February 29, 2016

The creepy spectacle of Hollywood actors laughing in their laughing-because-a-comedian-is-telling-jokes style while Chris Rock tells his you're-all-racists jokes.

Oh, they are actors! They're always acting, so sitting there in the fanciest costumes, playing stars at a gala event elevating and celebrating what their character believes is a very grand enterprise, they laughed on cue, presenting faces that seemed to understand what the joke was, but not to the point where they realize that the man on the stage — he's an actor too — is accusing them of participation in evil. Their character is a bit dumb and obtuse, or so earnest about making this gala night beautiful that she pretends not to know that this man is telling them all — in the nicest possible way, under the circumstances — that this enterprise of theirs is thoroughly infected with racism — not lynch-you-from-a-tree racism, not cross-burning-racism, but we'll-always-hold-you-at-arm's-length racism, "sorority" racism, we-like-you-but-you’re-not-a-Kappa racism.

They had to sit there. They'd gotten the role and they were lucky to have it. The evening was, perhaps, a success. Was it? The spectacle felt so awful to me, especially the faces of the actors laughing. What else could they do? Me, I was sitting at home, so I could just turn it off, which I did, after I found myself, one too many times, talking to the TV, saying things like "Look at them laughing as if these are just the usual jokes and the jokes aren't about them and telling them that they are disgusting" and "They're supposed to be demonstrating to us how wonderful they are, and Chris Rock is appropriating the event for something I don't need to watch. But what choice did he have?" and "If they're disgusting, they're disgusting, and why am I watching disgusting people chuckling inanely? This isn't the gala event it's supposed to be."

And now here's Rock saying "Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited." He's calling out Hollywood for racism. How can that work if he doesn't take the higher ground? Here he is gratuitously bringing in the name of a woman, referring not to her as a person, but to her undergarments, for a laugh not about racism, but all of a sudden about sexual intercourse, as if tonight's not the night to concern ourselves with sexism. Rihanna is the human being who's name was chosen to fit that analogy. Why? The joke is written so we'll get it. Rihanna was chosen because we're expected to recognize her as the person Chris Rock would want to have sex with. It's as clear an example of making a woman a sex object as you're going to find. Not only do we get it — because we understand the woman to be sex — but she's not even a woman, she's her panties.

And this is a role given to Rihanna because she was black. As with so many other parts in Hollywood, the role goes to the black person because it's a role that's written for a black person. Rock chose not to complicate the joke with a racial crosscurrent a black man wanting sex with a white woman. A black woman was needed for this cameo appearance — used to insult another black woman (Jada Pinkett) — and that was it for her. 

88 comments:

tim in vermont said...

Chris Rock killed it! I laughed so loud I couldn't believe it myself. My wife thought I was demented. I always knew Rock was smart, but wow.

I like Rock's idea of a separate category for black actors. "Best black friend" was his suggestion. I would suggest "Best black genius behind the technology in the plot."

From the guy who popped the locks in Die Hard to the guy alone in the office with obscure equations written all over his whiteboard in "The Martian."


rehajm said...

Walking Dead was really good last night- Maggie getting all bossy! Then Lauren Cohan was on Talking Dead afterwards.

A good night of television!

tim in vermont said...

Oh, and BTW, without her sex appeal, Rhianna would be just one more singer.

Sebastian said...

"Their character is a bit dumb . . . If they're disgusting, they're disgusting, and why am I watching disgusting people chuckling inanely" Faux shock, right? Sure, it's "dumb," as dumb as any other would-be morally superior Prog display of white self-flagellation. But it is also calculated: for Progs racial masochism is politically convenient, and the laughter-as-ersatz-confession is meant to keep the BLM wolves at bay.

Darrell said...

I would suggest "Best black genius behind the technology in the plot."

Peanut butter?

PB said...

The Oscars were on last night? I missed it. Again.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I thought he was blackmansplaining.

ThreeSheets said...

They can laugh because he means the 'other white people in Hollywood who are racist' not them! They're good liberals. The good ones.

tim maguire said...

