Oscar Makes Me Grouchy

For all the diversity present in the audience at the Dolby Theater Sunday night, Oscar seemed to favor white dudes most highly. Still. 

Change is slow. Change is hard for some folks. Change is threatening for white dudes who still hold the majority of power in the film industry. Still, I have hope for change.

Jordan Peele's screenplay for Get Out got a nod, thankfully, as did director Guillermo del Toro  for The Shape of Water, and the Anderson-Lopez songwriting family for best song Remember Me from the animated feature Coco.  But the fickle finger of fate flitted over but did not land on Mary J. Blige or Octavia Spencer for best supporting actress, nor did it land on Daniel Kaluuya for best actor in Get Out. He really was excellent in the role. I cannot speak to Denzel Washington's work in Roman J. Israel, Esq. because I didn't see the film. We still have a long way to go for equality to show itself in the Academy.

Jimmy Kimmel did an admirable job hosting. Perhaps his best line was about Oscar himself being the perfect man in Hollywood because his hands are always visible and he has no penis. 

Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, and Anabella Sciorra introduced an important talking-heads clip about equality, diversity and inclusion after acknowledging that in the wake of Weinstein's exposure, there's impetus for change world wide. We must embrace Me Too and Time's Up and keep moving forward as humans together on this one dear planet. 

I'm not a white man, but my white woman status links me with the oppressors and with privilege. Still, I can pray for equal representation, equal pay, equal opportunity and do what I can do to encourage change. 

While Oscar's entrenched ways make me grouchy, hearing Frances McDormand's impassioned invitation for all  the women who work in films who were present Sunday night to stand and to be acknowledged, I also have high-apple-pie-in-the-sky-hopes for Oscar to visit all film crews with interest and to view with unbiased eyes the beauty in each story being told. I want the children to be able to see stories that inspire and that they can relate to. We're all going to have to stand together as the globe warms. Might as well understand one another's cultures, desires and dreams while we're standing there. We'll all be enriched that way.