A dispatch from the hermetically-sealed biodome known as Hollywood, concerning the Oscars, comes from one Robert Greenwald, a producer and the founder of elite peacenugget group Artists United:
Greenwald said he was unaware of any mass move by stars to boycott the ceremony, if it goes ahead. He said celebrities, like other Americans, were struggling to find a balance between life as usual and their personal response to the war.
"The Oscars epitomize that. It is a heightened version of regular life. The question of what people think they should do or not do around the Oscars are symbolic of a series of questions that people are struggling with as to what they are going to be doing in their lives around the war," he said.
Emphasis mine. Yup, you read it right -- the Oscars are just like real life, only on a higher, more intense plane. You mundanes in the real world depend on us to add color and importance to your drab "real" lives! Without us to "symbolize" your concerns you wouldn't know how to think about them!
(Via The Gweilo Diaries.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at March 21, 2003 01:36 AMYou mean real life isn't like the Oscars?
Perhaps that explains why the guy who hands out our paychecks always reacts so oddly to my acceptance speech.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at March 21, 2003 at 12:39 PMYeah, that's about right. And we needed a telethon right after 9/11 so our cultural superiors/moral guides could tell us we should care about the victims. And we needed it held in secret locations so we'd know that there was still danger. (As America intensified, they face an intensified risk of terrorism, you know.)
It's our own damned fault. The American public has been paying their outrageous salaries and watching their ridiculous award shows, as well as paying attention when they appear at Congressional hearings. With democracy, you get the government you deserve. With capitalism, you get the celebrity class you deserve.
Posted by: denise at March 21, 2003 at 03:19 PMHmmm... are you saying that you'd prefer a monarchy? Or perhaps a socialist oligarchy... ;) Unfortunately if you want freedom of choice in anything you are going to have to be prepared to search through a lot of chaff to find a few kernels of wheat. I certainly don't want to have someone else telling me who to watch, listen to, or vote for.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 21, 2003 at 10:45 PMAgreed, definitely. Just saying that as consumers and voters (or non-voters), Americans as a whole don't take much advantage of their powers. Since no one is telling us whom to watch or listent to or vote for, we're responsible for the choices we make, including the choice to drop out politically, or the choice to tell celebrities that their opinions are worth so much more than anyone else's. When we quit encouraging it, it will stop. Maybe we're already starting. Right, Martin, Natalie, Sean?
Posted by: denise at March 22, 2003 at 01:10 AM