Maybe Rock chose Rihanna because she's someone he wants to have sex with. Recognition of basic sexual urges is now sexist? He didn't reduce Rihanna to her panties, he made clear his desire to have sex with her without directly referring to sex. Not sophisticated, but certainly not "as clear an example of sexism as your going to get."

The rest was spot on. These people wear stupidity like armour. Which is for the best, if you don't want them all commit suicide from the inability to bear the self-knowledge.

Curious George said...

I thought the Oscar's were on a few weeks ago. Ricky Gervais?

Darrell said...

I thought the Oscar's were on a few weeks ago. Ricky Gervais?

That was the other fake shit.

Michael P said...

Oh? No mention of Chris Rock saying in essence, "We like you, Jada, but you're not a *movie* artiste"? And using that to make her the butt of a joke?

Limited blogger said...

I love Leo DiCaprio. His Howard Hughes portrayal was terrific. But, he won the Oscar? Was it when he pulled out the horse's innards and spent the rest of the winter inside the carcass? Guess he was due.

bleh said...

I thought it was rather tame, to be honest, and made to make the white liberal actors feel like they were applauding a righteous blow for racial justice. Rock was talking about faceless Hollywood businessmen, not good and decent people like DiCaprio.

There were no jokes that made the audience feel uncomfortable or offended. There were no groans, no stunned faces, no boos.

bleh said...

I was surprised at them using the black actress to stand in for the bear in that bit about how tough it is for black actors in Hollywood. Now THAT seemed racist to me.

Rusty said...

The foole speaks the truth and it makes people uncomfortable.
Win!

M Jordan said...

"They had to sit there. They had gotten he role and we're lucky to have it."

Now that's some fine writing, Professor.

Shouting Thomas said...

Thank God, I didn't watch. Haven't watched in years.

As is also true with feminists and gay activists, it's time to tell black race hustlers: "You've gotten all you're going to get. That's enough. Shut up. I won't listen, anyway."

Your post was fine, Althouse, until you brought in your own feminist bitch. That's been worn out for a long time, too. Stuff it. Do yourself, and everybody else, a favor and stop yakking about it. You're too rich, too secure and too pampered to be expressing anything but gratitude.

You are aware that Meade can't shut his own mouth and cease blabbing like a fool about racism, aren't you?

By the way, for the dense among us, I'm not expressing a bitch of my own for being white and male. I have and have always had a great life. I'm grateful. Thank you, God.

Brando said...

Sorry to hear Leo won the Oscar, not because he didn't deserve it (haven't seen the movie yet) but because his decades-long stretch of only taking Oscar-caliber roles (never been in a rom-com or cheezy action film) and still falling short is fascinating to watch. The streak was more notable than actually breaking it. But I'm sure he feels differently!

This whole "why aren't blacks getting better roles" thing deserves some thought, because it makes sense to me that Hollywood execs, for all their preening about liberalism, are ultimately risk averse and money-focused and have convinced themselves that the movie going public is too bigoted to see movies with blacks in starring roles (with very few exceptions). And I think it might have been Maher or someone who suggested the foreign markets (more important now than ever) really don't care to see blacks in movies. The other thing going on here is that oversensitive Hollywood execs are afraid to give blacks certain roles out of fear they will look racist--don't make a black man a criminal or antagonist, and yet those roles are often the more challenging and notable. So they give blacks these bland, good-guy roles thinking they are pushing a positive black image, when it means basically limiting the roles that get an actor noticed. Both theories fit because of Hollywood's risk-averse leftism and risk-averse money grubbing.

The solution for black actors/directors is the same as for anyone else tired of tentpole trash--the independent route. It's one of the few vehicles for originality anyway, and eventually it gets noticed. The big studios are due for a crash anyway.

rhhardin said...

I'll wait for the red carpet nipple photographs.

David Begley said...

The Girl Scouts selling cookies to the audience were the big winners. I'm sure they got in twenty and hundred dollar bills.

M Jordan said...

Eric Holder said we need a conversation in Ameruca about race. We're cowards, right? Well, maybe we're about to have it. Chris Rock and white actors had it last night. It went like this:

Rock: I'm black, you're white, shut up.

