Awards Season 2021

[dx23]

The In Memoriam segment is a damn sight better than last year’s, at least. These tributes are touching.

I hated that the singers were standing in front of the screen showing who had passed away and blocking it a little. I felt like I was sitting in a bad seat in a movie theater with rows of taller people in front of me. Hated them having live singers at all, though I liked the tributes (don't think Betty White warranted one).

You think that view was bad? Well, it doesn’t compare to this one of a guy who was actually nominated tonight for his film

[therewillbeblus]

He should be removed from the Academy and his statue revoked. But neither of those things will happen. They’ll probably thank him in private for giving them another viral hit

They should have escorted him out of the theatre and banned him from the ceremony as soon as he threw the punch. Honestly, it's wild to me that this didn't happen, and it certainly would have if it was someone different than Will Smith. What a disgusting precedent to set.

And to those condoning violence, there is such a huge difference between being in a social context where you "need" to fight violence with violence to survive in said milieu, and being an audience member whose wife just got roasted with a one-off joke that's over and done with. The situation was passed, not even verbal aggression was continuing to incite trauma, and Smith could have spoken out in his seat if he wanted to promote his reptilian masculinity in the spotlight. Words hurt, they suck, and some things shouldn't be said (and we can debate the slippery slope of restricting content standup comedy til sunrise if we want) but nothing about what happened tonight called for a violent response, and these arguments saying otherwise are ridiculous (my favorite is someone on Twitter who said Hall's joke about Smith and Jada's open marriage in the covid segment prompted him to get riled up, and that Rock was the last straw, so it was totally fine- since who could possibly withstand two jabs and stay seated, fists down!?)

[Never Cursed]

Hard agree with domino and TWBB - it's nauseating to see someone who responds to a (cruel) joke with violence be defended and even lauded for their "protective" actions. I spoke too soon when I said that the incident was clearly staged, in part because I didn't think that anyone in this milieu would so quickly turn to an act of off-handed public violence. No one would even be defending Smith if he wasn't in a position of significant privilege; Smith's rhetorical defenses for his actions are blatantly misogynistic and creepy.

[Toland's Mitchell]

Thank you, Jomboy

[swo17]

Words have power

Yes. If only Will Smith had a way with them

[HJackson]

I don’t want to sound ghoulish here, because alopecia is obviously not something you want especially if you live in the public eye, but Jada Pinkett Smith isn’t dying from terminal cancer is she? The joke was cheap and a shitty thing to say, but the idea that Will Smith’s actions were justified because he was defending his “sick” wife from jokes about her “illness” seems utterly ridiculous when we’re talking about hair loss...

[Pavel]

Oh wow, I went to sleep right after the Oscars and am only now being reminded that I have to choose a film. I won't put too much thought into it because I'll go crazy and pick a film by a nominee this year that has been on my mind a lot lately (both before and after William Hurt's passing) — Steven Spielberg's AI. Hope it hasn't been discussed at length before but if it's not a good pick please tell me and I'll go with something else. One of my favorite films and one I can't get tired of reading about.

[knives]

I’ve been a bit of an Oscars optimist still engaging with it and trying to see a decent chunk of the nominees before the show date so it’s with no little thought that I say that the reaction to the Smith thing by the academy has killed the majesty for me.

Regardless of whatever chivalry people want to dress it in assault is assault. If Smith had gone up and said, “hey that really hurt my sick wife’s feelings you should apologize,” or something of that order I’d be with him, but assault is assault.

Now, the academy had an opportunity to say we don’t condone violence during our show and had him sit the night out as Domino suggests above I’d be fine with that. Instead this ignorance and comforting just reinforces the idea that there is no repercussions for his actions on Smith’s part which is what lead him to assault in the first place. I’m not sure what rectification the academy can do at this point, but I’m deaf to them until they at least start trying.

[Fiery Angel]

Was thinking about Gervais too and Kanye. Both deserve their slaps but what a mess would this create. Reminds me almost to the fallout of the NBA Malice at the Palace where everyone came out looking horrible even if some punches were justified.

Well, back to the awards, pleasantly surprised with the Coda win for best picture. Didn’t expect that one at all.

It's called assault, not "slaps"

Yes, it’s assault, don’t make it look like Rock here is the good guy. There’s some line’s people shouldn’t cross, and making fun of an illness is one of them. Like I said, Chris may not have been in the know about this but again Jada has talked publicly of her Alopecia illness

Where did I say Rock is the "good guy"? You can think that Rock made a dumb joke and still think Smith should be arrested for what he did. You are doubling down on Rock's words being worse than Smith's physical altercation.

[Finch]

The joke was cruel and needling (though Smith and the wifey have a reputation for an air of superiority over everyone else) but Smith needs time out after this. He is lucky Rock didn't press charges. The Academy handled this poorly as well. Personally, I think both Smith and Rock should not be invited back for a long time. Smith should have taken the high road (it's not like he doesn't have a way with words himself) and he basically denied every winner post-incident their moment in the sun.

[Feego]

I’m sure the Academy is already planning for Smith and Rock to appear onstage together next year and hug it out.

