Today Richard found one of my notebooks in his backpack, (I've been looking for the @#$&* thing for months) and it contains my thoughts on last year's Academy Awards. What a difference from this year's nominees!
2005 Oscar nominees represent pessimism, depression, and delusion:
Finding Neverland (7 nominations): A sentimental whitewash. J.M. Barrie didn't want to grow up, so he abandoned his wife to atach himself, like a genial parasite, to a young family. The lush and dreamy film centres on the magic of Peter Pan, making no mention of the fact that Barrie might have gained custody of the "lost boys" by forging their late mother's will. One of the younger boys dropped into depression at Oxford and drowned himself, possibly in a gay suicide pact. Peter was cut out of Barrie's will, and committed suicide after becoming a broken-down alchoholic; he felt, to the end of his life, that Barrie had exploited him.
As in Peter Pan, the boys' father was a villain, an interloper. He was very much alive when Barrie weaseled into the family.
Is it OK to never grow up? Ask Michael Jackson, an exploited youth currently on trial for allegedly molesting a pubescent boy. He is Peter Pan, and there's nothing beautiful about it.
Vera Drake (Best Actress nomination): A housfrau performs abortions out of the goodness of her heart, and is arrested. Complex social problems (poverty, illegality of reliable birth control) are given a "simple" solution: Cheap, friendly infanticide. Today, in the U.S., those problems are virtually nonexistent. Most Americans, even those who live below the poverty line, have access to cheap, reliable birth control. What's going on?
The Woodsman: A pedophile is released from jail. He immediately begins to pursue young girls again.
The Sea Inside and Million Dollar Baby: "Once your glory days are over, you're a burden to those who love you and might as well be dead."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment