Oh, is it that time again?

Evidently the Academy Awards ceremony was held this weekend. As this excites me about as much as the Superbowl (ie. not at all), I didn’t really pay attention. I learned a long time ago that Hollywood and I disagree greatly on what constitutes a good movie. And, quite frankly, I’m more than a little tired of taking up my limited time to listen to overpaid, spoiled brats who get thousands of dollars of goodies just to show up lecture me on how to live. Wage equality? Physician, heal thyself. I’ll know they really mean it when the highest-paid actors willingly forego their big checks in order to keep things more even with their peers. Racism? I’ve never had a problem with movies with black leads. A good story is a good story, a good actor is a good actor. So why doesn’t Hollywood produce more movies with black leads? There’s certainly plenty of evidence that Hollywood is more than happy to produce movies to advance lots of other agendas, even at the expense of profits, so don’t tell me they can’t make more movies with black leads.

Hollywood, be the change you claim you want to see in the world. Then we’ll talk.

Of course just as telling, perhaps, was the social media posts that showed up on my Facebook feed. Of all the posts about the Oscars made by male posters, nearly all were about the actual awards–agreeing or disagreeing with choices. The one notable exception was someone praising Lady Gaga’s performance of a medley of The Sound of Music songs. Of the posts made by female posters, the majority were critical and/or objectifying of individuals. That singer is too skinny, the other sang flat. That male actor must be gay because he takes his mother to award shows. So-n-so is a hottie. So-n-so’s dress was abysmal. Rrrrraarrr, gotta get me some of that.  That sort of thing.

You may form you own ideas about what the difference means, or whether my results are typical. All I know is that I’m getting tired of being lectured on how terrible middle-class, white males are when everything around me suggests that the problem may be elsewhere. Let s/he who is without sin cast the first stone, okay? Oops, sorry for the lack of trigger warning on that religious reference there.