A story at the HuffPo on Geena Davis’ reaction to the Oscars is a good reminder that we still have a long way to go (I think). It’s one thing to simply “be offended” by MacFarlane’s humor. But it’s another thing to set about enacting change. Complaints about MacFarlane won’t change how women are treated overall by Hollywood and the awards industry – in short, women are mostly ignored. From the HuffPo:
“It’s a shame that that triumph was enveloped in an awards ceremony containing disrespect for women,” Davis told members of the California Assembly during a ceremony in Sacramento. “But it helps illustrate how tone-deaf we can still be regarding the status of women.”
She commended “Brave,” which won best animated picture, as setting a positive example for girls.
There was a lot of woman hating going on directly after the Oscars with a dumb joke on Quvanzhane Wallis — welcome to the world, kid. People suck. Anne Hathaway was dumped on for no good reason. To me, it’s mostly the same shit, different day and I don’t know if a PC Oscar host would help matters. You don’t hire Seth MacFarlane, or Ricky Gervais or Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and expect them to not to be brutally funny.
Thank you for the response, Ryan. But I must take issue with your dismissal of the “Jews run Hollywood” as anything truly offensive. Have you not paid attention to Hollywood history? As a Jewish person (non-practicing, but still), I can assure you that the “Jews run Hollywood” thing is, indeed, an offensive stereotype, and that people have been fighting against it for decades (and the propagation of that stereotype has gotten plenty of people into hot water). Some of us may take it more seriously than others, but it’s a legitimate matter to many. So please don’t flippantly dismiss it as some trivial matter.
Your points about singling out individuals that don’t extend to their entire group or subgroup is well-taken, and you’re certainly right. My response to that would be that many of the jokes about women would fall in that same category. The Jodie Foster joke would be a prime example – he was making fun of a person because of a specific occurrence (the Golden Globes speech). Neither the fact that she is female nor the fact that she is gay was the butt of the joke. Same with the Kardashian joke – NO ONE is going to take that joke as an attack on all women; it’s very clearly only directed at the women in that one family. Or how about the Flying Nun sketch? Certainly that one doesn’t extend to all women somehow?
The “We Saw Your Boobs” song was the closest MacFarlane came to painting an entire group with one brush, but even then I believe (and I know some disagree) that PART of the target (though, admittedly, not the primary one) was the industry itself, which has a long history of celebrating and honoring female nudity (as opposed to the alternative). (Personally, I’m much more offended by the endless hours of coverage, both pre- and post-Oscar, of the fashion at the Oscars, and how the women are relentlessly judged almost exclusively by how they look. Yet nothing in this year’s post-Oscar coverage took any of that to task. Perhaps because we’re all so used to that more passive, but IMO more incendiary, form of sexism?) Anyway, I also think it’s worth pointing out that the women who played along with MacFarlane’s supposed sexism have hardly been mentioned at all. Don’t Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Sally Field and Jennifer Lawrence get a vote?
“Jews run Hollywood” thing is, indeed, an offensive stereotype, and people have been fighting against it for decades
hmm… That must have been a pretty hard ‘stereotype’ to fight when Sam Goldwyn, Louis B Mayer, Irving Thalberg, Sam Cohn, and Jack Warner ran all the major studios for decades.
“No offense,” but there’s no need to be offended by the fact that Jewish immigrants built the Hollywood studio system and ran it as a family business until the mid 1960s
The founders of the 3 TV networks? Don’t be offended, but William S. Paley invented CBS, David Sarnoff invented NBC, and Leonard Goldenson invented ABC. None of those guys are Baptists, thank god.
This didn’t end when the Mayer, Goldwyns, and Cohns handed over the reigns to Lew Wasserman, and then to Geffen, Michael Eisner, Katzenberg, Ovitz, etc
today:
Sony CEO Michael Lyton
Disney CEO Bob Iger
NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker
Tom Rothman CEO Fox Film Ent
Barry Meyer CEO Time Warner
Viacom and CBS CEO Sumner Redstone
Brad Grey CEO Paramount
Stacy Snider CEO Dreamworks
Leslie Moonves CEO CBS
Anybody know offhand if Harvey Weinstein is Jewish?