[ianungstad]

If Will Smith gets to deck someone for making a joke in poor taste at an awards show, what does Janet Hubert get to do to him for the way she was treated on Fresh Prince? (Which Will only apologized for in 2020)

She should get at least a few kicks to the balls!

[domino harvey]

I had hoped I’d feel better after sleeping on it, but I’m waking up to most of the world unapologetically defending Smith and I’m just, like, done. This is the Bad Place

[therewillbeblus]

The Jomboy video makes a good point at the end: Rock is clearly looking around expecting someone to step in and he’s getting zero support. He pivots like a champ, but imagine getting assaulted, looking around at the people who plan/make in the moment decisions around safety measures, and seeing no movement. Pathetic.

[domino harvey]

Also, apparently Almodovar refused to clap or stand or acknowledge Smith’s win. I feel some small comfort in that, at least!

[colinr0380]

It also exposes a number of things about the current cultural moment, where people who would otherwise be appalled by 'yet another example of male violence' are also trying to balance the action as one of defending a woman's honour. Which apparently makes it OK?

The best thing would perhaps have been for Will Smith to do a 'Tom Hanks at Ricky Gervais' and grin and bear it, and then having the opportunity to say that the host's joke was a terrible and tasteless one when getting the chance to be interviewed later. Or maybe if he had to do something, maybe walk up and maybe lead Chris Rock up to his wife so that Rock could apologise to her directly. But a backhanded slap in the middle of a live Oscars telecast perhaps wasn't the best way to go about things.

Although it cannot have been a bad thing for the Academy Awards retaining relevance in the new media age, if they can arrange something like this every year (It also shows that celebrities are the only beings who are able to get close enough to other celebrities to punch them now!) Maybe Helen Mirren and Judi Dench rolling around on the stage for Best Supporting Actress before Charlotte Rampling runs in like a linebacker, kung fu kicks them both and runs off with the award?

[vsski]

So the academy has a code of conduct that was widely publicized and hailed a few years ago and released a statement after the incident that they don’t condone violence of any kind - and then in the same statement congratulates all the winners (which presumably includes Smith). This doesn’t make any sense to me.

What am I missing here (other than the academy hoping not to rock the boat and let this all blow over soon, which I really hope it won’t)?

[lacritfan]

Aside from Smith/Rock, I felt bad for Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, that seat filler joke wasn't funny at all and felt downright insulting. I also found myself wondering if Liza Minnelli was on medication or starting to suffer from dementia, even if she is a legend she shouldn't've co-presented in that wheelchair and the way she was acting. The whole ceremony was just full of cringe.

[cdnchris]

I had hoped I’d feel better after sleeping on it, but I’m waking up to most of the world unapologetically defending Smith and I’m just, like, done. This is the Bad Place

Right? I'm sure there are situations where a slug is called for but that wasn't one. He could have just cursed him out (as he ended up doing anyways) and called him names. The situation would have still been awkward but not as much. Rock wasn't a threat in any way. He made a stupid joke, that's it, at an event where people get ribbed all the time. Didn't Hall imply an open marriage at one point? He didn't slug her.

I always thought there were people on stage in the back so I'm surprised no one came out. But I still have to give Rock credit for just going on like nothing happened, after the initial shock (I assume he's done stand-up so I'm sure he's already wired to recover from such things).

[RIP Film]

These kind of medieval/frontier justice views used to be a hillbilly thing but now you see it echoed everywhere. Terrible message to send, not just to kids but in affecting the whole national attitude on assault.

[colinr0380]

Aside from Smith/Rock, I felt bad for Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, that seat filler joke wasn't funny at all and felt downright insulting. I also found myself wondering if Liza Minnelli was on medication or starting to suffer from dementia, even if she is a legend she shouldn't've co-presented in that wheelchair and the way she was acting. The whole ceremony was just full of cringe.

Although we should all be able to agree that we needed much, much more of Jamie Lee Curtis holding an adorable puppy!

[mfunk9786]

I think we're getting a lot of cultural commentary from places we usually don't, and I do agree that if your income were in the five figures, you're hustling to get by day to day, and someone ridicules your wife in front of all of her peers... yeah, ok. It might be go time, then. At least, a slap would be an appropriate response. But in this case these are multi-millionaires who will never need to "deal with" life on any level beyond hurt feelings and embarrassment over their hair. It's so boring to act as though they're somehow "just like us" and should be slapping each other for Oscars jokes. But that's how people relate to famous people now, and there's no stopping that. Social media punctured the fourth wall forever. They're just people like us now, and therefore should act like we would - even when the comparison becomes more and more absurd and distant.

[Brian C]

It has seemed for years that we're backsliding into a more violent society in general. In a twisted way, it seems like all the preaching for more "empathy" has backfired - instead of using empathy as a tool to de-escalate conflict, we're now expected to support every random jackass who feels aggrieved.

[Brian C]

I think we're getting a lot of cultural commentary from places we usually don't, and I do agree that if your income were in the five figures, you're hustling to get by day to day, and someone ridicules your wife in front of all of her peers... yeah, ok. It might be go time, then. At least, a slap would be an appropriate response.

Lotta thinly veiled contempt for the proles there, bud.

[domino harvey]

Hitting someone because you don’t like what they said is wrong regardless of your tax bracket