A spotlight on creativity

TL;DR: why I love/hate the Oscars

An admission: I love the Academy Awards.

Also me: I find the Academy Awards a festival of non-stop cringe.

Let me explain.

Unlike my chosen practice of writing, filmmaking is all about teamwork. The director may have a strong vision but the only way that vision can be expressed effectively is if she works closely with the producers, set and costume designers, cinematographers, sound engineers, casting directors, special effects coordinators, editors, and so on.

The actors—who we spend most of our time thinking about—are neither more nor less important than anyone else.

So I love it when non-actors race to the stage (a place few are comfortable). As a rule, they look much more “normal” than the actors, most of whom have gone through plastic surgery and maintain wildly underfed and over-trained physiques. The costume designers are always a little wacky. The editors are pale from too much time spent in dark rooms. The gap-toothed cinematographers (who has time for veneers?) always seem like they are marveling at phantasms invisible to the rest of us: the play of light on glittering gowns, alluring shadows in the corners, the coordinated motion of people slipping from or returned to their seats.

And I especially love when the documentary filmmakers hurtle to the stage, almost always in poorly fitting or rumpled attire, hair a mess, the earnestness embedded in their eyes like radioactive residue. These people care—they care A LOT. That’s the only way any of those important, searing, shocking, tender, and irreplaceable stories make it to film.

I was glad “20 days in Mariupol” won for best documentary. As Frontline described the film, “In mid-March of 2022, roughly three weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Ukrainian filmmaker and Associated Press video journalist Mstyslav Chernov escaped from the besieged city of Mariupol with his colleagues, Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko, and 30 hours of footage. Chernov and his colleagues had become the last international journalists to report from the Ukrainian city as Russia attacked, risking their lives as they captured what would become some of the war’s defining images: A bombed maternity hospital. A gravely wounded expectant mother. Dying children. Mass graves.”

I was especially struck by the statement made by Chernov: “I wish I had never made this film.”

What other category would merit such a wrenching statement?

These people are deeply creative and they also risk their lives and sanity to tell important stories and make art. This film will go on my human rights list along with last year’s “Navalny,” “Crip Camp” (2021 nominee), and “Fire at Sea” (2016 nominee).

So why do I also find the Oscars so cringeworthy? Where do I start? To have so many creative people in a room also means that egos and the conspicuous hawking of super expensive trinkets and the excess and the favoritism and the political posturing are all in high relief.

For every breathless “thank you,” dozens—hundreds, thousands—gnash their teeth with rage and envy and, perhaps, righteous and deeply-rooted offense. Picking one “best” in anything is a losing game IMHO. My son used to do this as a child: what was my favorite this or that, my number one? I never had one. I love cheesecake AND chocolate chip cookies. I enjoy Beyoncé AND Taylor Swift AND Maria Callas. I love science fiction AND rom-coms AND poetry AND essays.

But whatever. The Oscars are an interesting temperature check on where the culture has been and where it’s going. The Osage Tribal Singers performed ‘Wahzhazhe’ from "Killers of the Flower Moon.” Exemplifying my point about teamwork, Scott George—the first Native American to win an Oscar nomination for best original song—told Billboard that the biggest challenge was submitting the song for an Oscar.

“None of our music is written down. It’s all held on to by memory. But one of the [Oscar] submission requirements was that it would be in a written form. And I just happen to know a person that took that on several years back as part of his education … And so he used that recorder that you got to take home in elementary school to find all the notes and write it all out. Within three to four days, he had it finished, and we got it submitted in time.” Scott George

In “I’m Just Ken,” Ryan Gosling did a hilarious and sly reversal on the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” performance in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953). Colman Domingo lovingly clutched the hand of his boo (boy that Domingo knows how to dress for the red carpet). And somehow, at some point, the show ended without a disaster, obvious tears, or a slap.

Righting Wrongs interview

I had a delightful time talking with host Julia Knispel on “The Fight 4 Human Rights.” Can you believe she’s still in high school? Great questions and a chance to do a plug for Righting Wrongs. Do check out the episodes!

Finally, I came across the link to another 2024 Oscar nominee, for best documentary short: “The Last Repair Shop.” Do watch it and share—it’s lovely!