Bonus 6 - The Oscars: Art vs. Pervert by JJ Leath

             Hollywood has been in a freefall recently. Star after star has been falling into disgrace. Extremely talented and loved stars like Louis C.K. have been taken off their pedestal. A question arises: is this how we should react to this? Should James Franco be rejected a nomination because of allegations? Should Kevin Spacey be completely erased from a movie? I personally think that stars who do despicable things should fall from grace. I believe that as a society we have a responsibility to monitor those who represent us globally and eventually historically.

I think that as a society we should scrutinize the people that we glorify. We have to decide what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is unacceptable, and if we don’t hold celebrities to that standard, we are condoning that behavior. Our celebrities represent the culture popular right now. Do we really want rapists and abusers as our representatives? If we are really progressing as a society, there should be no room for people like Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski in our spotlight. Is this policing art? Are we denying their talent? I don’t think we are. I don’t think anyone would suggest The Pianist isn’t a remarkable film or Pulp Fiction isn’t groundbreaking. The point isn’t to pretend like these individuals aren’t talented, the point is to take a stand and say that, as a society, we don’t accept their behavior and therefor won’t give them a platform.

A good metaphor, in my opinion, is if we as citizens of Earth wanted to award the most talented leader of the 1900s. Would we want to award Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin? No, we don’t want them representing us as humans because of the atrocities they did. No one would suggest they weren’t effective leaders, but that isn’t the point. The point is to award someone who we would want future leaders to emulate. We would award Churchill or Roosevelt. Now, many would say that this we are awarding those who conform to the current society’s ethical code. I would agree with that, and I would argue that this is the point. When history looks back upon who we uplifted, they should embody what we as a society deemed desirable. If we uplift Polanski, we uplift a rapist, and we give future directors a director to emulate and future societies an example of the citizens we found truly remarkable.

Now, there are issues with my position that I acknowledge. First, there is an issue with crucifying people over allegations. James Franco likely did not get a nomination over allegations. He has not been convicted of anything, and regardless of how likely the allegations are to be true, we do live in a society that you are innocent until proven guilty. If lives are destroyed over allegations, we can create a witch hunt. Further, allegations could become weapons. If I’m an actor who is going after the same part as another actor, I could just pay someone to make allegations and their career would be in shambles until they were able to clear it up. By the time they cleaned up the mess, the movie would have probably already been shot as me as the lead actor. This is a serious issue.

While there are issues with allowing stars to fall from grace after they are found to do unacceptable behavior, I think that it is our best choice with how to deal with this. It isn’t about policing art; the point is to have a standard for those we glorify. We have future generations and the portrayal of our society to think about.

Bonus #6 Sexual Allegations and Success -- Kathleen Paxtor

When it comes to the Oscar nominations of known sexual offenders, I think that the boundaries are really blurred for people. It is hard for some people to separate the artist’s work from the actual artist’s persona. Personally, I believe that there are certain lines that one should not cross as a person and especially not be rewarded for committing crimes. When a ‘regular’, everyday person commits sexual crimes they are charged and sentenced so why should it be any different with someone who has money and success? If the allegations against Roman Polinski were committed by anyone else they would have been immediately imprisoned (for the minimum of 7 years) and their reputation tarnished. So why isn’t this the case for Roman Polinski? He remains being rewarded for his artistic visions and is still a member of the Academy even with the multiple molestation and rape accusations against him. Roman Polinski the director is the same person as Roman Polinski the child rapist. The artist’s vision and the artist themselves are the same person; their minds are one—one mind that is creatively talented but at the same time sexually sadistic.

Being successful should not overrule the crimes they have committed but unfortunately these crimes are overlooked quite often. With this new, uplifting #MeToo movement (women come out and openly admit they have been sexually abused and supported each other) has brought down many famous people but at the same time has reprimanded the women coming out. Unfortunately, for the famous person it only brings them bad media for a couple of days then nothing else happens. This goes beyond the Oscars and into Hollywood in general. For example, Ed Westwick (who played my favorite character on Gossip Girl, Chuck) had been accused with sexual allegations and for like one week it had gone viral but until this day there has been no actions taken against him. On the contrary, Hayley Freedman (the girl who accused Westwick), was the one that got a backlash. She had cofounded a business and her co-partner decided to back out because of the allegations she said against him. This is why many females are scared to open up about their experiences, because they are afraid of what might happen to them and what people will say. In a society that is learning to be more open with each other, sexual allegations should be heard and taken seriously. Regardless of who they are, everyone’s actions should be accounted for.

