown and far, far away. Movies allow us to soar to high heights and touch our souls or bring us to our lowest lows to the sharp realities of our everyday world and make us take a deeper look in the mirror. The movies seek to point out how diverse, progressive, and beautiful our world is, can and should be. It’s the very reason why the algorithm of the movie ending has never quite changed – the quintessential happy ending.
Tinsel town knows that we all want to be the hero that saves the day. That we all want to triumph over evil. That we all want to see the better angels in ourselves rise above the harsh, two-edged sword of real life. The factory has been consistent in selling us the dream of equality, of fairness, and the acceptance of others who are different, yet once the action is over, the lights come down, and the film is in the can, everyone heads back to their perspective corners of silent bigotry, exploitation, and discrimination of women and people of color.
Where is the disconnect, and more importantly, WHY is there one…still? It’s not only sad, it’s a low hanging, poison fruit of disgrace. Right now I am less interested in what Boone-Isaacs will say this year (because she will have to say something), but more interested to see if there is going to be a sudden radical shake up of process BEFORE the awards show airs on Sunday Feb 28th to rectify this situation.
Waiting for next year is @#$! unacceptable.