Actors: clap, clap, clap.

Rock: You're racists.

Actors: laugh clap clap clap!

Rock: okay, now it's your turn.

Actors: *crickets*


And now it appears the silent media-ajority are egging Donald Trump into this "conversation." Guess what? Donald doesn't do clap clap clap. Things are about to get real.

rhhardin said...

I've reached the DVD ordering level, in the search for decent romantic comedies or even action films where some reluctant girl winds up with a guy that she turns out to click with, where they'reabout half bail-out-early films. This is at the point of increasing DVD cost, too.

Simon Pegg turns out to be pretty consistently amusing, among actors I'd never heard of.

Avoid Gene Hackman. The acting is okay but the scripts are low budget awful.

Also avoid any romcom with a prom in it.

tim in vermont said...

I can't help but think the reason it made Althouse squirm was that she identifies with all of the cossetted white liberals with the "bast of intentions" that Rock was skewering. I have no such problem. I know that I am not of the elite with my stock a cross between hillbillies and a war bride, constant object of derision by the movies, TV, the news, you name it. But when making fun of liberals, it must be done with Portlandia like love and understanding! It's Lèse majesté fer Christ sakes!

Tank said...

Chris Rock did a Comedians in Cars with Seinfeld. They're both sitting in a café ... having coffee - duh ... and Seinfeld starts to talk about how he has the marriage thing figured out. They look over their shoulders and there are two reasonably attractive women having lunch. Chris and Jerry joke about how you could just plug those two in, marry them, it's fine. Interchangeable.

See, that was sexist. Objectifying. But funny, because there's a just enough truth there.

===================================

As to last night, I wandered into the TV room where Mrs. Tank was watching on my way up to bed just as the one movie we saw this year, Inside Out, won. Yay. As to the racial stuff, whatever, just a standard benefit of diversity, never ending tension between groups. Black black blah black blah whatever.

=========================================

This morning I checked the paper (yes I get a "paper") to see some of the gowns and make fun of them. They seem to always make attractive (some very attractive) women look awful. Gotta admit, the gowns were pretty OK this year. Not bad.

tim in vermont said...

The streak was more notable than actually breaking it. But I'm sure he feels differently!

I feel the same way about Philip Roth and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

rhhardin said...

Eagle vs Shark is good. Give it a day after watching and then think back over it.

Favorite retroactive moment/fact: a New Zealander telling a joke in an Australian accent for comic effect.

Tank said...

Steve Sailer (who else?) pointed out the hate fact that black actors and actresses have received nominations and victories in just about their proportion to the population over the past _________ (I forgot how many) years.

So, really just another hoax, like hands up and Trayvon the baby teen.

What would have been brave last night is if someone had pointed out the above hate fact. That would be brave.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"The best part of the Obama era is all the racial healing."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I didn't watch. Proud to say I have NOT set foot in a theater in years. I detest Hollywood.
These self-congratulatory parade of wealthy socialist hypocrites and ivory tower fools... I laugh at them. You cannot turn on the TV without seeing a silly glittering award ceremony. I used to like watching the Oscars. It was special. Now there are so many hollywood award shows, it's all watered-down pop-culture nonsense.

robother said...

Shtick is shtick. Racism, War on Women, Global warming, Feel the Bern, whatever.

Most of these folks are actors, writers, directors, technicians who have had to virtue signal from day one if they wanted a career in Hollywood. Everyone puts on the Liberal persona (method actors even internalize it) to get the gig, they all know how the game is played, and most of them (outside the writers) probably have a pretty cynical take on it.

There's no business like show business.

Bob Ellison said...

13% of the population doesn't get 50% of the spots in a circle-jerk. Film at 11.

tim in vermont said...

Favorite retroactive moment/fact: a New Zealander telling a joke in an Australian accent for comic effect

You can easily spot the difference, the Kiwi says "Fush and Chups" and the Ozzie says "Feesh and Cheeps." A more subtle one is "kill," since the Kiwi says "kull" as in "kull the koalas." Or did he say "cull"? I don't know!