I’m just naming the top men in charge who ‘run’ things, Chris. Do you think any of them is offended by the FACT that they are Jewish and they run all the film studios and TV networks?
I this a big secret? No. Is it a ‘stereotype’? No, I think the word is ‘fact,’ don’t you?
Chris, I mean this with all respect: I think you might be mixed up about who’s offended by the fact that Jewish men and women hold virtually every chief executive position in Hollywood.
These Jewish executives aren’t offended. Why should they be? Are black people offended to hear that a black man leads the country?
Nope, it’s only the rednecks in Mississippi who get offended when they hear that TV and movies would not exist if not for the power and creativity of the Jewish community in Hollywood.
The reason you might feel uncomfortable hearing about it is the same reason none of these executives made a big deal about being Jewish — because the Jewish people who control almost everything produced in Hollywood know how the ignorant bigots all across America react when they think about this indisputable FACT too much.
The Jodie Foster joke would be a prime example – he was making fun of a person because of a specific occurrence (the Golden Globes speech). Neither the fact that she is female nor the fact that she is gay was the butt of the joke. Same with the Kardashian joke – NO ONE is going to take that joke as an attack on all women
We might be arguing about different things. If anybody is complaining that the Kardashian joke was sexist, I missed it. That hasn’t come up before now, as far as I know.
Ryan, a lot of what you say is certainly fair – I agree with a lot of your larger points while not necessarily agreeing with your critique of McFarland’s performance as a whole. One of the things I take issue with is your insistence that every joke was about women and gays, and that all the other groups you mentioned – “men, latinos, jews, asians, the elderly, soldiers, baptists, blind kids” – weren’t touched. And that simply isn’t true. For example: Almost the entire point of MacFarland’s Ted/Mark Wahlberg sketch was an extended “Jews run Hollywood” joke. And that wasn’t an exception – there were other targets throughout the night as well. He joked about not being able to tell black people apart; he joked about Mel Gibson; he joked about Tarantino (a white guy!) thinking he’s black; in fact, one of his jokes that half-targeted a woman (Rihanna/Chris Brown) was certainly more a condemnation of Brown’s horrific violence than anything else. I’m not saying the show wasn’t lopsided – but your implication that it was just women and gays getting singled out is demonstrably incorrect.
“Jews run Hollywood”
oh snap! that’s gonna leave a mark.
Imagine how humiliated Jewish people must feel when they hear that.
How about if William Shatner told MacFarlane that he would be converting to Judaism in the future and Seth looked mortified and crestfallen at the thought. Because that was his reaction when Shatner said, ‘You’re going be gay.’
MacFarland’s Ted/Mark Wahlberg sketch
I’m not sure how much MacFarlane had to do with the Ted/Wahlberg bit. I hope to god MacFarlane isn’t responsible for that Avengers bit too.
But point taken, Chris — MacFarlane is offensive across the board. I just feel like the barbs with the most casual cruelty were directed at Women and Gay People as groups.
I’m sure you understand that when MacFarlance ridicules Mel Gibson, he’s not ridiculing All White Men.
Mel Gibson and Tarantino are individuals who both seem to beg to be ridiculed due their own conscious efforts to project bizarre personalities. They’re not ridiculous because they’re white guys.
It’s possible to be politically incorrect and not be offensive. You example of “Jews control Hollywood” proves that.
The problem isn’t about being politically incorrect. It’s about being offensive.
“Tarantino thinks he’s black” ? — that’s flattery. That feeds into the Eminem image Tarantino wants to project, right?
Let me put it to you this way, Chris. We can say Herman Cain is a clown without fear that anybody will think we’re implying all black men are clowns.
Seth MacFarlane made fun of everyone. To suggest he was disrespectful to women and singling them out is unfair to everyone else.
I for one thoroughly expect Seth MacFarlane to not be funny.
Ryan, sorry, I didn’t see your email until now. Then again, I kinda suspected you won’t let me defend myself publicly. See, the thing is… I don’t need an audience and I already proved my point about you even if it was just for myself. I was right.
It’s not about me needing an audience. It’s about you being afraid of an audience. That’s the difference between you and me. I don’t need to hide anything. I’m open for being proven wrong. You’re not.
