@IchiBen! said: I'm all for making political statements at these types of Shows, but the decisions should have nothing to do with that!

Really? What does a award show have to do with politics? If you want to make a political statement, why not do it in your movie?

Why not do both? Some issues deserve to be spoken out on a huge platform, like the Oscars.

Why both? It's an AWARD show. It's not a platform for political statements, it's to show appreciation for the talents and efforts of those in the industry. They're not politicians. And how convenient none of us can say anything back. How about if I'm going to make political statements at a meeting or presentation at my work? My boss or colleagues won't be happy with that. And let's be real, someone expressing support for the current president is a political statement that would not be accepted by those applauding Meryl Streep's statements.

I stand by my statement that some things need to be said and cannot be said enough. Of course I don't mean that every Oscar winner should enter the stage and hold a rant against or for whatever it is they got on their agenda at that time. Calling out/critisizing Trump however is not a political view but a necessity!

But anyway, that was just a small point in my statement and not what I came here to talk about.

Absolutely ridiculous. There's a right place and a right time for everything. A movie industry award show is not the appropriate moment to express your political views. I doubt you would've agreed with anyone calling out Obama, even if they felt it was a "necessity".

@Stratego! said:

Absolutely ridiculous. There's a right place and a right time for everything. A movie industry award show is not the appropriate moment to express your political views. I doubt you would've agreed with anyone calling out Obama, even if they felt it was a "necessity".

Yeah, well, there is a source of misunderstanding. There is such thing as stating political views. I would agree, not really necessary at an award show.

And then there's showing solidarity with people who are oppressed, attacked, locked up, persecuted or killed by politicians. Obama also did that with his drone wars. This should have been addressed. Trump is doing this with his "Muslim ban" and his wall or whatever. And he continues to bomb innocents, naturally. So I think it's right to speak out against Trump, because it shows solidarity. But this also should have happened when Obama broke international law.

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

It's interesting that celebrities use these award shows to get on their political soapbox. They're so far removed from the average Joe's way of life I doubt they can even really empathize (although those people are the ones putting caviar on their $20,000 table). But somehow they think they speak for them (or do they even think that?). It really is a fascinating sign of privilege to be able to make political statements at an exclusive circle jerk in a dress that costs thousands of dollars. And then to be declared brave...

The people who are really struggling don't even have much time to research and express their views on politics, let alone the voice ... yet they are the ones the policies affect most.

@Stratego! said:

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

@SunParakeet said:

@Stratego! said:

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

Interesting way to put it, "waste of privilege". I didn't think of it like that.

@Lilith said:

@SunParakeet said:

@Stratego! said:

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

Interesting way to put it, "waste of privilege". I didn't think of it like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHnjlQC6Puw

@Megumi_Pants said:

@Lilith said:

@SunParakeet said:

@Stratego! said:

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

Interesting way to put it, "waste of privilege". I didn't think of it like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHnjlQC6Puw

Yeah, well, and now what? You all think you're so smart, because you point out that rich people are shitty. Guess what? We all know that. Yes, every rich person on this earth could do more, even Bill Gates could do more. Every middle class person could do more. Congratulations for pointing out the obvious.

But that does not shorten the influence tweets or speeches can have.

@SunParakeet said:

@Megumi_Pants said:

@Lilith said:

@SunParakeet said:

@Stratego! said:

@SunParakeet

No, that's also a political statement and does not belong at an award show. Wishing for peace on earth, fine, but addressing a specific policy of the government, that's political . I absolutely opposed the war in Iraq, but I did not take it to work.

Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

Interesting way to put it, "waste of privilege". I didn't think of it like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHnjlQC6Puw

Yeah, well, and now what? You all think you're so smart, because you point out that rich people are shitty. Guess what? We all know that. Yes, every rich person on this earth could do more, even Bill Gates could do more. Every middle class person could do more. Congratulations for pointing out the obvious.

But that does not shorten the influence tweets or speeches can have.

I don't want them to do more. I just think a little perspective is in order. Especially when a billionaire is telling regular people to do more with their limited resources. Everyone is free to say, not say; do or not do whatever they want in my book. However, the extremely wealthy are not regular people with regular concerns, at least not anymore.

I actually have no problem with the wealthy. They play their game and we play our games. Just keep in mind that they are completely different games.

@SunParakeet said: Well, I find that quite problematic. Millions of people are watching the Academy Awards each year. There are many people who are very influential. I think it would be a waste of privilege to not address certain issues. It's not really comparable with a "normal" job.

Even if it's not a "normal" job, it's not a political job. They're just reciting lines pretending to be someone they're not. Why should they have a privilige the rest of us don't have? They can support political and social causes the same way we do. Would people really have felt the same way if there had been a celebrity on stage calling out pro-choice organizations?

I just finished watching Moonlight. I thought it was Oscar worthy, as were much of the nominated movies. Of those Hell or High Water was my favorite. Having said that I thought the whole year was about B+/A- movies. The ones that dominated awards season were good enough, except in my opinion, La La Land. I wasn't a fan. But had any of these films gone against some of the great movies from other years I think they would have lost.

But more particularly, this was a new Academy with a lot of new members. We're ten years on from Crash vs. Brokeback Mountain. I could see people wanting to vote for Moonlight to make a statement that we're not back in those dark ages anymore. But I'm sure plenty of people thought that it truly was best.