Oscars Overreaction

Well, Will Smith issued a public apology including Chris Rock this time, so that helps a little. Initially I was willing to let his overreaction go due to Chris Rock's tasteless joke about Jada's alopecia, but then during Will's acceptance speech he cried and rambled on, seemingly implying that he was being overprotective of his wife due to how overprotective he was of the young actresses playing Venus and Serena. And he pointedly did not apologize to Chris Rock at that time, so it started to make me feel that he didn't get what was wrong with his behavior. Yes he had the right to be upset on his wife's behalf, but he could have just sat there giving Rock a death glare, or could have squeezed his wife's hand supportively. And he could have waited for a moment backstage or after the Oscars to confront Rock, and demand an apology. If he had done those things, then the public would have criticized Rock for the joke, and pointed out his hypocrisy after his Good Hair documentary. But instead Will reacted violently, and that's what hurt him.

I do think that the Academy shouldn't condone violence, and people should rightly discuss toxic masculinity, abusive behavior, etc. However, I find the idea that they should take away his Oscar is a bit extreme. In fact I agree that there have been much uglier moments in Oscar history than that slap. As long as Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski continue to keep their Oscars, then no, I don't think Will Smith ought to lose his. He needs to maybe take some anger management classes, or be fined money, or do community service. Or maybe not be allowed to attend the ceremony in the future. That seems more reasonable compared to his offense.

It's unfortunate that the whole slapping incident has overshadowed other stuff that happened at the Oscars such as CODA winning, Summer of Soul winning for documentary, Ariana Debose winning for West Side Story, and Liza Minelli appearing with Lady Gaga to present an award. I remember Liza as Lucille Austero on Arrested Development, and it's sad to see her so frail in a wheelchair.

Anna May Wong

Gemma Chan is going to star in a biopic about Anna May Wong! This is long overdue for the Hollywood icon who faced so much racial discrimination in her career. I'm so happy at the news. Gemma previously paid tribute to Wong during her Met Gala appearance in 2021. I hope it will be good, and that the Oscars won't overlook it like they did The Farewell a couple of years ago, and other deserving films. Unfortunately, Oscars remain so white in a lot of ways. I recently watched Flower Drum Song, which Wong was cast in before she died, and they had to cast another actress Juanita Hall in her part.

The Oscars are tonight, too, though apparently there's some controversy about them cutting some categories or condensing them or something. Trying to shorten the show I guess. I don't really care about them anymore.

I did notice that HBO Max is about to have a Julia Child biopic as well as a new rom-com staring Lana Condor. I'll look forward to seeing those at the end of the March.

Roots

Well, since a lot of TV is preempted by March Madness basketball until early April, I've been looking for shows and movies on streaming. I haven't been keeping up regularly with Gilded Age that much, though I still enjoy Peggy's story. I hope the finale will be good.

I just recently discovered that HBO Max has the 1977 version of Roots, (but it's been edited to 6 episodes instead of 8). I had always heard about this miniseries but never found it available before. Alex Haley's book had originally been treated as nonfiction, but he later admitted to plagiarizing some of it, so it's more like a historical novel based on oral traditions in his family. Anyway, I was always skeptical that Haley really could have traced his family all the way back to a specific man from Africa, because on  Finding Your Roots, Henry Louis Gates says it's rare and lucky to be able to find a slave ancestor prior to 1870. I can think of Kunta Kinte and his family as just symbolic stand-ins representing generations of history for many African American descendents of slaves. Just like Lee Daniel's The Butler fictionalized a real man's biography so he could portray an epic about Black America under different Presidents in the White House.

Anyway, I've just watched the first episode of Roots, with Kunta Kinte living in Gambia before getting captured by slavers. Levar Burton plays the fifteen year old boy living with his parents, then he effectively conveys his change in attitude after returning from the ritual training for all the village boys. Once he is officially declared a man, Kunta doesn't defer as much to his mother anymore and says a woman should not give him orders. So African tribes have their own version of patriarchy. But his grandmother visits him in his new home as if to remind him to still defer to his elders. This unfortunately leads to his capture.

