Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I enjoy watching the Academy Awards ceremony every year. I love film, although I didn't get to see too many of the nominated ones this year, and I enjoy seeing the fashion.
One of the benefits of having a Democrat inhabit the highest office in the land is that Hollywood takes a break from unhinged politicization. If the current president were a Republican, every single award winner might have made a snide passing comment about a policy of drone-killing American children. But because that policy is President Obama's, not a single one did!
I made some snarky joke along these lines on Twitter when, not a moment later, Michelle Obama was announced as the surprise treat of a presenter for the Best Picture award.
She didn't actually come to the show and mingle with the folks at the awards. She was instead beamed in from the White House.
It was so weird. Weird in a way it wouldn't have been if she'd been there in person.
Walter Kirn (uniquely situated to understand why this is weird because 1) he wrote the novel on which the Academy Award-nominated movie Up in the Air was based and 2) is a political reporter for The New Republic, tweeted:
#Oscars double shark jump for both the movies and the presidency.
#oscars A Soviet moment. Offends me. Hands off our stupid movie culture, Washington!
#oscars Isn't it in the constitution that occupants of the White House must not insert themselves into the Oscars? Well it should be.
#oscars That climactic link up to the White House had a creepy South American totalitarian lite vibe. Really deserves a spanking.
Now, with the possible exception of a President or First Lady who, say, made their living as an actor or head of the Screen Actors Guild, it just might be better to stay far away from the Oscars. Or, if you're going to go, go. And if you're going to be on stage, maybe give a speech on how you're trying to steal french fries from kids or something -- don't give the big award of the night!
When someone said to Kirn, "I didn't like that bit. Nothing to do with Mrs. Obama, but rather any First Lady. Don't mix entertainment and politics," he replied:
I agree. Something ever so slightly North Korean about it.
Exactly. This isn't about which Democrat happens to inhabit the White House right now (we know that no Republican First Lady would ever be invited) but just about propriety.
We're not mid-20th century Argentina, fictional 1984, Mussolini-era Italy or the Soviet Union. Or I hope we're not. We're better than this. And I earnestly hope that all people, regardless of their political views, would agree to put this mistake behind us and never repeat it.
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Comments:
Sep '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
All you say is true, Mollie. Love the twitters. This whole situation is highly creepy, but I regard it as good because the more creepy the Obamas become, the more likely the rest of the nation is to recognize the creep of presidential creepiness. We can hope anyway.
Edited on February 25, 2013 at 5:00pmSep '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I thought she was going to say she's winding down "Let's Move!" and cranking up "Let's Movie!"
Jun '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I noticed that @Michael_Haneke stopped tweeting after Michelle came out. Probably in the parody gulag...lol
Mar '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Same response here. The FLOTUS appearance had a thuggish, totalitarian feel to it. Something we just don't do here in the US.
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I had precisely the same reaction, Mollie. FLOTUS just floating on the screen above the audience. Did they realize they were doing the Apple 1984 ad?
One other aspect of it that bothered me -- the members of the military who were being used as extras. I'm sure there was probably some White House Oscar viewing party in which they were taking part. If that was the case, it was a nice gesture to have them there, for whatever that's worth. But to use them as props for your big Oscar moment and then not even bother to acknowledge them? Utterly and shamelessly classless.
Jan '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
She was wearing an evening dress for her less-than-one-minute appearance. For some reason, that cracks me up.
Feb '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Troy Senik, Ed.: I had precisely the same reaction, Mollie. FLOTUS just floating on the screen above the audience. Did they realize they were doing the Apple 1984 ad?
One other aspect of it that bothered me -- the members of the military who were being used as extras. I'm sure there was probably some White House Oscar viewing party in which they were taking part. If that was the case, it was a nice gesture to have them there, for whatever that's worth. But to use them as props for your big Oscar moment and then not even bother to acknowledge them? Utterly and shamelessly classless. · 1 minute ago
The thing that creeped me our was, as the WSJ put it, "hard power behind soft power", the reminder of the coercive character of the administration and just the overaching totalitarian feel.
ugh...
