George Graham

Preachy, Endless and Dull

chris rock2

 

I don’t know who won the best actor awards or what movie got the Best Picture Oscar. And I don’t care. By the time I gave up on last night’s Academy Awards and nodded off to sleep, I was cured of any Oscar fever I might have had.

From start to finish, the event was a downer.

If the awards night was ever fun, that’s now a distant memory. It has become a showcase for various causes and a vehicle for promoting various celebrities.

I don’t know whether any black stars or films deserved to be nominated. I’m sure there must be some.  For example, I would nominate Morgan Freeman without even seeing him in anything last year. He is always terrific.

But the relentless harping on the shutout got on my nerves. Whatever happened to losing gracefully?

And whatever happened to fun?

You would think that having Chris Rock (above) as host would guarantee a laugh or two. Rock can be a very funny guy.  But there wasn’t much to laugh – or even smile – about at last night’s annual extravaganza.

The songs were dirges, the nominated movies were all doom-and-gloom, the actors were cutesy and boring, the jokes were contrived and flat. After all, what’s funny about blackmailing the audience into buying Girls Scout cookies from your kids? And why make that poor Sarah Silverman embarrass herself with unfunny references to her “heavy Jewish boobs” and James Bond’s procreative equipment?

Incidentally, what was all that technology stuff about? They lost me after they did the skit with the Toy Story characters. And that “hilarious romp”  (not) with the minions.

But the most depressing feature of the night was its preachiness.

They even brought Joe Biden on to preach about sexual predators. Joe Biden! The vice president of the United States!

Now I’m doubly sure American politics is just show business.

Look, I agree that sexual assault is evil. I agree that black actors deserve a fair shake. I agree climate change poses a catastrophic threat. I agree the world should be a better place and we should do our best to improve it.

But why do it all at the Academy Awards?

Click for more on the Oscars.

Click if you care who won what.

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com