Letters to the Editor

Oscar castrates himself The Academy celebrates niceness, bleeps out "bitch" and pats itself on the back for good behavior. And what did they do to poor Jon Stewart? By Cintra Wilson [2006-03-06]

• Should've handed this to King Kaufman

  Is this a joke? Is free speech really so narrowly defined? Wilson said it herself: "bitch" has been a television staple since the 1970s. It's not going anywhere. On a night when Hollywood gets to play mass dress-up, I'm not surprised that the means of discourse was maintained as strictly as the acceptance speech times.

  Sometimes, free speech isn't seeing what words you can get away with on an awards show. Sometimes, it's really as simple as mainstream films taking a look at political censorship, underlying racialism, sexual orientation &c, even if some of the results were a mite heavy-handed. Jon Stewart, or George Clooney, or even Reese Witherspoon letting a "fuck" loose on live television is no victory at all, and the absence of such language (again, on an industry awards show) is not the indication that the thought police are on the beat. People dressed classy, and they mostly talked classy. Clooney's somewhat defensive acceptance speech still defended the concept of free speech better than any stray expletive that's lost its meaning from decades of "edgy" overuse.

  Also, Wilson was really, really, Reed Richards-stretching with her Witherspoon critique. Would it have been better if she'd announced she was leaving Ryan Phillipe to adopt a baby with Brad and Angelina? For which are we to fault her: being from the South? A (fingers crossed) stable marriage? Nice kids? Morals? This digression had to be a joke, as did the tired "bleak states" put-down. Congratulations, 100 million Americans have been completely pegged. It's that kind of attitude Wilson decries when it comes from the likes of Clooney.

  If every year were Sacheen Littlefeather, the Oscars would devolve into an MTV awards show, all hellbent on committee-stitching together another zany watercooler moment. Honestly, that's what this piece reeked of to me: passive viewership demanding a spectacle even more empty than industry back-patting. Wilson seems to want flash and smoke, some semblance of shock that she can connect tangentially to the pro- Roe camp. What she had to settle for was an earnestly expressed desire to depict social progress. A shame, really.

  Also, I'm with nearly everyone else on Jon Stewart as host. His material was grade-A, bringing a Daily Show sensibility to the proceedings. Hell, even Ben Stiller worked for me. For what it was, it was a dynamite Oscars. And Three 6 Mafia's reactions were the highlight of my night.

  -- Brad
  Permalink Flag Monday, March 6, 2006 07:34 AM
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