Posted on 03/07/2006 5:34:01 PM PST by RWR8189
Is Hollywood "out of touch" with the rest of the country? Do starlets have their plastic surgeons on speed dial? One is tempted to say that the only time Hollywooders are sure to be in touch is when they're getting a hot-stone massage in Malibu.
George Clooney wants to make a virtue out of being "out of touch," in the same way that Henry David Thoreau made a virtue out of marching to a "different drummer." Accepting his Oscar for "Syriana," Clooney set a defiant tone for the rest of the Academy Awards show: "We are a little bit 'out of touch' in Hollywood," he declared, adding, "That's probably a good thing." And why is that? Because, he answered, "We were the ones who talked about AIDS...about civil rights." He praised "this Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters." And so, he concluded, he is "proud to be 'out of touch.'"
But let's pursue this point - about what Hollywood has been, and has not been, in touch with. For instance, how about other large-scale issues, such as communism and the Soviet threat? From the openly pro-Stalin "Mission to Moscow" (1943) to the scathingly antimilitary "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), Hollywood mostly mocked the Cold War. And of course, director Oliver Stone lives in his own world of crazed conspiratorialism - which hasn't stopped him from winning three Oscars.
Yet what about the issue that Clooney emphasized most - race relations and civil rights? Here the picture is muddled, at best. The most influential film of the Silent Era was undoubtedly D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" (1915), which openly admired the Ku Klux Klan. Even into the '40s, Hollywood happily made money from such laughably
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I generally like Pinkerton, but methinks he needs to get a sense of humor.
Strangelove was a scathingly funny satire of the Cold War era, and Peter Sellers was a comedic genius.
Well, Duh!
Twenty bucks says he's hired illegal Mexicans to do his yardwork so he doesn't have to pay union wages.
I doubt it. Mr. Man of the people, has a villa on the Italian Rivera.
LOL.
I bet he would take that comparison literally if he read this column.
If he read, that is.
"We were the ones who talked about AIDS"
Lets back up there Georgie...when AIDS first came to the fore front, the Hollywood/lib elite didn't want it to come out that it was affecting mostly the gay community. Hence, the population that could have been educated & saved, was left to die. As far as Hattie getting an Oscar in '39, great, somebody please ask George why it took ove 60 years to give out another one to a black actress?
Italy is overrun by Muslim illegals, many of whom come in nightly from Tunis courtesy of the Tunisian government that pays their boat fare. So it may not be Juan or Jose , but you can bet your bottom lira that Achmed and Fazoumi are manning the lawnmowers that rumble over Looney's estate.
I know, my daughter & I took a day trip from Spain to Morocco. And you should have seen the line around the Spanish embassy to get a visa! Once they get into Europe, they can travel anywhere.
"We were the ones who talked about AIDS...about civil rights." He praised "this Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters."
and shortly thereafter the akadamy awarded best song to a piece which extolled the virtues of a life of hard work (pimping was the proffesion, complete with dancin' ho's)
he did get the "out of touch" thing right
As far as civil rights, one of the top stars from Hollywood who not only talked the talk, but actually walked the walk (with King) was Chuck Heston who had absolutly nothing to gain and at a time when you could be killed for doing it. It wasn't about wearing ribbons or shooting TV commercials in those days. It was really about the chance of getting your ass blown away.
And I'd bet this little pissant phony Clooney wouldn't give the "right wing reactionary" Heston the time of day.
I sick of phonies. I have no time (or money) for them.
Really? I was living in Frisco when the whole "gay cancer" thing was a hot topic in the late 70's, long before it was even known as AIDS. I don't remember Hollywood mentioning a word about it.
That would be the same group who made Green Pastures in 1936.
Muleteam1
Not only are these people "out of touch", they are in another solar system, probably one called Alpha Douchebaggie.
Right. Furthermore, even in the early '90s, you couldn't get AIDS-related topics on talk shows. I worked for a publishing house that did a great fact-filled cautionary book on women and AIDS written by the first physician in Miami and one of the first in the USA to treat AIDS patients. No talk show would book our very personable author because she wouldn't tell the audience they were in no danger and could "have all the sex they want." This includes the producers at Oprah, whom I have since detested every time she opens her sanctimonious mouth about AIDS victims no-one does anything about. SHE could have prevented many thousands of young women from dying, but she did not.
"Twenty bucks.."
There you go slandering indians.
Hollywood is working hard to make as many people as possible actually question this statement.
Hollywood, your endeavors are fruitless one's.
Cruising the highways in a GPS equipped vehicle with an outdated data base not showing the up to date road changes, and leaving them floating in space.
But the fact that he has an Italian villa and a swanky co-op on Park Avenue makes him SO much smarter than us riff-raff and we should SO have to listen to what he has to say... Snark off.
Frankly, if George Clooney likes poor people so much, perhaps he should sell the abovementioned Italian villa and Park Avenue co-op and give all his money to good causes. (And I mean all of it.. preening in front of the T.V. after the next national tragedy ain't going to cut it.)
I THOUGHT I recognized you... :^)
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