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It's Just Hollywood
By Al
Ruechel | 03-27-02
Okay, repeat after me. This is just
Hollywood. They don't have a clue, never have and never will. It's
smoke and mirrors and to lose one single wink of sleep over these
self-indulged, pathetically overpaid, malcontents is the real crime,
not who won or didn't win an Oscar. Besides the media will just make
up some other award show to make up for it.
I've purposely waited till most of
the whining over the Academy Awards show has subsided to give you my
spin, for what it's worth. I wanted "Lord of the Rings" to
win, but I can live with "A beautiful Mind" and the rest
of the winners.
Denzel Washington is one heck of an
actor. He's played some great roles and is an Oscar caliber star.
"Glory", "Crimson Tide", "John Q",
were all great performances. But "Training Day" is a piece
of trash. It's so filthy and the "n" word and the
"f" word used so often I began to wonder if there was
something wrong with my language. Every black in the film was
portrayed as a piece of street slim with the backbone of a jellyfish
and the moral conduct of a pig in heat. I hated Denzel in the role,
probably like I was supposed to. I'm sorry he decided to take the
part only because it makes him look like such a slim and hearing
those words coming from his mouth just got to me. It's sort of like
using a fine piece of crystal to catch the old crankcase oil you're
draining from a car. But then again, repeat after me, it's only
Hollywood.
Sidney Poitier is the consummate
gentleman and a true talent beyond his screen presence, which is
immense. The injustice is that he didn't get a half dozen Oscar
during his career. He brings dignity to the profession and not just
his race. His words are eloquent, his deeds speak volumes, his
appreciation for those who helped him climb the ladder sincere and
heart felt. Besides, as a kid laying out on the front of the old
Ford station wagon at the outdoor drive in movie, I loved him in
"Lilies of the Field" and "To Sir with Love".
Color? Was he a different color? Gee, I didn't notice then or now! I
wished he were my teacher. I wished he lived next door.
Halle Barry. Sorry! She may be
gorgeous but I can't say I've seen enough of her work to pass any judgment. She was kind of cute in the Flintstones. I'm not into
stories about trailer trash and husbands and boy friends and thugs
beating up their wives. Heck, I don't particularly care to see her
half naked either. Her speech left me a bit perplexed. Did she win
the award because she's black or because she did a superb job of
acting? If she won the Oscar for here acting abilities, okay. If she
thought this was just a payback for all the other African-American
actresses that have been largely ignored then she blew it and
demeaned the award.
Has it really been 40-plus years
since an African-American won a best actor award…and the first
ever for a black female? The color of the actors never stopped me
from going to any of the movies. Okay, so I think Spike Lee's stuff
is trash. I didn't exactly grow up in the hood so my interest in
that lifestyle may dictate why I'm not wild about those kinds of
films. Nevertheless, I thought Hollywood was supposed to be so
liberal and so open and so cutting edge on moving us into a
culturally diverse society. The way those people carried on at the
awards you'd think they had be crusading for civil rights and the
rest of us normal people had put on white robes and burned a bunch
of crosses. Hello, Academy! You're the ones who voted….not me!
No, no! This is quite the opposite.
Hollywood has always been a living contradiction. On the one hand,
it can do so much to stir our consciences we want to all go out and
find every World War Two veteran and give 'em a big fat kiss. On the
other hand, we are so disgusted with the cheap, raunchy sex scenes
and gutter talk and slice 'em up bloodletting we want to talk a bath
and cover ourselves with disinfectant.
Let's get this straight. Hollywood is
an allusion and an illusion. It's fantasy that feeds on itself. In order to survive
it must create a demand in us for more. It's not enough that we are
entertained or enjoy seeing those flickering still pictures blurred
together, we are being emotionally manipulated to Hollywood's
benefit and not necessarily out own. The awards Hollywood passes out
are only important in the eyes of those who get them or don't. They
are only important because they translate in to money and power and
influence and status. That's the real reason African-Americans were
shut out of the big awards for so many years, whether it was
intentional or by blind ignorance. Hollywood couldn't figure out how
to make money off of leading black men and women or were afraid that
white America was too stupid and racist to accept blacks in any
roles other then supporting.
Well, now Hollywood
"officially" has figured it out. And the members of the
academy are so giddy with false pride they can't see it's the rest
of the world that's laughing at them.
I can't wait for the day when the
phrase…"the first African-American to ----------" is
erased from our vocabulary. Our predilection with race is wearing
thin. Then, and only then, will this country, filled with such a
diversity of opinions and peoples have reached that mythical place
in time where we are all judged by the content of our character and
not the color of our skin.
Of course, the black and white
racists out there will hate that day because they won't have
anything to talk about, no pots of hatred to stir. And wouldn't talk
radio and the 24-hour news channels being boring then! Oh well, we
can always talk about reparations!
Al Ruechel, copyright 2002, all
rights reserved
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