Anyway… Cheers! Oh, and still I wish you a great weekend!
You see the email I sent you but you come to the site to reply to my email? Weird.
Look, Jude. Awards Daily is a movie site. It’s not a psychotherapy site where Sasha and I are the patients and allow amateur shrinks to give us life advice. If you want try to establish a relationship with me where you hammer me 9 times a day with messages about how you’d like to see my personality change, the place for that relationship is an email inbox. Or hey, there’s an apartment vacant in the building about 100 meters from me if you really think my attitude needs your constant 24-hr supervision. (related topic: Do you know Gladys Kravitz?)
9 messages you’ve sent me now, Jude. And none have anything at all to do with movies or the Oscars.
That’s not the kind of clutter in the comments anybody wants to see. And that’s how comment moderation works.
“We hit back with a force equivalent to what gets thrown at us.”
Ryan, really? So what did I throw at you to be treated with such a condescending attitude that I received from you? Please, do you mind helping me to understand that?
Please, do you mind helping me to understand that?
oh sorry, looks like I’ve run out of patience. I’m going to stop worrying about this. Maybe you can too.
So what did I throw at you to be treated with such a condescending attitude
The condescending attitude you threw at Sasha when you acted like she didn’t even know the joke MacFarlane made about Clooney was directed at Clooney.
The condescension that was dripping off your comment when you started off the day already bristled up for confrontation.
No, not that joke. But yes, that’s where the condescending began. Coming from you.
Besides the ‘boob song’ not being funny AT ALL, the problem I had with it is that it was performed in its entirety. Which pretty much defeats the purpose of the satiric context in which it was tentativelly placed. Just a 10 second sample of the darn song would’ve made the point clear: that if Seth performed that song, he’d be considered an awful Oscar host.
The thing was just overkill and misfired badly. Just my two cents.
Valeria, you didn’t need explain all that. I didn’t disagree with you about who Gervais’ jokes were aimed at. But you said in your first post that he wasn’t invited back implying he was the host only once. That was incorrect and I just pointed it out. That was just a simple correction on my part.
Ryan, are ever able to respond to people, whom you disagree with, without being so amazingly condescending? And yet you call other people here douchebags. Oh, the irony.
Oh, and I noticed after my post that I had misread what Sasha wrote. I thought she was referring to the joke McFarlane made about George Clooney (“it’ll be 16 years before Q is too old for him”) but now I see she was referring to the “joke” The Onion made. That was inexcusable. So my bad.
And yet you call other people here douchebags.
Yes, Jude, somebody who comes around to snipe once a month and the first thing he has to say in the past 2 weeks is “You people are fucking pathetic. America, and especially Hollywood, is full of pussies.”
How do you want me to respond?
“mew… mew…” ?
We hit back with a force equivalent to what gets thrown at us.
Times like this I actually wished I saw the whole show. I fell asleep and only caught a little bit of the end. I did however finally got the see the “We saw your Boobs” song. Here’s what bothered me about it. Everyone knows that one of the dirtiest little secrets of Hollywood is the casting couch. Seeing that montage just reminds me of the double standard of the casting couch: Everyone knows it goes on, but guess who gets the blame? No, not the producers and directors and studio heads(mostly men) who enforce it, but the actresses(and some actors) who might have gone on it. An actress who is loudly rumored to have used the casting couch will have her career damaged for several years. Ask Gretchen Mol. And in that vein the song bothers me because instead of really going after the system that oversexualizes naked women and puts pressure on actresses to be fuckable at all times, the song just seems to mock the actresses for showing their breasts. Missed opportunity really.
But yes Seth is just the symptom to the real problem: Hollywood in general is still very sexist and homophobic. And racist.
And Valerie’s right about Ricky. His problem was that he went after mainly white, seemingly heterosexual men. And that’s also why I don’t think either Tina Fey or Amy Phoeler will be invited to host. Their most stinging joke at the Globes was about James Cameron. Yeah some people in the industry don’t. like James Cameron but he’s still a straight white male with clout in the industry and the people in charge of the Oscars telecast are not going to invite anyone who will go after the straight white males with clout. Women and gays however? Bring it on!
