HEY, YOU GUYS, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THIS YEAR'S OSCAR NOMS SUCK!

[bookshop]

*Best Picture 2010 nominations list*
- Avatar <-- racist, imperialist white liberal guilt fantasy (everyone, native peoples, mountains, animals, trees and tree-nerve-endings, get exploited by white people, awesome!!)

- The Blind Side <-- i haven't seen this, but true story notwithstanding the trailer just me cringe. It really, really seemed

Comments

[glitterati]

*ahem* Also 'Death Proof'.

Violence is Tarantino's raison d'etre, much as America's heartland was Ford's or crime/punishment is Scorsese's.

These directors are not pushing any social agenda, though (or...were, in Ford's case), and to say "you failed because you had no progressive social agenda" is blame-placing where I would rather not see it. I do not want to see directors like Tarantino, Fincher, Anderson, Jarmusch, etc etc suddenly grow political agendas. It would be strange. I'd rather leave it to the blatant film-makers who dare to spit in the face of movies as they are. And Aja, we are right on the cusp of a new generation of film, you must understand. Those film-makers will come. But even when they come, it will take even longer for the Academy to recognize them.

Also, take into consider more than just the message. Take into account the other things that go into consideration for Oscar nominations. Script (okay, what you said about 'Up in the Air' made me throw up in my mouth a little), direction, acting, music, cinematography, costuming...there are just so many triumphs of human ingenuity in an industry that is designed to entertain us, many times by diverse peoples with very diverse backgrounds.

I'm just sayin'. Oscars =/= Political. Oscars =/= Ooooo!!! SHINY!!!, but ultimately to look at the movies which best embody the triumphs of what people can do when they come together (James Cameron putting his name over a fucking TITLE immediately disqualifies him, not that I already didn't dislike the man - like he's the only one who did anything on Avatar - piece of shit though it is)...damnit I just love movies, and I'd love to see them grow more progressive and more inclusive. I just don't want to see this done at the expense of the "little things" which are ultimately more important in a movie.

There are a few shots framed so beautifully in 'Inglourious Basterds', and if you reach back to another white-male-violence-fantasy, 'The Departed', that choke me up when I just see them. I know the difficulty there was in creating that shot, that perfect moment to create that perfect emotion.

I'm just defending movies in general.