Oscars Controversy

I have been very hesitant to make a specific post about this because as I have noted in the past, I don’t want this blog to be a place for my getting on social and political soapboxes. Of course I have opinions about many issues, as does everyone else, but I felt like my goal with this blog was not to opine and make social and political statements, especially when I don’t feel truly knowledgeable enough on the subject to do so. Instead, my goal has been to make light and fun posts about entertainment and pop culture. Also, if you read my previous blog entry from a week ago, I did touch on the topic a bit and gave a few comments on how I feel.

That said, I have realized that whether or not my intent with this blog was for social commentary, it was intended to be about pop culture and it would be disingenuous on my part to avoid acknowledging and speaking about something that is currently so dominant in the pop culture sphere. Also, I realize I don’t have to be an expert to simply express my feelings and thoughts on a topic. After all I’m not trying to convince anyone that I am an expert and I am certainly not trying to suggest I have all the answers or any answers really. These are just my thoughts and opinions from reading and watching and listening to much of the conversation happening right now and dialogue that’s happened for years on the issue.

First of all, as I stated in my previous blog entry, I believe this is really a systemic issue and I think one of the first problems is that much of the dialogue keeps getting narrowed down to just the Oscars. Because to quote Viola Davis at last year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, a person cannot get nominated for roles that are simply not there. In other words, the real problem as I see it is the larger Hollywood community and specifically the gatekeepers of Hollywood with all the power – that is, the studio heads, the producers, directors, etc. The people who still write and create roles and movies that mostly go to white actors. Do not get me wrong, there has been significant progress over the years but in my opinion, the reality is still that most roles and movies are made with white actors and white characters in mind.

The second key issue is of course the makeup of the Academy. Having 92 percent of the Academy made up of white members is bad enough but it is inconceivable to me that 50 or 60 percent of the voters are white men who have been there since like the 50’s, because once you’re a member, you’re a member for life. Even if there wasn’t this current diversity issue, I would still think that is a problem because in my opinion, no organization should have the same individuals there for that long, making the decisions. That says to me that you’re not really evolving. Therefore, the makeup of the Academy has to change in my opinion.

I also believe that the Academy Awards and Hollywood in general obviously has a larger diversity problem. However, I feel like that gets a little lost in this current climate because the conversation gets sparked every year specifically by the lack of black nominees. So some likely just dismiss it as a “black thing.” When the reality is this is as much an issue with Latinas and Asians and other minorities. Not to mention that equal pay for male and female actors is still an ongoing issue in the industry. So there is clearly a larger diversity problem in general and I just think that in itself gets a little lost.

Finally, two things bother me about this current conversation. I hate that so much focus often gets placed on the acting categories. I think that’s short-sighted and again still not addressing the larger issues. Most of the media stories I’ve read since this whole backlash began talks about all the acting nominees being white. There are some references to Straight Outta Compton not getting a Best Picture nomination but I feel like the focus of the complaints almost always come down to the acting categories and like I said I think that is short-sighted, because the Academy Awards honor so many categories, as there are so many aspects of making movies.

And whether consciously or not, I feel like so many of those speaking out are making it just about the acting categories. For example, where is the talk about once again the Best Director category being all male (oh and it’s still been only one woman to win Best Director in the 80+ years history of the Academy) or people of color in the screenwriting categories, costume design, art direction, etc.

The second thing that bothers me is something that Whoopi Goldberg said about the topic. Basically she noted that every year, this dialogue gets sparked only when the Oscar nominations come out but the conversation is almost nonexistent for the rest of the year. I will give credit to individuals like Spike Lee who has always been fairly vocal about this issue but for others it’s seems like it’s just about the Oscar specifically and ignoring the greater issue.

