Guardian: Better dump the Oscars

[muriel_volestrangler]

A film critic wants his job, and the media, to get some perspective:

It's an embarrassment that we pause for movie awards - and treat war and peace as a game show

David Thomson
Friday February 23, 2007

We are in the culture of "non-binding decisions". What I mean by that is that, at this moment, you can measure the hallucinatory experience of living in the US according to a range of decisions that don't matter. For instance, who is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby? Who will win American Idol? Will Barry Bonds take over the home-run record of Henry Aaron? How high will the sea level rise if global warning sets in? And, this week, what is going to win best picture at the Oscars on Sunday?

Anything else you can think of? Oh yes, do we support the "surge" in Iraq, or not? Don't worry over your answers; we don't worry any more. It's more than anyone in America can endure, to ask the people to live in real doubt or agony. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were ruined by leading in war, you could see it and feel it in their beings. Bush is still a kid, riding high on his own "non-binding decisions".

It's not that the questions I have listed are without resonance. If you are Anna Nicole's child you are going to care, and there are lawyers who will care for you in advance with over $400m at issue. You can dismiss Barry Bonds as someone who has already done his bit to destroy the integrity of baseball and its records. You can say, seriously, that there isn't a movie this year worthy of best picture - apart from the German film, The Lives of Others. And, yes, you can say that Iraq matters a lot, as well as global warming.
...
It matters that we got into Iraq, all of us. It matters, enormously so, that our "intelligence" led us there, or was led. And in any rational society there would have been firings and resignations in those areas to make the troops shudder. It matters that from the outset we sent troops in without language, a plan, local knowledge or body armour. It matters that our leader said, let's have a war over the most serious issue of our time but don't let's act serious about it - don't let us tax ourselves more gravely, don't let us have a draft, don't let us ask for universal service. Let's "surge" instead of think. Let's pass over as fit only for praise that 3,000 of our troops have been killed, 20,000 maimed and unknown numbers of bystanders wiped out. Let's act as if it's a game show. Don't, under any circumstances, upset the American public.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2019344,00.html

[il_lilac]

1. I was just thinking this

A friend is throwing a huge Oscar party Sunday and I was relieved that I have to work. I feel like the only downer at a party because I can't "get over" the fact that our country is a disgrace. Better not to show up.:hide:

[Morgana LaFey]

2. So, did Britain give up all movies and entertainment

while their troops have been in Iraq?

Or even during WWII?????

I think there's a valid point to this type of criticism of the U.S. and Americans. No argument.

However, as I've said in other similar or related threads, I personally NEED some distraction and entertainment after how much attention I pay to the real downers of our collective lives at the moment. I actively seek it out. The Oscars will be a WONDERFUL escape, and I can't wait.

To repeat myself further: It's my understanding that moviegoing skyrocketed during the Great Depression.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It's not the existence of movies, so much as the importance they're given in the news

Gossip and speculation about who will wear what, or who might win, doesn't deserve to be in the news, on the same level as what happened in Iraq today, or other 'hard' news.