Oscar obsession
Stormcrow HAYES
ENTERTAINMENT: Approximately one billion people watched the Oscars
last Sunday. I was not among them. (This is practically a sin when you
live in Los Angeles and purport to be part of the entertainment
industry.)
Instead, I spent the night working on my computer and whenever I
would find myself online, I would see a new Oscar headline. By the end
of the night, I noticed the following headlines listed on Yahoo news:
Scorsese finally basks in Oscar triumph Iraqi vice president escapes
bomb blast Snow knocks out power, cancels flights Court: Serbia failed
to prevent genocide Bush to warn Pakistan on combating militants
Let’s see, we have genocide, an assassination attempt, people trapped
in snow without power, and, oh yes, Scorsese finally wins an Oscar.
I have nothing against Scorsese, but I have everything against this
horrible celebrity-obsessed culture that we’re not only living in, but
are exporting throughout the world.
All night long, the only changing headline was the constant Oscar
update. And, of course, it always got top billing.
Are the Oscars entertaining? Rarely. Occasionally there may be an
interesting or emotional moment or two, but are those moments worth
slogging through three to four hours of bland television for? No. If the
Oscars were a television series, it would have been canceled by now.
The only thing that keeps it going — its celebrity. Where else can
you find Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Beyonce, Will Ferrell, and
Helen Mirren in the same room at the same time?
I’ll admit I’ve never been a big fan of the Academy Awards. I don’t
think I ever watched the whole epic fiasco until I moved to L.A. At
least going to Oscar parties reduced the pain of the typically four-hour
marathon.
There you can usually find other equally bored people to talk to. But
I can no longer feign any interest in that either. Quite frankly, I
would rather be boiling my own legs and then eating them in a stew than
sit through another Oscar broadcast.
I should probably be thankful that the Oscars managed to finally
knock Anna Nicole Smith from the news. I don’t know how much more
courtroom controversy I could have taken.
Or the unending saga of Britney Spears going in and out of rehab,
shaving her hair, and acting like white trash. I’m sorry, she isn’t
acting like white trash; she is white trash. My mistake.
Ultimately, I know I’m complaining. But it bothers me that these news
stories are so incredibly pervasive that I can’t, despite all my best
efforts, avoid them!
I think I’m also stymied because, and you may not have noticed this
lately, the United States is at war — on two fronts no less — and you’d
hardly notice because of our celebrity-obsessed headlines.
I realize we have always had entertainment during times of war, but
it constantly amazes me how deeply the news of Iraq and Afghanistan is
buried in the media. How many people are even aware that “coalition
forces” (a completely politicized term to begin with) are shrinking?
Last week Britain announced the reduction of their forces by one
third. Denmark is removing its 460 troops by August. Even Lithuania is
considering removing its 53 troops. Really? Lithuania can’t even commit
the equivalent of a Boy Scout Troop?
The coalition is quickly becoming a coalition of one!
So who will be left? Americans. And what are we doing? We’re watching
the Oscars.
Of course, without war, we wouldn’t have anything to make movies
about. Right now, most of liberal Hollywood is against the war, but in
five years they’ll be making movies glorifying it. And they will win
Oscars.
Stormcrow Hayes lives in, and complains about, Los Angeles, CA,
U.S.A. For more information visit www.stormcrowhayes.com. |