The Screen Actors Guild awards last night were essentially uneventful, except for two interesting points. First point: Jean Dujardin beat George Clooney for his performance in The Artist, which I hear is stunning. I’m sure he’s better than Clooney, mainly because Clooney is one of the more boring actors on the planet.
Second point: Viola Davis made a speech about racism after winning her SAG award for The Help: “The stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It’s all of our burden,” she said. “I don’t care how ordinary you feel, all of us can inspire change, every single one of us.”
Hollywood cheered her, but in a world where racism is hardly the top item on the list of pressing issues — imminent civilizational collapse, anyone? — her speech seemed over the top. It’s also by rote, since Halle Berry gave exactly the same Oscar speech years ago.
Except that in Hollywood, racism’s not off the table yet, for three reasons.
Reason #1: Hollywood loves racism as a theme. It makes them feel superior to the rest of the country, those hicks in the sticks whom they’ve never met and who may just as well be walking around wearing their bedsheets. Hence Crash.
Reason #2: It’s a convenient crutch to defend President Obama. Yes, this is a real concern for those in Tinseltown.
Reason #3: Racism is actually a relevant charge in Hollywood, where minorities are tremendously underrepresented, as virtually everyone in the industry agrees. But neither Davis nor the mainstream Hollywood establishment (except for ultra-militant Spike Lee) talk about racism inside Hollywood.
>>Hollywood loves racism as a theme. It makes them feel superior to the rest of the country, those hicks in the sticks whom they’ve never met and who may just as well be walking around wearing their bedsheets. Hence Crash.
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I particularly like the comment above among all the wise things in this post.
Racism remains alive as a pressing grievance for two reasons: One, of course, is that it keeps money and power flowing into "the community" in many ways. Especially, it keeps money and power flowing into the wallets of the professional race mongers like Jesse Jackson.
Less understood is the very important point that Ben made that denouncing racism reinforces the self-righteous feelings of some about their moral superiority. Unfortunately, it is not just Hollywood types. The South, in general, has become a permanent scapegoat for whatever guilty feelings Americans have. I really bristle when I get the least hint from a non-Southern politician that he is -- absent some specific and legitimate injustice -- broadly concerned about racism. I understand full well that he is playing the game of mutual stroking of the righteous zones with his audience. His subtext may even be along the lines of "we may be conservatives but we aren't like those people." "Those people," are, of course, Southerners who are still smugly assumed by some to be racists. Why not? It works for them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI stopped too soon. I should have continued to point out that John McCain engaged in exactly this sort of moral preening in 2008 happily throwing under the bus some North Carolinians whom he found to be too eager in trying to bring Jeremiah Wright into the campaign. He as much as called them racists in hissing that his campaign would not dirty itself with the tactics of "those people." Hope it made him feel good. The Democrats, of course, carried North Carolina, something that had not happened in a while.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere was nothing illegitimate in making Jeremiah Wright an issue. Making your opponent carry the weight of his side's fringe is basic politics. Republicans bear the burden of the Council of Conservative Citizens, the conspiracy crowds, etc. But pointing out the unsavories in the liberals' midst - like Wright, Ayers, or taking note of the Black Panther voter intimidation case - is is ridiculed as playing up "scary black people," gutter politics and, of course, "racist."
Playing clips of their own racist preacher is ... racist. We can't win.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe can't win if we're cringing instead of fighting back. I think that's what people like about Newt. If only we had a consistent conservative without personal baggage that would fight like Newt.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, I don't want my President to be like Newt. I want my President to be a gentleman, firm but fair in his criticism. I want someone who is a gentleman to his Domestic detractors and an attack dog to his International detractors. In this, I think that GW took the right road. Unfortunately, the Republican that was supposed to be the attack dog domestically never got the memo.