One example of how it seems some wait solely on the Oscars for the conversation to happen, is all the outrage about Michael B. Jordan not getting nominated. Except Michael B. Jordan has been snubbed all awards season. He didn’t get a SAG, a Globe or Critics Choice nomination and while he was nominated for a few critic’s circle awards, he didn’t win. I was honestly confused why some seemed so surprised by his not getting an Oscar nomination, because I thought that was obvious since all these other awards are basically precursors that indicate who will likely be nominated for the Oscar. My point then was where was all the push and campaigning for Jordan when it was clear he was getting ignored during Award season?

Like I have said, this is a complex issue and one that speaks to the larger problem in Hollywood, no matter how much progress that has been made throughout the years. It shows that there is still a long way to go and we will see if anything substantial comes from this. I will say that it is a bit crappy for the people who are nominated, especially in the acting categories. I feel like this situation has put them in a very awkward position.

It feels like some of the public believe that the nominees are all obligated to say something on the matter, which for the record I don’t agree with. However, all they really can say is that yes, more people of color of should have been nominated because otherwise they will get judged and maybe even called a racist. And I don’t think that’s really fair. Also, the whole situation does raise an uncomfortable sense of, “so are we basically saying someone else should not have been there and if so who….”

Again, I believe that this is essentially a systemic issue, one that will likely take years to solve and may never be solved. However, anytime dialogue and a conversation is happening about something, then that is significant in and of itself. Full disclosure, I do plan on watching the telecast this February and will gladly cheer on all the winners.

 

Pop Culture Rewind

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It’s been quite a dramatic week in the world of entertainment and pop culture, with the deaths of a music icon and an acting legend. The nominations for Hollywood’s biggest night, The Academy Awards, were also announced and once again, it came with much controversy.

2016 Academy Award Nominations

The 2016 Academy Award nominations were announced early Thursday morning and while there were many obvious and expected names, a few key nominees were missing and very soon, the backlash ensued.

The most surprising and disappointing snub for many was the lack of a Best Picture nod for Straight Outta Compton, the critically acclaimed biopic about the rise of rap pioneering group NWA. While many did not expect a win, a nomination at the least seemed very likely. However, the film only received one nod, a Best Screenplay nomination for its white screenwriters, Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff.

This, coupled with the fact that once again, every single actor nominated in the acting categories is white and in fact, there isn’t a person of color anywhere except for The Weekend’s scoring a Best Original Song nod for his hit Earned It from the movie 50 Shades of Gray and Sanjay Patel scoring a Best Animated Short Film nomination for his film Sanjay’s Super Team has many seeing red.

The outrage has been even greater, as this comes on the heels of last year’s show which saw plenty of backlash for the snub of David Oyelowo in the Best Actor category and Ana DuVernay in the Best Directing category, for the film Selma, which incidentally was nominated for Best Picture. The announcement has many throwing their hands up in defeat and stating that the Academy clearly just does not get it and is out of touch.

The other big snub was the much critically lauded Creed, which was virtually ignored, save for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Sylvester Stallone. Many view this as symbolic of the larger issue – a film directed by a black man and starring a black man with a mostly black cast, gets one nomination for the sole white actor.

While much has been made about the lack of African Americans nominated and it is indeed a troubling reality, the fact is that the nominations show a gross lack of diversity by the Academy, in general. TIME associate editor Eliza Berman wrote a wonderful piece pointing out the lack of female nominees (outside of clear gender biased categories such as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress), as well as lack of older female nominees (Charlotte Rampling is the only nominee over 50 in the Best Actress category). Another glaring omission from this year’s nominees is the presence of LGBT actors/writers/directors/films.

While Antony Hegarty did become only the second trans person to be nominated for an Academy Award after scoring a Best Original Song nomination, the film Carol, one of the most critically lauded and praised films of the year, featuring a love story between two women in the 1950’s, did not receive either a Best Picture or Best Director nomination. It should be pointed out that yes, both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara scored acting nominations for their performances in the film but neither actress is gay and the Academy has shown repeatedly that they have no issues honoring straight actors playing gay or transgender or bisexual.

