“Portraying a complex queer man could hurt our brand, better hire a serial rapist and internationally known abuser to tell our sanitized story!”
This is where I'm at. The people actually making this fucked up industry what it is are largely nameless.
Not defending the movie because I haven't seen it, but I disagree that it isn't a movie relevant to todays audiences based on how it's performed and is being ranked on multiple movie rating sties. 8.3 on IMDB, 93% liked and a 4.4 avg on rotten tomatoes, a high cinema score (A+ at one point), and a $70million gross so far, all indicate that there was interest in the film. And you know, also the Oscar win.
Yeah, this forum and most the reactions like that on Twitter are in the minority of moviegoers it seems. I mean, Bohemian Rhapsody made near a billion dollars.
Yep. And I'm positive the vast majority of those people couldn't name Farrelly/Singer in the first place, much less know the shitty things either of them have done.
Green Book is a great movie about racism for your grandparents. It's basic "we're all the same" message is easily digested (because there's nothing to actually think about or feel) and it's great because it's a story about a black man but the main character is a racist white guy.
Green Book looked like cheesy Oscar bait when I first heard of it however long ago when the trailer came out. There's tons of those every year and unfortunately they typically do well during awards season. Blah, whatever, all awards shows are shit and a complete waste of time.
Melissa Etheridge Prepping Musical ‘Mystic Pizza’ For Stage Delivery That's actually happening by the way
It's interesting seeing a bunch of people relate to & celebrate Rami Malek who are also aware of all the Singer nonsense. Like, there's not a more (for lack of a less lame word) "woke" person in the industry than Lexi Alexander, but she was still celebrating his victory. Life is complex enough to still be happy about that win within the trash, in spite of the trash.
My mother today asked me about the movie. Knowing her taste, I said "it is an awful movie, you'll like it".
Adam Lambert should not be doing Queen songs. Dude has a great voice and it's obviously impossible to perform in the shadow of Freddie Mercury, but yea he does not do the songs any justice. That's my take away from the Oscars. Thanks for your time.
Sorry, but when Rami’s response to being asked about the allegations is this nonsense milquetoast word soup I’m not gonna celebrate him.
I wasn't suggesting that you or anyone else needs to celebrate him specifically in this situation. I'm merely commenting on the messiness of his win, how it's a loss (because of the whole Singer thing that Hollywood refuses to come to terms with) that carried with it something that's genuinely inspiring for a lot of people. I used the Lexi Alexander example because she's so very vocal about Hollywood injustice, maybe more than anyone else I've known of. She hasn't been subtle about her thoughts on specifically Singer. But, she was still retweeting people who were happy about his win, and also calling out those who were questioning his MENA (specifically Coptic) identity (saying she hopes people remember she's Palestinian when she dies). Audrey Assad, a Christian songwriter & justice advocate born of a Syrian refugee, also was surprised by how moved she was, while saying she hasn't seen the film & acknowledging its issues. Some MENA political accounts I follow has similar responses. Ankle-deep identity politics divorced from actual meaningful ideology isn't good. And yet, there is still an honest, human response when people from underrepresented, marginalized demographics get to see themselves in something like the Oscars. And, I think that's worth acknowledging without erasing how Rami Malek was bad. I'm alright with the complex reality where I can both wish nothing about that film had even been nominated (or profitable, or made for that matter) & have joy at what these people are feeling.
An entire aspect of the film’s problematic nature that we haven’t discussed much here but I’ve seen called out other places is that they completely gloss over his personal heritage and history as another example of their sanitization and erasure of who he was. It’s another in the long list of shames that they didn’t go into how his background helped shaped him as much as anything else did and let those people who are excited for his win be truly seen in the blockbuster itself. Also literally no one has said that people can’t be happy to see themselves represented at awards, that’s not what any of the criticism has been about.
They had a big Queen medley opening number but didn't set aside time for the song from Black Panther--that was actually nominated--to be performed, and they still went over time. Of course Green Book won.