MayBee said...

I wonder why nobody was outraged for the hispanic and asian actors who didn't get nominated.

MayBee said...

Chris Rock was funny to me.

Biden talking about the fake campus rape campus and the audience applauding madly for GaGa singing the song from the movie about the fake campus rape crisis actually enraged me.
Then Leo talked about Climate Change.

These people are such dupes.

Brando said...

"Eric Holder said we need a conversation in Ameruca about race. We're cowards, right? Well, maybe we're about to have it. Chris Rock and white actors had it last night"

Well, that's what they mean by "conversation". An actual conversation might enable different arguments and examining facts.

"I wonder why nobody was outraged for the hispanic and asian actors who didn't get nominated."

Hell, I'm still waiting for Hollywood to come up with roles for Italian Americans that aren't (1) nasty villain or (2) dumb lovable moron.

"I didn't watch. Proud to say I have NOT set foot in a theater in years."

Netflix killed movie theaters for me. It's much easier to turn off a dvd or cut off a stream than to leave a theater, drive home, and wonder why you just wasted $20.

"What would have been brave last night is if someone had pointed out the above hate fact. That would be brave."

Save that for an actual conversation. Not the "conversation" the racialist left seems to be having with itself.

traditionalguy said...

This all seems so irrelevant that all actors have not become equally rich and famous, or something. Don't cry for me Los Angeles.

But the Best Movie Oscar was given to the Boston Globe for exposing the Catholic Church method of covering up all things.

I blame the Internet Blogs for this eruption of intelligent analysis that is exposing everything.

Jupiter said...

tim in vermont said...
"Oh, and BTW, without her sex appeal, Rhianna would be just one more singer."

Interesting you should say that. I always thought that given her complete lack of talent, her apparent success would be a lot easier to understand if she were at least marginally attractive.

Fernandinande said...

in the nicest possible way, under the circumstances — that this enterprise of theirs is thoroughly infected with racism

Thanks to racists like Chris Rock and his fellow travelers.

"In fact, as our analysis of film casts and awards shows, the number of black actors winning Oscars in this century has been pretty much in line with the size of America's overall black population. But this does not mean Hollywood has no problems of prejudice. As the data show, it clearly does."

The latter part of the statement is false, but refers to the supposed under-representation of Asians and Mestizos.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jupiter said...

"Black performers, he said, had been overlooked in decades past, but “we were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.”

In fact, the FBI statistics show that in America, blacks are far more busy raping than being raped. And they also do a lot more than their share of the murdering, although most of their victims are also blacks. I guess it's kind of hard to find a joke in that.
"We don't really care if we don't win any prizes for entertaining, we's too busy rapin' and killin' an' shit!".

AlbertAnonymous said...

I was talking back to the TV the whole time. Can't believe it's ok to spew racist/sexist jokes (none of which were actually funny) while complaining about racism in Hollywood. What did the kappa sorority ever do to Chris Rock and why is it ok for him to imply racism on the part of the Kappas?

And what was the joke about PWC doing the tabulations, and out walk children (what are we now? Child labor slavedrivers too?). And the kids are two Asian boys (what, only Asians can do math and count votes?) and the names he used were stereotypically Asian and a very Jewish sounding name. So he can bash Jews too?

Sorry, I think the whole thing sucked. Millionaires complaining about the industry that made them.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Thank you all for being here, you all look good, expensive-good. You know: white-people bling. Some nice spray tans I'm seeing, too, but people: do you go orange to avoid going brown? Is that the deal? If black people start spraying themselves orange will you start giving them a job then...?

Here's the deal, white people. Where the fuck is Will Smith? He had a movie, a serious movie, but I don't see him nominated. You can't even give Will a token Oscar like you did Denzel? He even did an accent -- you white actors are BIG on accents, right? -- that's serious ACTING, real Meryl Streep shit. So Will even does The Accent and you still can't give him any love...?