I am not going to go too much on a social or political soap box on this issue because one, that’s not my purpose for this blog and two, I don’t feel informed enough to speak on issues that are this complex and systemic and have so much history associated with it. However, I will say this – I believe Viola Davis said it perfectly at The Primetime Emmys when she noted that a person cannot be nominated for roles that are simply not there. And at the core, I believe that is truly the fundamental issue here. That said, congratulations to all the nominees and I look forward to see who wins come Oscar night.

Death of an Icon (R.I.P. David Bowie)

In the early hours of Monday morning, while most of the entertainment world was still reacting to Sunday night’s Golden Globes Awards, word came from across the pond that music legend David Bowie, a man who helped redefine music and performance art in the 70’s and 80’s, had passed away at 69, from cancer.

Although the height of Bowie’s success came well before my time, as a lover of music and the arts, I have always been well versed in his musical impact and legend. The words that most comes to mind for many when talking about that musical impact and legendary status, are versatility, innovation and chameleon. Bowie was never one thing for too long because well, that would be boring.

But what was particularly bold and daring about him was that he didn’t just create new characters in a song or an album, he became and lived them. He was performance art in the most literal and honest sense of the word and basically laid the foundation for the artists to come, like Madonna and Lady Gaga, to name a few.

And that was him right up until the end, if you believe the rumors that his last single and video, released just days before his death, was his final performance act before he left this world. The opening lines of the song read, “Look up here, I’m in heaven…” and the video shows a man clearly in the throes of illness, saying his last goodbyes. According to rumors, knowing that he didn’t have much longer, this was Bowie’s way of saying goodbye through his music and making even his death a brilliant performance.

Bowie’s music and sound wasn’t always easily understood by everyone. The most bold and daring and out the box art rarely ever is. He was in essence conceptual – as an artist and even as a person. But underneath all the crazy costumes, confusion, sometimes contradictions, was a brilliant musician and songwriter who left us with some really amazing and timeless music. The following are my favorite Bowie songs:

Space Oddity 

Changes 

Heroes

Let’s Dance

Fame

Under Pressure 

Farewell to an Acting Legend (R.I.P. Alan Rickman)

For a lot of people, particularly those of a younger generation, the name Alan Rickman is synonymous with Severus Snape, the anti-hero character of J.K. Rowling’s iconic Harry Potter series. Rickman, who portrayed the character in all the films based on the books, passed away this week at 69, after suffering with pancreatic cancer. And while the character of Snape is a more than worthy legacy to leave behind, Rickman was so much more than that.

He was the definition of an actor’s actor, consistently embracing the two worlds of theater and film, where he excelled and was well regarded in both. His filmography includes roles that showed an actor with a wide and diverse range. Someone who could become anyone onscreen. He could be sinister, funny, heartbreaking, romantic, passionate, dark, haunting and so much more.

While many remember Snape, my favorite Alan Rickman performances were Die Hard where he made a superb bad guy and almost stole the film from star Bruce Willis and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, where he did steal the entire movie from Kevin Costner. Rickman’s portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham was sheer genius – evil, funny, macabre and even a little campy, you could never take your eyes off him anytime he was onscreen. A brilliant actor who will be missed. J.K. Rowling, along with much of the cast of the Harry Potter films all wrote lovely and moving tributes to Alan.

There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman's death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 14, 2016

#AlanRickman pic.twitter.com/fwMvp0lmiX

— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) January 14, 2016

Perfectly said Dan ❤️ pic.twitter.com/tJ6uCs7vE7

— Afshan Azad (@afshan_azad) January 14, 2016

https://twitter.com/papertimelady/status/687665821921992704

https://twitter.com/Evy_Lynch/status/687687504447709184

2016 Golden Globes Award

My very first post of this blog was a recap of the 2015 Golden Globes Awards. So how fitting that my very first post of the New Year is a recap of this year’s ceremony. I have already expressed my love for this show, which is often deemed one of Hollywood’s biggest parties. The mixing and mingling of movie and television stars, not to mention all the free alcohol, makes for one fun night that sees its fair share of the funny, heartfelt and awkward as hell. And this year’s ceremony was certainly no different. The following are some of my highlights from last night’s ceremony.

