Is Hollywood easing up on the political preachfest?
Is the fact that, during an election year, so little preachiness was heard from the Oscar podium a good sign? Have they decided to get back to the business of making movies? Or is it just that so few Americans won that the winners just don't give a rip about American politics?
I write about this in my Los Angeles Daily News column today:
"Out here in Los Angeles we've known for a long time that there are fewer degrees of separation between Hollywood and politics than there are between Kevin Bacon and, well, anyone.
People running on a platform of change? Yeah, they're called independent filmmakers. The entrenched liberal establishment? It's called Babs and the Weinstein brothers. A town frozen by endless gridlock? It's Capitol Hill 24-7, but L.A. during the writers strike.
And though ostensibly home to more fiction than The New York Times, Hollywood actually has lobbyists who behave inappropriately: We call it the casting couch.
When it came to politics as usual, Sunday's 80th Academy Awards resembled the United Nations General Assembly. And the Best Supporting Actor is... Spain! Best Supporting Actress goes to Britain! Best Actor, Ireland! Best Actress, France! And the Best Picture Oscar goes to the country of ... Texas? Well, thank heavens Russia didn't veto Austria's Best Foreign-Language Film win.
The Oscars also have a storied history of turning the film canister on its side, stepping on top and turning it into a political soapbox.
Michael Moore - who lost this year for his 'socialism rocks!' docudramedy 'Sicko' - has always provided ample reason for the orchestra to crank it up.
Moore wanted Comrade Fidel - who has a freer schedule these days, save for his duties as the wizard behind the curtain - to be his Oscar date: 'If I could talk to (Oscar Producer) Gil Cates and maybe get Castro in a dance number at the beginning of the show?' Moore mused to AP Television. At least if Fidel tripped again and broke his knee, he'd actually get some good medical care at Cedars-Sinai.
But in this, an election year, it was particularly fascinating to see what proclamations would come from the podium, who would try to 'Barack the Vote' from the red carpet or denounce George W. Bush (which was sooo three years ago). ..."
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