Edited on February 25, 2013 at 5:46pmSep '10
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I just want to know why she hired Moe Howard's barber.
Jan '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Wow, a tiny (sub-atomic) glimmer of hope from some one in the entertainment industry.
Feb '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
It's less funny if you remember that we probably paid for it
Merina, I agree with your characterization of the whole appearance as creepy, but am less sanguine about creepiness somehow working against the Obamas: didn't we all think that the Julia and Lena Dunham ads were creepy? the "make a campaign donation in lieu of a wedding gift" deal? Joe Biden and the biker chick?
At their creepiest, these people will just turn into the lovable Addams Family (OK, Joe is Uncle Fester; fill in the rest yourselves...)
Jun '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I think if you did not find it creepy, you should be worried about your instincts. How much proof of cult of personality does a person need?
Some will say, oh that's silly. It wasn't that important, just announcing an award. And to me that is the point. It is a small thing. If the Obama's are interjected into small things, having an opinion on what we eat, watch, marry, worship, then who cares about the large? Who cares about the havoc of throwing a stick in the spoke of the economy and neglecting what is going on in the world when Michelle has a new hairdo and dress?
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Antiphon
Troy Senik, Ed.: I had precisely the same reaction, Mollie. FLOTUS just floating on the screen above the audience. Did they realize they were doing the Apple 1984 ad?
One other aspect of it that bothered me -- the members of the military who were being used as extras. I'm sure there was probably some White House Oscar viewing party in which they were taking part. If that was the case, it was a nice gesture to have them there, for whatever that's worth. But to use them as props for your big Oscar moment and then not even bother to acknowledge them? Utterly and shamelessly classless. · 1 minute ago
The thing that creeped me our was, as the WSJ put it, "hard power behind soft power", the reminder of the coercive character of the administration and just the overaching totalitarian feel.
ugh... · 23 minutes ago
Edited 15 minutes ago
Yes, there was a bit of a Praetorian Guard feel to it.
Oct '10
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I like the tweet someone put up that said something to the effect of: forget about separation of church and state; we need to separate Hollywood and state!
May '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Didn't see it, but I would have paid dearly to see Mollie running down the aisle in a track suit and a sledgehammer...
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I pledge to you that I will -- some how, some way -- do this if this Eva Peron business continues.
Apr '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
I would love to know who lobbied for FLOTUS to be a presenter and did the impetus start from outside or from inside.
Also it's bad enough that Hollywood and the White House are both untouchable worlds unto themselves and that we the benighted are occasionally allowed in to view the royalty but when these worlds collide.......I can only think of those immortal words from Costanza...
"GEORGE IS GETTING UPSET!"
Mar '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
But, given the Tribute to Movie Musicals theme of this year's Academy Awards, it was an interesting (if unintended) reference to Evita.
Increasingly, it is hard to separate Democratic politics/policies from the Argentinian Peronista model. Hollywood seems to prefer that; think of how they flocked to the Clinton White House, and shamelessly fawn over the Obamas. The hostility toward Zero Dark Thirty (a film far more deserving of an Oscar than her Hurt Locker) delivers a powerful message that Hollywood will punish any filmmaking that explores the moral complexities of the War on Terror. In their hearts, the Academy are mostly Reifenstahls, craving the simplistic worldview of The Leader: they prefer to take direction.
Apr '11
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
I pledge to you that I will -- some how, some way -- do this if this Eva Peron business continues. · 0 minutes ago
Your comment made me have an horrific thought Mollie. Are we doomed for Michelle to go the route of Hillary?
Say it ain't so!
Sep '12
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
Come to think of it, Seth MacFarlane gave me the creeps too
Re: Don't Cry For Me Americatina
One of the weird things about Peron handing out the award is that we know that she wouldn't have done it if it were given to Zero Dark Thirty, right? Does that mean that there was some knowledge of secret ballots prior to the big reveal?
I'm not an OscarTruther or anything, but it's just a very bad idea to have the Perons involved in what art is honored and what art isn't.