He’s Back – The beer was chilled and waiting and just like that, Ricky Gervais was back as host. And if you thought time away might have tamed him a little, you were sorely mistaken. I think it might have made him even more brutal and cutting. He was as biting, snarky and unrelenting as ever. Not to mention hysterically funny. If there was one criticism to be had about his opening monologue, is that it was way too short.

Congratulations Freshman Class of 2016 – It wouldn’t be the Golden Globes if there weren’t a lot of fresh faces and this year was no different. As is often the case, wins in the television categories were dominated by new shows and this year it was all about USA’s brilliant Mr. Robot and Amazon’s Mozart In The Jungle. The latter won Best Comedy Series, as well as a Best Actor in a Comedy Series for its lead Gael Garcia Bernal. Mr. Robot saw wins for Best Drama and Best Supporting Actor for veteran Hollywood actor Christian Slater. And following in the footsteps of last year’s golden girl Gina Rodriguez, another CW break-out star walked away with the Best Actress in a Comedy Series, with Rachel Bloom winning for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. On the movie front, the name Brie Larson was probably not instantly recognizable to many at the start of this Awards season but something tells me it will be by the end, as she is looking more and more like the heavy favorite to win the Academy Award this year for Best Actress for her spellbinding performance in Room.

Speeches (The Good, The Bad and Awkward) – This year’s ceremony, much like most Award ceremonies definitely saw its share of awkward and bad speeches.

• Good – There were many speeches that were short, simple, sweet and heartfelt but two of the ones that most stood out was Sylvester Stallone’s after winning his first Golden Globe ever, for Creed and Leonardo Dicaprio, after winning for The Revenant. Sly’s winning moment was special right from the start, with the entire room giving him a rousing and heartfelt standing ovation. You could see what the reaction and the moment meant to him. And he could not have summed it up any better, than with a thank you to the greatest imaginary friend he ever had…Rocky Balboa. While I do wish he’d thanked more of the team on Creed, I understand that he was overwhelmed and it was just an oversight. This was certainly not Leo’s first Golden Globe win by any means, but it was still wonderful to see the reaction and further get that sense of how much the industry respects him. Barring some crazy, unexpected circumstance, I cannot see Leo not winning the Oscar this year and it will be well OVERDUE in my opinion.  As for his speech, as usual it was articulate, well thought out, intelligent and heartfelt.
• Bad – For me this was undoubtedly Quentin Tarantino and Taraji P. Henson. Let’s start with Tarantino who first of all, didn’t actually win an award. He simply went up to accept the Best Original Score award for winner Ennio Morricone, who won for composing the score for the Tarantino directed film The Hateful Eight. But for some reason, Tarantino seemed to believe that directing the film qualified him to make a whole speech on Morricone’s behalf. And it wouldn’t have been so bad if the speech didn’t turn out to be such a disaster. First, he incorrectly stated that Morricone has never won an award for any movie he’s done, which um no…he’s won two Golden Globes for prior movie scores. And then Tarantino pissed of black Twitter with his comment about Morricone not being just his favorite movie composer because that’s ghetto. Yeah…let’s just say it was a blessing when he stopped talking and got off the stage. And then there was Taraji P. Henson. I guess at this point you kind of know what you’re going to get with Taraji, for better or for worse, and well that’s what we got. But sometimes a little of something goes a long way and a little of Taraji is definitely all we need. The crack about the producers trying to play her off was a little funny but it was all so loud and aggressive and just too much.
• Awkward – I don’t begrudge Rachel Bloom her excitement and joy at winning her first Golden Globe but WOW was she awkward on that stage. From practically screaming her entire speech, then the over the top gestures to her boobs looking like they were very close to popping out of that green dress…the whole thing was really just one giant awkward mess. But perhaps the night’s most awkward speech was Denzel Washington’s for his Cecil B. DeMille honor. And that’s really unfortunate because Denzel has had a stellar career and the honor was more than deserved. But despite knowing ahead of time that he was going to be honored as all the honorees do every year, Denzel came across as completely and wholly unprepared for the moment. He made some quip about forgetting his glasses and I guess that being the reason for his speech being kind of a mess but that’s a pretty lame excuse. And again, that saddens me because Denzel has a career and is an actor worthy of an exceptional tribute, including an amazing speech.

