On the Oscars
Mar. 24th, 2003 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiA few folks questioned my post last week, when I commented that I wouldn't be reading TC Boyle any more, since he's shown himself to be an utter ass. They asked why I'd take such a viewpoint, since the personality of the artist often has little to do with the work produced.
It comes down to an artistic form of capitalism. Frankly in any field, there is more good -- possibly even great -- art than I will ever have time to enjoy. There are dozens of plays annually, hundreds of movies each year, thousands of paintings, tv episodes, comics, books, etc. Even applying Sturgeon's law, and taking into account guilty pleasures, that's still a ton of stuff to enjoy. And I will never, ever have time to enjoy them all.
So, why read something produced by someone who relishes his ignorance, when there are easily a half-dozen authors writing books in similar categories that are just as good? Sorry, but I can spend my money elsewhere. And since I don't read in a vacuum, once I know what an author's like, no, I can't just tune out what I know.
Which takes us to the Oscars last night.
Roman Polanski won Best Director last night, for The Pianist. And he got nothing but cheers.
Let me rephrase this. The entire fucking Oscar crowd applauded and rewarded a child rapist.
Not one of them had the guts to boo.
The media have a habit of saying that Polanski is wanted on charges of "statutory rape," and then they wink, as if he was caught doing the nasty with a high-school senior.
No.
Polanski drugged and raped a fourteen-year-old girl.
There's no way around that. You can't wink and smile over this. It's not something that fits into a moral grey area. It's the act of a sociopath. Yes, I know he had a fucked-up life. I know about Sharon Tate. But that doesn't fucking excuse him for committing a crime and fucking up someone's life.
And the Academy decided to turn a blind eye to it.
Sorry. I don't buy that.
This is the same Academy that has a hard-on for Holocaust movies, that votes for almost every film with a message, that hasn't ignored politics since before I was born. They're not just a bunch of artistes who sit in an enclosed room and spooge over "the aesthetics." We all know that the Academy no more votes for the true "Best Director" than they do for any other person. We all know that they vote for bodies of work, for political shenanigans, for whatever gets them press (yeah, 'cuz you know the Academy really liked that mediocre Emenem tune for its own merits).
And they gave the award to The Rapist.
I'm sure that The Pianist is a brilliant film. Polanksi's talent has never really been in question (although The Ninth Gate is certainly a possible case in point). I may see it, as I've done with the Rapist's other work, when it comes out on HBO, or in some other situation where I'm not tossing money into the Rapist's coffers. But there were four (actually more) other brilliant films last year. And the Academy decided to send a message to Rapist Polanski, telling him that he's forgiven.
Well, fuck you, Roman. And fuck the Academy.
It comes down to an artistic form of capitalism. Frankly in any field, there is more good -- possibly even great -- art than I will ever have time to enjoy. There are dozens of plays annually, hundreds of movies each year, thousands of paintings, tv episodes, comics, books, etc. Even applying Sturgeon's law, and taking into account guilty pleasures, that's still a ton of stuff to enjoy. And I will never, ever have time to enjoy them all.
So, why read something produced by someone who relishes his ignorance, when there are easily a half-dozen authors writing books in similar categories that are just as good? Sorry, but I can spend my money elsewhere. And since I don't read in a vacuum, once I know what an author's like, no, I can't just tune out what I know.
Which takes us to the Oscars last night.
Roman Polanski won Best Director last night, for The Pianist. And he got nothing but cheers.
Let me rephrase this. The entire fucking Oscar crowd applauded and rewarded a child rapist.
Not one of them had the guts to boo.
The media have a habit of saying that Polanski is wanted on charges of "statutory rape," and then they wink, as if he was caught doing the nasty with a high-school senior.
No.
Polanski drugged and raped a fourteen-year-old girl.
There's no way around that. You can't wink and smile over this. It's not something that fits into a moral grey area. It's the act of a sociopath. Yes, I know he had a fucked-up life. I know about Sharon Tate. But that doesn't fucking excuse him for committing a crime and fucking up someone's life.
And the Academy decided to turn a blind eye to it.
Sorry. I don't buy that.
This is the same Academy that has a hard-on for Holocaust movies, that votes for almost every film with a message, that hasn't ignored politics since before I was born. They're not just a bunch of artistes who sit in an enclosed room and spooge over "the aesthetics." We all know that the Academy no more votes for the true "Best Director" than they do for any other person. We all know that they vote for bodies of work, for political shenanigans, for whatever gets them press (yeah, 'cuz you know the Academy really liked that mediocre Emenem tune for its own merits).
And they gave the award to The Rapist.
I'm sure that The Pianist is a brilliant film. Polanksi's talent has never really been in question (although The Ninth Gate is certainly a possible case in point). I may see it, as I've done with the Rapist's other work, when it comes out on HBO, or in some other situation where I'm not tossing money into the Rapist's coffers. But there were four (actually more) other brilliant films last year. And the Academy decided to send a message to Rapist Polanski, telling him that he's forgiven.
Well, fuck you, Roman. And fuck the Academy.
