Oscar Should be Ophelia

Way back on March 4 we watched the Oscars. I recall two thoughts about it.

I was dreading it a bit because--while I understand the passion around various political movements highlighted during the Oscars--people are tuning in more to be entertained than lectured. There is a way to highlight a cause or issue, but it requires a deft touch that is hard for people who are, by nature, given to drama. In light of the MeToo movement, I just wasn’t sure how the Oscar producers would navigate the evening. Again, MeToo is 100% justified and an encouraging development, but hard for Hollywood to handle appropriately given its culpability. I think presenter Jimmy Kimmel did an excellent job and the producers did a good job of putting more women on the stage and more senior women on the stage. The man+woman presenter duo was very much less in evidence--more women presented together and more women and POC overall. In the end, I thought they got it about right.

One of my favourite gags from Jimmy: "We will always remember this year as the year men screwed up so badly that women started dating fish."

Second observation was how many films were about mothers and daughters: Ladybird; I, Tonya; Three Billboards. That seems to me a sign of advancement. As Greta Gerwig said, she made Ladybird because she wasn’t seeing films exploring the issues she wanted to dramatise. Also, The Post had a strong female lead and of course Sally Hawkins' character in Shape of Water defined female passion, courage, strength, and joy. I love del Toro’s work and find that, even though watching his films is excruciating--once I get over the stress and unclench my jaw, I am so rewarded. I can delete the memories of the nasty stuff in Shape of Water and just remember the love and joy and power of the relationship between Eliza and the “fish."

March 12-14