Look, I'll explain it to you. Will is the black people's Tom Hanks: we root for him in anything he does. And Tom, he gets Oscars for everything, because, well, Tom Hanks is the White People's Tom Hanks. See where I am going with this...?

And what is it with the technical awards? Editing, sound effects, special effects: how is it that everyone who wins these awards is white? Is there not a single brother at a computer making things blow up and shit? I get it: if a black guy is at a computer he better be programming some dope beats, am I right...?

And you're all laughing, like it's not you I am talking about. here's the deal, people: it IS you. None of you are ready to give up your fancy seat to Rosa Parks, not one...

How about we try this: White Hollywood -- Boycott Yourselves. I'm serious: boycott your own asses. Leave the movies alone for a year, you can come back in 2017. Let's let some others make some of the films this year. Will Smith can take on whatever shit Matt Damon was going to do, Forrest Whittaker can take the DeNiro parts -- you feel me...?

I am Laslo.

David said...

It was sort of a reverse minstrel show. Rock can't come on the stage in whiteface, so a white coat had to suffice. Then he told jokes any white liberal comedian could have told insulting the white audience who had to play along like a group of happy darkies singing stevedore songs down at the docks on the river.

And they kept Rock off stage for most of the actual awards. Bob Hope would never have stood for that. Maybe that's in the interest of time but eliminate one of the second rate musical productions and you have made up for all of that.

Gosling and Crowe acted like a couple of turds and I don't think they were in character. Somewhere Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott are saying "that was so gay" and having a great chuckle.

Otto said...

One of the cornerstones of Hollywood's success and continued success is the panty. AA your kidding yourself if you don't realize that is what your father was interested in with that ubiquitous playhouse magazine on the coffee table. He was just more overt than the rest of us. Life is unfair - no utopia here.

FullMoon said...

AA says".....Rihanna was chosen because we're expected to recognize her as the person Chris Rock would want to have sex with. It's as clear an example of making a woman a sex object as you're going to find. Not only do we get it — because we understand the woman to be sex — but she's not even a woman, she's her panties.

Saw a vid of a Muslim rapist bragging how he and six others raping a girl. Asshole exclaims, "It was a virgin".
It.
It.
It.

Original Mike said...

"Interesting you should say that. I always thought that given her complete lack of talent, her apparent success would be a lot easier to understand if she were at least marginally attractive."

OK, now I have to google "Rihanna" to find out who she is.

[google][google][google]. Huh? She's attractive enough. BTW, the google doodle today is pretty cute.

damikesc said...

Professor, Rihanna wasn't chosen because she was black. She was chosen because she's hot.

This whole "why aren't blacks getting better roles" thing deserves some thought, because it makes sense to me that Hollywood execs, for all their preening about liberalism, are ultimately risk averse and money-focused and have convinced themselves that the movie going public is too bigoted to see movies with blacks in starring roles (with very few exceptions). And I think it might have been Maher or someone who suggested the foreign markets (more important now than ever) really don't care to see blacks in movies. The other thing going on here is that oversensitive Hollywood execs are afraid to give blacks certain roles out of fear they will look racist--don't make a black man a criminal or antagonist, and yet those roles are often the more challenging and notable. So they give blacks these bland, good-guy roles thinking they are pushing a positive black image, when it means basically limiting the roles that get an actor noticed. Both theories fit because of Hollywood's risk-averse leftism and risk-averse money grubbing.

I've always heard it was foreign markets (guess what, Asian markets don't give two shits about black actors and they don't tend to put asses in seats there) that "limited" black actors big roles. The roles are a problem --- as somebody once said, a black "Seinfeld" would be impossible because it there'd be protests on how racist it would be.

Until a minority is willing to play an outright loathsome individual with no redeeming qualities, their options are limited.

The solution for black actors/directors is the same as for anyone else tired of tentpole trash--the independent route. It's one of the few vehicles for originality anyway, and eventually it gets noticed. The big studios are due for a crash anyway.

Comic books cannot keep Hollywood afloat forever. They had decades to make some good stories --- but they also made some ABYSMAL stories and they've generated pure crap for years. Hollywood will eventually blow through the good comic book stories and we'll be left with...well, not much.

