from Facebook: some Academy members didn’t even watch Straight Outta Compton
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“…while the Academy might support historically-minded or socially-liberal films about the black experience — films like the great 12 Years a Slave and Precious and Ray — you can forget them getting behind a film about modern black culture like Compton.”
The Daily Show has an interesting suggestion for how black filmmakers can turn that to their advantage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkpZTRUkFYI
I’m all for diversity and calling out the Academy, but I’m not cheering for Straight Outta Compton, which glorifies men who abused women and doesn’t even mention that they did so.
I wish actor Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler had been nominated for Creed, and actresses Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez for Tangerine. And actor Will Smith for Concussion.
Yeah, but the guys who didn’t watch it don’t even know that. They just have someone else’s report of it, at most.
I’m not cheering *Compton* either. I don’t think it’s one of the best films of the year, and I don’t think it deserved to be nominated for Best Picture. But that’s beside the point.
Plenty of them didn’t watch Selma either. I’m not trying to say they’re the same kind of movie; but, they both have majority black casts.
Though, I do think it is possible that the Academy people actually don’t watch most movies…. They just vote based on what they’ve heard. I think they should be forced to watch via a download that tracks their viewing with a dead man switch in their hands linked to a camera that goes on whenever they let go to make sure they are doing their job.
My wtf??!! moment this morning was reading this: http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/01/straight_outta_compton_cast_not_invited_to_oscars.html?wpisrc=newstories
So, the only people involved with Straight Outta Compton who are invited (dunno if they’ll be going…) are the two WHITE screenwriters who got nominated. If I were one of them — and I’m white, but I don’t write dialogue, so I’ll never be in that position — I would not be going out of rage. Since I don’t have that option to protest, I’m venting my spleen here and when I get home I’m going to pull out my copy of http://www.discogs.com/NWA-Straight-Outta-Compton/master/26117 .. especially my favorite track “Quiet On Tha Set” and BLAST it.
It’s not true that the only people invited are nominees. Tickets also go out to studios, distributors, advertisers, some press, and some members of the Academy. Universal will have a bunch of tix available, and if they didn’t offer any to the *Compton* cast, that’s really shitty.
That’s what I thought. It seems that’s what a lot of others thought, as was pointed out by that writer who (like all of us) noticed that the audience is filled with hundreds of people. Are those apparent audience members actually CGI’d avatars? Is it a Second Life 3rd party viewing?
I assume not, ergo, yes, it is really shitty of Universal.