The problem with the We Saw Your Boobs joke is that it’s not offensive enough. If the joke is supposed to be “My God, that was fucking offensive” than you really need to go there. And in this situation, you could never go there, not even in a meta- kind of way. It’s an absurdly difficult area of humor that is difficult to pull off (see the Q Wallis is a cunt joke).
The We saw your boobs bit is offensive, and it is kind of funny in that meta way (like the Kate Winslet part), but, seriously, is it appropriate for the stage at an awards show? What might have made it funny (at least to me) was that if the gay men’s chorus in the background went into a chorus of “We Saw Your Junk” and then Seth reluctantly went along with it.) But then at that point the joke would have gone on way too long.
The problem with the Oscars is that the list of things you can’t mock is longer than the things you can, so it’s really hard to come up with enough good jokes to fill the night. And that’s the problem, they feel the need to come up with a shit ton of jokes to fill the night.
What needs to happen is for them to realize they don’t need enough jokes to fill the night, they don’t need to come up with a 15 minute monologue to start the night. I’d rather them give the winners another 15 seconds each and cut the monologue to 5 minutes. But that’s probably just me.
Again, they need to look at the Tonys to see how things should be done.
they don’t need to come up with a 15 minute monologue to start the night
If they’re so desperate to pad out the show with filler, I think they still owe Lauren Bacall 15 minutes.
What might have made it funny (at least to me) was that if the gay men’s chorus in the background went into a chorus of “We Saw Your Junk” and then Seth reluctantly went along with it.)
…
or even ‘We Saw Your Pecs’ — and then SHOW, don’t TELL. Shirtless Gay Men’s Chorus.
Because isn’t that the 2000-yr-old crux of the absurdity? That boy nipples are ok to look at, but girl nipples are naughty and forbidden?
This bizarre concept that we should shame women for showing their wicked R-rated nipples but millions of teenage boys are lured into paying to look at Stallone’s plasticine PG-13 nipples? What’s more perverse?
Bravo Ryan
I think what people can’t see is none of this at the end of the day is fresh or cutting edge or new. It’s the same schtick packaged with a fresh new cover and the new cover was Seth. The only one IMO who was fresh and really cutting was Gervais but we won’t see him again. I mean he dared to criticize Hugh Hefner by poking fun at his wrinkled up “package”. But that was funny right just like boobs are.
I am stunned that you don’t see, or at least understand, why people don’t like Anne Hathaway. This is not new. Women haven’t liked her since she tossed her hair all over the place in Love and Other Drugs. Men like her, but even that is on the rocks after a series of terrible speeches. “It came true…” “I will use this as a weapon against self doubt.” Who talks like that? Self obsorbed people do. People desperate for approval do. “You like me! You really really like me!” Notice how both those women are Scorpios? This came up at dinner the other night. There are two types of Scorpios: the needy and the confident. Anne/Sally fall into the former. Julia Roberts and Emma Stone are the latter. Remember when Julia won? She told “stick man” this was her moment and that was that. Could you imagine Emma Stone, cool as she is, saying that due to her win, prostitutes can come out of the shadows…or whatever crazed humanitarian connection that was? All that being said, I like Anne Hathaway ON SCREEN. She always does a nice job. I would’ve voted for her. But off screen is a different story. This isn’t women hating on women. This is a pretty, pretty princess who doesn’t know how to be gracious and charming without being annoying. She really should be taking lessons from Jennifer Lawrence. This is all PR related, but if Hathaway isn’t careful, it’s going to start affecting her career. Just ask Sally Field how easy it’s been the last 20 years. That interview she did with Oprah showed the extent of the damage she did PR-wise for being “that girl” who wanted to be liked too much.
@sally
I know exactly what his routine was supposed to be about but it’s funny how no one gets that. why? Because the only thing that stood out was the shock value of using women’s boobs in rape scenes and a choir of gay men as part of the routine. That’s all MacFarlane’s humor is. It’s cheap fratboy humor that he tries to sell as being some form of highbrow satire and typically degenerates into tasteless lewd jokes. It’s fine if you find it funny. I’m not asking people to, feel as I do but please don’t try to educate me on the humor or the intent. If someone has to do that for half the audience, there is no humor.