Hell, I'm still waiting for Hollywood to come up with roles for Italian Americans that aren't (1) nasty villain or (2) dumb lovable moron.

I actually managed to turn my ex-fiancée against her love for Pesci by noting that his roles are incredibly demeaning to Italians like her. The one time I intentionally tried to manipulate somebody and it worked rather well.

Michael K said...

"The Oscars were on last night? I missed it. Again."

Me too. My wife watched in the other room. "Pawn Stars" was pretty good last night.

Gahrie said...

It's as clear an example of making a woman a sex object as you're going to find.

Brings to mind the classic:

Q. how many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A. That's not funny!

Perhaps the biggest sin of the SJW crowd is the joyless scolding they constantly give out....sometimes a joke is just a joke.

Bob Ellison said...

Gahrie: how many socialists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: None. Socialists know that each light bulb contains within it the seeds of its own revolution.

Bob Ellison said...

...and I can't resist asking: how many mice?

Fen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fen said...

Best Magic Negro award.

Lately it seems almost every show I watch has a black person playing the role of the noble savage, a sidekick that imparts wisdom and guidance to the white protagonist.

Or, like with Law & Order, the satellite characters will be black. Need a police chief who gets 3 mins of screen time, lets make him black to show how "enlightened" we are (instead of giving him the prime role). And I can't count how many shows use the token black for an anonymous president who has 3 lines the entire script.

As others have said, affirmative action in entertainment media has limited blacks to special roles. Its like those Home Security commercials - the crimes are disproportionately committed by young black men, so we must have a white guy play the perp so we don't reinforce "stereotypes"

Clayton Hennesey said...

I watched it, and, to me, it seemed entirely as if it could have been produced by AI, like a SkyNet. All the people were human, sure, but the overall production, including all of the dialogue, appeared to me to be entirely computer generated. I guess that makes me some kind of -ist.

RBE said...

Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an award for the documentary "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness". It is a documentary about honor killing in Pakistan. Her speech was very good and worth hearing. I fast forwarded through much of the ceremony but listened to this part and now I want to see the move...so the evening was not a total time waste for me.

Bob Ellison said...

Crap. Now my brain is stuck in joke mode.

Guy gets thrown in prison. At the chow hall, other guys stand up and shout numbers. "43!" Big laugh. "85!" Another big laugh.

Guy asks the guy next to him what's up. "We know all the jokes, since we get no new material, so we just call 'em out by number."

Guy tries it out. "17!" Crickets.

Guy next to him stands up and shouts, "17!" Big laugh.

"It's all in the delivery."

JAORE said...

"Their character is a bit dumb and obtuse...."

Why do you think it is just a role they are playing? Have you heard most of these people without a script?

jaydub said...

Darn, I just realized I missed the oscars for the 32 straight year. Pity!

Fernandinande said...

jaydub said...
Darn, I just realized I missed the oscars for the 32 straight year. Pity!


I've never missed the Oscars, I've just never seen them.

Birches said...

Chris Rock did a Comedians in Cars with Seinfeld.

My favorite part of that episode is when the cop stops them and Chris Rock gets genuinely nervous and scared. Jerry doesn't have a care in the world. Black men in nice cars genuinely worry about what the cops might do. It's a fact. But it's not just a black thing; young, white men who look trashy also have that same fear. I recognized it when I saw it, because my spouse gets like that when the cops come around. It's a leftover from his teenage days.

Skeptical Voter said...

Obviously our host watched the Oscars. There are some things that a self respecting person is reluctant to do--and that includes watching the Oscars. Thank you for your service as it were Ms. Althouse.

OTOH I continued my now 25 year long boycott of the Oscars. And it would have been longer than that but for the fact that for a while I felt constrained to spend some time with my wife and daughters as they watched the show--while I read a book. But I wised up and simply spent the evening in another room after that.

William said...