Didn’t See That Coming – Even with the Globes’ reputation for awarding fresh faces and newcomers, there are still some wins that can leave the viewers and critics a little thrown.  Last night’s ceremony had quite a bit of that. At the start of the night, I was something like 0-3 in my predictions, which almost never happens with this show. One of the night’s biggest surprise was the HFPA’s obvious love for Steve Jobs, a movie that all but died at the box office, starting with Kate Winslet’s surprise win for Best Supporting Actress. I mean it is Kate Winslet, who let’s face it, is brilliant in everything she does. Still, she was by no means the favorite in this category and judging by her reaction, she obviously felt that way as well. And then there was Aaron Sorkin’s win for Best Screenplay, also for Steve Jobs and he too could not have looked more surprised. I think some might add Lady Gaga’s win for Best Actress in a Limited Series in this category but to be honest, I felt that was expected. That’s just the kind of gimmicky win the Globes love (no offense Gaga). All that said, perhaps the night’s biggest surprise was without a doubt The Revenant’s win for Best Drama over the highly acclaimed front-runner Spotlight. With that win, it has some wondering if Alejandro Inarritu and his team are going to pull off a two-peat Best Picture win at the Oscars, as they won last year for Birdman. It’s certainly now made the Best Picture race suddenly a lot more interesting. On a personal level, my biggest disappointment and surprise, was Rami Malek’s not winning Best Actor in a Drama for Mr. Robot. While I have nothing against Jon Hamm and I’m sure he was a deserving winner and it was his last chance to win for his role as Don Draper on Mad Men, it was hard to see Mr. Robot get so much love from the HFPA and Rami not win, when he basically carries the entire show. He is the most compelling thing about it. So that definitely sucked.

Fashion Police – And with that, we come to the fashion, because what is an award show without it. Once again, there was no true wow and stellar fashion moment for me but there were some pretty good ones. And of course there was the always, “WTH were you thinking and fire your stylist immediately.”

Best Dressed 

Lady Gaga in Atelier Versace

I wasn’t in love with the hair (looked a little old and washed out) but this dress was absolutely stunning. It was old-school Hollywood bombshell. Very Marilyn Monroe.

Jenna Dewan Tatum in Zuhair Murad

Honestly, I’m not personally a fan of big, dramatic ball gowns but I really loved the look of this dress and I think Jenna carried it off beautifully.

Laverne Cox in Elizabeth Kennedy

Stunning silhouette and she wore this gorgeously. The hair and makeup were also on point. White is not an easy to color to wear and Laverne pulled it off beautifully.

Emmy Rossum in Armani Prive

Not really a fan of the necklace but I think her body looks amazing in the dress and the color is stunning on her.

Brie Larson in Calvin Klein 

I’m not a big fan of the shiny, pageanty dress type look but if you are going to do it, this is the way to do it. Her body looked amazing in and the makeup and jewelry was perfectly understated.

Worst Dressed

This was a close one. There were many who were more than worthy of the honor (looking at you Kate Hudson) but at the end of the day, one stood out boldly amongst them all. Drum roll please… And this year’s Golden Globes worst dressed (according to me of course) is…

Regina King in Krikor Jabotian 

Oh where to begin…shall we talk about the cheap K-Mart looking shoes, the weird gold fish-scaly looking material of the dress or the random WTF white cape in the back? Like I don’t even have the words to accurately sum up this atrocity. I don’t think there are words that have yet been invented to explain this atrocity.