Maybe if Romney wins he can create a new cabinet position for Newt, Official Attack Dog.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTouche. While I think some (many) conservatives do enjoy Newt's attacks, I would prefer someone who is like him in willingness to challenge the premises of the left but not like him in terms of style.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou have got to be crazy on your inane remark. We need a person to take to O'Bama since he is only a fraud.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Shapiro inarticulately attempts to castigate Hollywood for focusing on the (obviously unimportant) problem of racism in America and simultaneously indict Hollywood for its own racism. This is a classic three-card trick for those of his ilk. However, he overlooks the fact that Ms. Davis in her speech was indeed likely referring to the problem of minority representation within Hollywood. One can find primary evidence of this in her roundtable discussion recently with several other prominent actors: External Link
. I would remind Mr. Shapiro that shooting from the hip in these matters is quite easy when one is trying to reinforce one's biases. Doing actual homework is far more commendable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWho decided that every minority had to be "represented" in every project? What good does that do? What difference does it make? Who benefits? Minorities are already well "represented" in the movies I see, some to the point of forced artificiality in casting. If that's not enough, then make your own damned movies, like Tyler Perry. I doubt if there are any white actors breaking down HIS doors or making cringeworthy social comments at HIS award ceremonies.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAMEN!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBobby T,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGiven that you have just successfully argued Mr. Shapiro's point, I don't understand why the tone of your comment seems antagonistic. You say that he is simultaneously indicting Hollywood for its own racism while overlooking "the fact that Ms. Davis in her speech was indeed likely referring to the problem of minority representation within Hollywood". I would point out that one of Mr. Shapiro's last sentences in the article is "Racism is actually a relevant charge in Hollywood, where minorities are tremendously underrepresented, as virtually everyone in the industry agrees" which I believe is the same point as what you believe Ms. Davis was alluding to.
As to your classification of racism as obviously unimportant, I don't know where you got that impression from. If it is your own belief, then I am shocked that you would be so caviler about sharing it. If it is you inferring that view into Mr. Shapiro's work, then I would point out that Mr. Shapiro did not say that racism was unimportant. Only that it was not the number one issue at this moment. "Hollywood cheered her, but in a world where racism is hardly the top item on the list of pressing issues — imminent civilizational collapse, anyone? " If we accept the argument that Mr. Shapiro believes the words he writes, then I would assume that Mr. Shapiro believes that imminent civilization collapse is on the horizon, and racism will not matter as there will not be a civilization. Whether he is right or wrong in that belief is a different discussion, but in this context, I don't believe it is dismissive of racism. If anything it is more analogous to fretting over the fact that a car is out of gas as it careens over a canyon wall. While problematic, it is not the most egregious issue currently facing us, in Mr. Shapiro's view.
I was thinking just the other day, that on the few TV shows that I watch, those that are based in a large metro area (typically liberal) tend to have a more monochrome cast. However shows based in flyover town do a better job of mixing the cast.
I don't know why this is, maybe it is just to get racist cracks in and make fun of the people who live there.
I think communities in flyover country in general are more diverse and more tolerant of others than you will find in the northeast or west coast.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse> "Reason #3: Racism is actually a relevant charge in Hollywood, where minorities are tremendously underrepresented..."
I don't understand how the author can believe minority underrepresentation is evidence of racism in Hollywood but not in, say, Congress.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, I believe there are over 40 members of the Congressional black caucus. There are 435-members of Congress. So, while there is a small under-representation as a percentage of the entire population, it doesn't come anywhere as close to the disproportionality that's seen in Hollywood.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, if there are 40 members of the CBC, then that would be entirely representational of the population. Blacks make up around 12% of the American population; the number of House members who are black come in around 9%. That there needs to be 3% more black House members is statistically insignificant. At the same time, Hispanics make up a larger proportion of the population; so maybe we should be electing more Hispanics to office than blacks.
Then again, I don't think Americans care about race all that much when they go into a voting booth.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSee Hispanics, see women, see the Senate
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseblah, blah, blah. I hear an echo. :P
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAgreed. Next time a conservative Republican female or minority runs against a white male Democrat, I'll be sure to take note of all the liberals who endorse the Republican.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's like measuring people by their own standards. The Left (including Hollywood) think proportional representation is a valuable stat for the degree of racism in a body of people: school enrollment, business employment, strata of society, Death Row, home ownership... but not Hollywood?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think if it's a legitimate stat, it needs to apply everywhere. And if it's not, it should apply nowhere. I'm asking why the author thinks it applies in Hollywood but nowhere else.
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