I haven't watched the Oscars in years, but I do like to read about them afterwards. It's not the Super Bowl, but it's not without interest. .........Wasn't Rihanna the girl who got beat up pretty bad by her boyfriend, Chris Brown. Here's a woman with fame, good looks, and lots of money who chooses a boyfriend who slaps her around. Black people can make bad decisions, and those bad decisions have nothing to do with racism.

CatherineM said...

Tank - I have seen that episode of Comedians in Cars with Chris Rock more than once and I don't remember that part you are referring to in the episode. They speak of having to make "that call." Even Prince, Chris said, during a night out excused himself and said, "Gorbto make that call," and Prince had the most average husband checking in with his wife call. There wasn't anything in there where Jerry or Chris says that women are interchangeable.

Michael K said...

"the crimes are disproportionately committed by young black men, so we must have a white guy play the perp so we don't reinforce "stereotypes"

That reminds me of what Hollywood did with Tom Clancy's novel, "Sum of all Fears."

The novel, which was excellent, had Palestinians building a hydrogen bomb and setting it off at the Super Bowl. Clancy did a great job on the details.

Then Hollywood made a movie of it and the villains could not be Muslims so they were South African racists.

William said...

Hugh Grant is to rom coms as Olivier is to Shakespeare. The fact that he apparently has a thing for discount street hookers only adds poignancy to his performances...,,,If Jane Austen had been a black writer, there be would very many more parts for black actors. So far as I can remember, she doesn't have a single black person in any of her books. For that matter, I can't recall any servants with speaking parts in any of her novels. Boycott Jane Austen.

Tank said...

CatherineM said...

Tank - I have seen that episode of Comedians in Cars with Chris Rock more than once and I don't remember that part you are referring to in the episode. They speak of having to make "that call." Even Prince, Chris said, during a night out excused himself and said, "Gorbto make that call," and Prince had the most average husband checking in with his wife call. There wasn't anything in there where Jerry or Chris says that women are interchangeable.


They did not actually say they were interchangeable. I said that. But that was the point they were making. Watch it again, you'll see.

Ann Althouse said...

"Obviously our host watched the Oscars. There are some things that a self respecting person is reluctant to do--and that includes watching the Oscars. Thank you for your service as it were Ms. Althouse."

I watched until I turned it off, which was early.

Mostly what was on the TV last night was the basketball game.

Stan Smith said...

The most telling portion of the show was the "man/woman in the street" interviews with folks purportedly from Compton. Most hadn't seen any of the nominated movies, had never heard of the actors involved. Perhaps this is why no black actors are nominated for Oscar roles? Because mostly they're appearing in Wayans brothers movies or "Medea Does Hollywood"?

Darcy said...

Rock did a great job. Expertly skewered both the actors attending and those boycotting. Making liberal viewers uncomfortable is just icing on the cake.

Love Chris Rock. He gets it.

Anonymous said...

"...But the Best Movie Oscar was given to the Boston Globe for exposing the Catholic Church method of covering up all things. ...."

What you will never see is a movie about how Hollywood uses little boys and girls to this day and probably at some of the Oscar after-parties last night.

The same people that made 'Spotlight' think Polanksi ought to be pardoned.

tim in vermont said...

When Hollywood served a black audience, it was called "Blacksploitation."

Birkel said...

Remember in years past when people actually saw the movies that were nominated?

Todd said...

Don't forget, those poor, struggling "artists" that attended the Oscar awards each received a $232,000 Oscar “gift bag” that requires multiple suitcases to deliver.

Their "one night" attendance gift is worth more than most Americans (and about what 95% of the rest of the world) make in a year.

Don't get me wrong. Find for them. One has an obligation to get what one can, while they can - legally. What does get me is the choking clouds of "smug" that this group emits. They decry global warming while jetting off here and there. They cry black lives matter while having an "oscar so white". They promote public education while sending their kids to private schools. They denounce guns while safely behind their armed guards and gated communities. They feel that because they play a character that is a scientist or a economist or a politician or a genius that they are what they play and that we should all fall down before the golden words that drip from their mouths whereas the truth of it is that actors are paid to lie and pretend. No more and no less. They are paid to convince others that they are something they are not. Their words should carry no more weight than that.

