Oscar’s Best Picture Category Becomes Most Woke Movie Award
For many people, going to the movies used to be one of life’s best simple pleasures. For a few bucks, well-made movies transported us to exotic places and thrust us into the middle of stories so compelling, we left with memories we wouldn’t soon forget. For a couple of hours, you checked your troubles at the door and became completely immersed in the adventure.
The best part was there was always a good movie for everyone. Whether it was romance, comedy, westerns, horror, or sci-fi, great movies of the late 20th century were so abundant, many families, couples and teenagers made the local movie theater a community focal point. While everything centered around the movie, the evening often included pizza before the flick started and coffee or sodas after it ended.
Think of the movie stars that emerged from Hollywood in its golden era. From Errol Flynn to Betty Davis; John Wayne to Maureen O’Hara; Clint Eastwood to Jessica Lange, we idolized these larger-than-life-stars, which made watching the Oscars every year must see TV.
It was all good, clean fun.
No doubt, that’s part of the reason why Woke set out to ruin it all. Remember, these people hate watching others who aren’t as miserable as they are. There’s just too much injustice in the world for you to be wasting time laughing and enjoying yourself.
Regrettably, Hollywood was the low hanging fruit for the woke movement. Populated by people whose lavish lifestyle apparently triggered guilt and remorse, the Beverly Hills Flats crowd sipped their Dom Pérignon (while it was still fashionable) and looked out from their balconies at the commoners below and vowed to make things better, as long as it didn’t cost them anything personally.
So, in 2002, when Halle Berry won the best actress award for her role in “Monster’s Ball,” it signaled the coming out party for woke Hollywood. Berry was the first black actress to win the award, and if you watched the reaction of the attendees, you would have thought Moses entered the building. Objectively, Sissy Spacek turned in a better performance in her movie “In the Bedroom” that year, but there was no way Hollywood could resist the temptation to show off its self-righteousness.
The Woke Infection Has Gotten Much Worse
After years of injecting an increasingly greater volume of woke nonsense into movies for adults and kids, Hollywood realized the industry still wasn’t getting the message. So, in 2020, the Academy announced new diversity and inclusion standards designed to ensure films hoping to qualify for Best Picture consideration would be sufficiently woke. You’re welcome to read the entire text of the new rules by following the link above, but here’s a summation:
A: One of the lead actors has to be a minority, and at least 30% of all the other actors in the film must be minorities, women, LGBTQ+ or disabled. The main storyline must revolve around at least one of these same groups.
B: Out of the 15 creative leadership positions, two must be from underrepresented groups, and at least 30% of the film’s crew must be from underrepresented groups as well.
C: Paid apprenticeships and internships must be largely drawn from underrepresented groups.
D: Senior executives must include people from underrepresented groups on their marketing, publicity and distribution teams.
Currently, a film must meet two of the four requirements to qualify for Best Picture, but no doubt in the near future, the admission criteria will become even more rigid and expand to other categories.
At the time the Academy released these idiotic rules, the response was relatively muted because enforcement wouldn’t take effect until 2024. Frankly, most Hollywood insiders believed these racist and discriminatory directives would be abandoned before 2024 arrived.
Except now we’re here, and the Academy isn’t backing down. In fact, many on the board don’t think the 2020 guidelines go far enough.
While it is generally agreed that most people in the filmmaking industry abhor the Academy’s new standards, most are afraid to speak out against them for fear of career reprisal. Quotes condemning the rules commonly come from anonymous sources. It seems only older actors who have accumulated enough money to withstand the blacklisting are bold enough to speak out.
Richard Dreyfuss, the star of classic films like “Jaws” and “Schindler’s List,” said the new rules make him want to “vomit.”
The End of the Oscars
Obviously, based on recent box office receipts, very few people want to see a sanctimonious, preachy movie full of second-rate actors in a contrived, boring storyline. In fact, one would imagine that getting the Oscar for Best Picture from 2024 forward will be the kiss of death for that movie at the box office. What was once a grand tradition will slowly slink off into oblivion, mocked and scorned by the same customers who made the Oscars a party event before the turn of the century.
You wonder why movie theaters are closing? It has little to do with Covid trends and direct to streaming models. These woke movies are horrible, and there is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned cash only to find yourself a captive audience to a woke sermon.
It’s all incredibly sad, and only further confirms what sane people have been saying for a long time. Woke sucks the fun out of everything it touches.