It does not matter if you are an Oscar-nominee or Oscar winner, I don’t care if you are the President (……) you should pay for your mistakes and the harm that you have caused. So no, the Oscars should not award sexual predators (because that is what they are) for being creative. Maybe if Hollywood would start taking these accusations more seriously then people would be more thoughtful of how they act instead of thinking that it is okay because they will get away with it.

Bonus #6 - The Oscars Issue of Ignoring Commercial Success by Jared Islas

The Oscars typically nominate and award movies that aren’t as culturally significant as other movies that come out each year. You can see it in this past year’s nominees and winners. Of the nine films nominated for best picture at this year’s ceremony, none were in the Top-10 of highest grossing films of 2017 domestically. The highest grossing domestic best picture nominee is Dunkirk, which came in at number 14 of the year ($188 million), followed by Get Out at number 15 ($176 million). The Shape of Water, which won best picture at the 2018 Oscars came in at number 47 on the year grossing just under $60 million dollars. I’m not saying that money is the only thing that determines a movie’s success. In fact, many terrible movies often make tons of money if they have a big name, whether it be an actor, director, brand or character associated with it. But, if “The Oscars” want people to tune in to their four-hour ceremony each year, they have got to be more aware of what the typical moviegoer wants, and whether you want to believe it or not, the typical moviegoer will never go to the movie theater to see the films that “The Oscars” love so dearly. This even reflects in the shows’ ratings; according to Deadline, this year’s ceremony “averaged 26.5 million viewers… down 19% from last year’s 32.9 million viewers, a nine-year low.”

The question now is, “How do we get the typical moviegoer to be interested in “The Oscars” and the films being nominated at the ceremony?” It’s a tough question. Obviously, you don’t want to abandon the categories, structure and prestige associated with the ceremony now. But it wouldn’t hurt to maybe add a new category or two that the most popular movies of the year have a shot at winning. Also, the Academy, has got to loosen up a bit. There were so many highly influential movies, actors and directors that could have been nominated this year but weren’t for whatever reason. Movies like, Wonder Woman and It, both were critically acclaimed, cultural phenomenons in 2017 but neither received any nominations. Both had incredible performances, stories or directors associated with them that really should have been recognized. Wonder Woman was the first female-led superhero film, was directed by a woman, and was the third highest grossing film of the year domestically. It could’ve been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (for Gal Gadot) or Best Director (for Patty Jenkins). It, which made $327 million domestically and $700 million worldwide on a $35 million budget introduced us to the Bill Skarsgård’s critically acclaimed performance of Pennywise, and was based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel by the same name. Nominations could’ve included Best Picture, Best Actor (for Skarsgård) or Best Adapted Screenplay.

In my opinion, The Oscars can learn a lot from The Grammys because they have found a healthy balance between nominating and awarding commercial and critical successes. This might be because these two overlap more in the music industry, but still I believe the comparison is valid. Think about the past few year’s Album of the Year nominees; Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Lorde, Childish Gambino, Adele, Beyoncé, Drake, Justin Bieber, Sturgill Simpson, Taylor Swift, Alabama Shakes, Chris Stapelton, The Weeknd. All of these artists are not only being nominated as the “best” in music each year, but they are also putting out songs and albums that the entire country and world love to listen to. This cannot be said for The Oscars and is why I think something needs to change.

• Box Office Stats from: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2017
• 2018 Oscar Stats from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90th_Academy_Awards#Box_office_performance_of_nominated_films
• Deadline quote: http://deadline.com/2018/03/oscar-ratings-down-all-time-low-viewership-1202310775/
• Grammy Stats from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Album_of_the_Year