Robert Cook said...

Here's a post-Oscars critique of this year's "Best Film" Winner that goes beyond discussing aesthetics or "artistic achievement."

Robert Cook said...

"Don't forget, those poor, struggling 'artists' that attended the Oscar awards each received a $232,000 Oscar 'gift bag'...."

When I saw that value attached to these bags I had two immediate thoughts: the first was just what you point out:

"Their 'one night' attendance gift is worth more than most Americans (and about what 95% of the rest of the world) make in a year."

The second one was a question: do they declare the value of these gift bags on their income taxes? (I'm not wondering if they should,legally, I'm wondering if they do.)

Fred Drinkwater said...

Lars :
I heard the words "Pope" and "Spotlight" leaking in from the family room, and wondered how many years it will be before a film about Rotherham is made.

Birches said...

That is such an interesting read Robert Cook. I'd read the article in the WSJ about MacRae and it was awful.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, I preferred to watch, for the fourth or fifth time, "Buckaroo Banzai," which was playing on a channel devoted to old sci-fi and horror shows.

@Cookie, thank you for the link. Horrific story, but not the way that liberals intended.

Fabi said...

The recipients incur the accompanying tax liability for the value of those 'bags', Robert Cook. They receive something similar to a 1099 and the IRS gets a copy.

Bilwick said...

So what is Hollywood going to do now? Institute a kind of Affirmative Action or quota in the Oscar nominating process? "Okay, Tyler Perry wasn't all that great in MADEA SHOOTS A COP, but we've got five white-guy candidates for Best Actor and we need a black guy, so we'll nominate him!" Weird.

Fabi said...

Damn that was an impressive link -- thanks, Cookie! Aside from the story itself, the author had a command of the language that is quite uncommon.

JaimeRoberto said...

More special categories for black actors: Best Black Actress in the Role of Female Judge and Best Numinous Negro (as Rush once called it). The latter award would become the Morgan Freeman Perpetual Award.

SaysMeow said...

William at 10:46 says
"For that matter, I can't recall any servants with speaking parts in any of her novels. Boycott Jane Austen."

Now hold on. In chapter 49 of Pride and Prejudice, housekeeper Mrs. Hill gets THREE sentences in direct quotation. Buy more Austen!

Anonymous said...

Chris Rock chose Rihanna because if he had said Beyonce, Jay Z would have had him whacked.

jr565 said...

Tim in vermont wrote:Chris Rock killed it! I laughed so loud I couldn't believe it myself. My wife thought I was demented. I always knew Rock was smart, but wow.

I like Rock's idea of a separate category for black actors. "Best black friend" was his suggestion. I would suggest "Best black genius behind the technology in the plot."

that is almost what oscars so white is asking for. They seem to want a token black award. They don't grasp the idea that if you have a voting process where you choose actors and that nomination is determined by who gets the most votes, then whoever gets the most votes wins regardless of their race. That apparently is racism. And lack of opportunity.

jr565 said...

BDNYC wrote:
I thought it was rather tame, to be honest, and made to make the white liberal actors feel like they were applauding a righteous blow for racial justice. Rock was talking about faceless Hollywood businessmen, not good and decent people like DiCaprio.

There were no jokes that made the audience feel uncomfortable or offended. There were no groans, no stunned faces, no boos.

and this actually highlights the complete hypocrisy and logical confusion that is Oscar So White. Because they are arguing as if not winning an Oscar nomination somehow means blacks lacked opportunities to act this year. It was faceless Hollywood business men though that HIRE black actors. Which was done plenty of times. All those black actors they thought SHOULD have gotten the awards were hired. Who voted on who was to be nominated? All the people sitting in the room laughing at the jokes.
So, it's actually scapegoating the people that DID provide the opportunity, and not addressing those that DIDNT vote for black people to be nominated. The usual straw man.

Not that those voting for best actor Needed to vote for a black actor.

Gusty Winds said...

Everyone in the Hollywood audience was comforted knowing that Chris Rock was talking about the liberal white person sitting in the other seats; not mine.