Gervais can be tasteless and crued. But he also pokes fun at the right people. And nice upon a time people found Billy Crystal fresh and original too.
“Meanwhile just think about all the degrading jokes about men, or latinos, or jews, or asians, or the elderly, or soldiers, or baptists, or blind kids MacFarlane COULD HAVE TOLD!!”
Change that to “degrading jokes he would be allowed to tell” and I’ll agree with you. We have always known that everyone in that list is off-limits on the Oscars and that only women and gays remain fair game. For a group that likes to proclaim its liberalism, H’wood sure prefers its humor to be retro/conservative Catskills resort gags. (“take my wife…please”)
From his appearances on talk shows, esp. Maher’s from a year or so ago, I don’t think he’s either sexist or homophobic. On the Oscars, MacFarlane performed in a way that is acceptable to his audience, and therein lies the problem. He’s just the jester to the court. The fact that he’s said that he definitely doesn’t want to host again says a lot.
steve50, Thanks for refining my blunt hammering so eloquently.
The gay slurs at the Oscars have always been insidious and pervasive, but people become numb to even noticing because the cliches are so casually accepted.
MacFarlane can say, “…because we worry the evening isn’t gay enough yet.” And the entire auditorium erupts with laughter — in fact, all across the country smug straight people are nodding like bobbleheads thinking, “oh hell yeah, this all So Gay!”
Let’s all laugh at how GAY it is for William Shatner to virtually prophesize a Gay Curse upon Seth MacFarlane’s future manhood.
See how hilariously GAY it is to drag the gay men’s chorus onstage and make them sing about female titties, ahaha, if only we could make the gays sing about clits! — imagine all the gay fun we’d all be having then!
And oh oh, the musicals! The gays, They love their fabulous gay musicals, so let’s force poor Hugh Jackman and Catherine Zeta Jones to put on a gay spectacle that only the gays will enjoy.
I mean, my goodness! Just look how FANCY everything is, all the fancy dresses and fancy sets, gay gay gay, the gays always want things so fancy so lets do all this gaudy FANCY shit just for them.
Is that Gay enough for you, gay people? How about if we snark about the gayness of the Oscars in general? Happy now?
Yes, We’re doing this whole Oscar thing every year just for the gays, so we must apologize to all you straight people out there who have to sit through it, wink wink nudge nudge, don’t worry straight movielovers, we know you’re bored with all the gayness. Please bear with us just an hour or two longer while Hollywood placates the gays a little more.
The gays, they just ADORE when we mention them onstage.
(psst! Did you notice? Some of these Oscars winners even look suspiciously gay! I mean, c’mon, Costumes! How gay is that? Amiright, straight folks?)
These lazy jabs gets so tedious every damn year. I’m quite sure 90% of the audience isn’t bothered by it all. Gee, I wonder why.
@ Valerie and others. You overlooked the context with which the Boobs song was sung — it was the year 2025 and Capt Kirk was looking back and telling Seth he was terrible as a host. All everybody saw was the Boobs song and didn’t see the “forecast” given by Kirk.
@Jude
I’m pretty sure Gervais said he didn’t want to return or he wasn’t invited the last time and it was because they either again asked him to tone his jokes down or just didn’t want to deal with it. The thing is Gervais actually poked fun at Hollywood and the personalities. I never felt he was aiming his jokes at specific groups, he told jokes about Charlie Sheen, Hefner, Robert Downey, Jodie Foster, and a long list of other celebrities, male and female. The Hollywood elite didn’t like their misdeeds or celebrity being poked fun at. That’s why he was funny. This is a group of people who take themselves way too seriously. I doubt Gervais was upset that he was poked fun at by Fey and Poehler.
As for Davis, she does run and founded the organization on Gender in the media, which researches and educates on gender stereotypes and fights for gender balance. For people crying about her not doing anything, let’s see you do something.
Good job, Valerie.
Really well-reasoned explanation.
Almost hate to ask if would mind helping Jude understand that the crude joke about Quvenzhané Wallis had nothing to do with poor wittle George Clooney.