Meanwhile, the captain of the slaveship acts like he's uncomfortable with the slavery and the brutality of it, yet he lets the first mate Slater talk him into believing that the Africans are subhuman cannibals who totally deserve subjugation and cruelty. At first Davies protests at the idea of raping the women slaves, though he only talks of the fornication as a sin damaging to the ship's crew, not about the damage to the women. Slater insists that the ship's crew need it, and Davies acquiesces. I keep thinking, "Why can't you say no to him? Why can't you forbid him, since you're the captain?" But the only thing that Davies gives a firm no on is overcrowding the ship with 200 slaves, tightly packed. Davies insists that 170 slaves "loosely packed" is just fine for the cargo. And later Slater brings an African woman to the captain's cabin, and Davies doesn't refuse. He presumably rapes her, though thankfully we don't see it. We don't even hear screams from the other women who are probably being raped too. It's really chilling to see that even white men like Davies still uphold the racist system and do nothing to stop the evil. I guess that's the power of this miniseries, confronting mainstream America with the ugly inhumanity of slavery.

Turning Red

I really enjoyed Pixar's latest film, a story about "magical puberty" manifesting as a giant red panda. The heroine is a 13-year old Chinese Canadian girl named Mei, and the movie is full of tiny details familiar to any Asian immigrant, including the beaded seat cushion in Ming's car as she talks to Mei. The cooking scene with Mei's father Jin is also visually stunning, almost photorealistic, which makes it weird that the people are animated in a more cartoony style. I guess they're trying to avoid uncanny valley. Nevertheless, the movie is a great universal story about puberty and mother/daughter conflicts, despite some reviewer insisting that the story has limited appeal to a specific demographic. That's a very myopic viewpoint, and I've seen A.V. Club commenters defending that guy too, which is exhausting. Some people are trying to pretend that girls don't think about sex at that age, but I assure you that I was deeply into fanfic back then, and eventually in high school I became an ardent Holmes/Watson slash writer. Just because we're not having sex that young, doesn't mean we're not thinking about sex yet. I mean, would you ever imagine that teen boys aren't thinking about it? Too many parents imagine that their kids are still pure innocent babies long after they're not. You can't keep your kid from growing up, no matter how in denial you are.

Turning Red is just as universal as any of the other family movies put out by Disney/Pixar like Encanto or Inside Out. They appeal to kids who are dealing with generational differences and struggling with the emotions of growing up. It's only just recently that stories centered on white males have finally stepped back enough to let other kinds of families step into the light. Especially during Women's History Month, I appreciate having the girls in Turning Red free to be unabashedly themselves. It's such a fun movie about friendship and family that I hope the controversy will get more people to watch it.

What a week

Despite all the insanity against trans kids in Texas and Florida, there has been some heartening news too, with Congress being able to pass major legislation like postal reform, anti-lynching, and the Violence Against Women act that had lapsed for a few years. I don't know if the Republicans are too distracted by the Ukraine war to stonewall and try to shut down the government again, but at least Biden can sign some more laws now. I'm very glad that the Post Office doesn't have to absurdly pre-fund 75 years of benefits anymore. That has been hampering them for a long time.

Plus a Texas judge has put an injunction on Texas investigating families based on the pseudo-legal declaration that trans healthcare was "child abuse." Abbott has been trying to out-crazy other rightwing opponents, but he and Dan Patrick have really become asshole despots with these lies. As if the GOP hadn't gone too far already with the abortion law and the voter suppression law.

I'm glad that the DNC will fund a voter registration director, because Texas Democrats are going to need all the help they can get. We have been trying forever to turn Texas blue, and now it seems we're just fighting to survive. I really hope that Beto's campaign can make a difference too.

March already

I'm still processing results of the Texas primaries on Tuesday. Some of my candidates won, while others made it to the runoffs in May. No idea if the results would have been different if not for the voter suppression law.

I was able to watch Biden's State of the Union address. He flubbed a few lines, but did fine for someone with a stutter. I didn't like his "fund the police" line, but I understand he's trying to give Democrats cover so that Republicans don't keep screaming about us all trying to defund the police. On the other hand, they'll probably keep lying anyway. They have no shame.

Meanwhile, Amber Ruffin's show came back but now the newer episodes are Peacock Premium only. I can still watch clips on the Youtube channel, but I guess I'll have to upgrade eventually. Might as well, to see the rest of Rutherford Falls, Bel-Air, etc. At least she's still free on Seth Meyer's show.

Batwoman ended season 3 with a happy-ish ending but with a hint of what could be next season. If it does continue, I wish there would be less angst and horror. Can't a superhero show be more hopeful, or is that just how Gotham is? I'd even take more heroic action sequences even though I can't follow fight scenes well. Just something to break up the gloom and cynicism. Mary Hamilton used to be the bright and cute part of the show but they put her character through the wringer.