Tinseltown Moves to Lincoln Old Digs
Posted on the 26 February 2013 by Fadi Bejjani
@DrFadiBejjani
After 5+ hours of Oscar agony on TV last Sunday, where everybody and his brother received thanks from the nominees, who were careful not to forget the family dog and the hamster pet, none else but First Lady Michelle Obama appeared in a cameo to give the ultimate award for best film. This was definitely a premiere but also a genius PR coup for the Obamas watched by 1 billion viewers worldwide. After all isn’t Hollywood movies the best ambassadors of America overseas (especially the more violent and spectacular ones)?I think Mrs. Obama was prepared to give the Oscar to ZeroDark Thirty, which illustrates her husband’s biggest victory, the killing of Obama. It would have been poetic justice. Instead it was Argo, good movie designed by liberal Ben Affleck to wipe out the large blemish left on Carter’s record by the Iran hostages. That had to do for a message.Of course it could have been any number of movies, most of which have something in common: violence and guns (not good for the current efforts of the administration). Amouror Life of Pi would have been OK in this respect but they did not win.Beasts of the Southern Wild depicting rising sea levels caused by global warming in Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, most notably the rapidly eroding Isle de Jean Charles, would have been a great voice for global warming, a prominent item on the agenda. Django Unchained certainly promotes class and minority struggles. After watching this very gory movie even the rich would have decided to tax themselves making the President very happy.By bringing back the French Revolution, LesMiserables, also quite gory, also promotes class warfare.Silver Lining Playbook, a not as violent movie suggests a “silver lining” to the economical cloud we are under. Great pick for a demagogue.Finally if Lincoln was to win. It would have been real sweet for the Obamas and I think the President himself would have delivered the award from Lincoln’s very old digs, in front of his portrait, and all the related theatricals. The President mentioned Abraham Lincoln as his role model many times and this would have been a perfect opportunity to “appropriate” that very eminent Republican President as his own model, once and for all.That night it was indeed the final coming out of the Obamas and Hollywood. Their tryst is now in the open, if it ever was a secret. Think of all they have in common: showmanship, great acting skills, masters of the make-believe, contempt and disregard for reality, selling dreams, and so on and so forth.At the age of 9, Quvenzhané Wallisof Beasts of the Southern Wild is the youngest ever nominee of the Academy Award for Best Actress. How on earth can an 85 year old seasoned ACADEMY do that? Isn’t it an insult to all hard working more senior, more experienced struggling actors who have to work all kinds of odd jobs to pay for their acting lessons? What message are they projecting? Is it another not so veiled indictment of the old adage “work hard to succeed”? What lesson for our young? What inspiration for deranged future school mass murderers in the audience?More than ever we MUST remind the honorable members of the Academy of Motion Pictures, because with their huge impact on worldwide audiences comes responsibility, that:Success only Preceeds Work in the Dictionary