But… would you, please? Thank you.
“But it helps illustrate how tone-deaf we can still be regarding the status of women.”
Her comment illustrates how tone-deaf she can be when it comes to understanding irony. She is clearly out of her element here. Ok, maybe she didn’t actually see the show. I really do not want to think that Geena Davis is an idiot.
Much ado about nothing indeed!
The only problem with McFarlane’s jokes is that they were unappropriate for the Oscars, a show aiming to be a classy, family-friendly affair. But his material wasn’t that sexist and all those outraged reactions from women almost 2 wks after the facts only prove his point even further that women really aren’t “able to let anything go”…
If he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt men, it’d still be crude and not proper for such an occasion, but there wouldn’t be the same level of outcry and we certainly wouldn’t be talking abt it to this day.
But his material wasn’t that sexist and all those outraged reactions from women almost 2 wks after the facts only prove his point even further…
If he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt men, it’d still be crude and not proper for such an occasion, but there wouldn’t be the same level of outcry …
Ahaha
Yeah, ladies! Listen up…
IF he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt MEN, it’d still be crude and not proper…
IF he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt BLACKS, it’d still be crude and not proper…
IF he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt ASIANS or LATINOS or the DISABLED, it’d still be crude and not proper…
IF he’d made the same kinds of jokes abt the ELDERLY or SOLDIERS or JEWS, it’d still be crude and not proper…
But noooo, just because he makes women and gays the brunt of degrading insulting remarks, all you women and gays act, like, all insulted or something.
Just because ALL the degrading remarks all night happened to be about women and gays, what’s so sexist about that???
I mean, gosh WHAT IF the degrading remarks had been about men, or latinos, or jews, or asians, or the elderly, or soldiers, or baptists, or blind kids… What If?!
I’m really very sure that women and gays must be the only groups who are so sensitive…
IF ONLY MacFarlane had the balls to make demeaning disrespectful remarks about men, or latinos, or jews, or asians, or the elderly, or soldiers, or baptists, or blind kids… well then, we could prove to you how cool all those groups always are whenever they’re disrespected and degraded for cheap laughs.
Maybe next time, maybe next year there will be more degrading jokes about somebody besides women and gays and then all you women and gays will see that it’s not just you being singled out.
Meanwhile just think about all the degrading jokes about men, or latinos, or jews, or asians, or the elderly, or soldiers, or baptists, or blind kids MacFarlane COULD HAVE TOLD!! and just be THANKFUL it was only the women and gays who got degraded and disrespected this time.
You people are fucking pathetic. America, and especially Hollywood, is full of pussies. Seriously. So he sang about boobs. Who gives a fuck. The songs weren’t funny, but everything else he said was funnier than anything Crystal has ever done. Ever. Ever. If you’ve ever fucking heard MacFarlane in an interview, he’s the furthest thing from a douchebag (except when it comes to religion). He’s extremely self-deprecating and nearly comes across as a neurotic introvert who just happens to love performing.
@tr
Oh thanks.
Thanks for reminding us what a real douchebag sounds like.
First of all, Valerie, Ricky Gervais was invited back to the Globes. He was the host for two years.
Second, what was the dumb joke on Q Wallis? The one that was actually a joke on George Clooney?
Third, while I do agree that way too much concentration was put on women and especially on their bodies at the Oscars this year, I do feel the boobs song has received unfair or unjustified criticism. Women in films are asked to show boobs when it’s not necessary and we all know that happens way too often. I thought he, as a comedian like they always should do, held a mirror to the community which he is a part of. The song’s point is grounded in the truth that we all are aware of.
Fourth, overall, I thought McFarlane was okay at best.
Does Charlize Theron look happy?
or is she just playing along, pretending to be embarrassed for MacFarlane, as part of the meta-humiliation?
@Ryan,
I’m surprised… the reaction bit were all pre-taped; Everyone shown (Naomi Watts – along with the black dude staring at her chest next to her, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron) is wearing a different dress; Naomi was sitting with Liev of course; Jennifer has a different hairdo; Charlize is obviously back stage with Channing Tatum because two minutes later she’s on stage dancing beautifully;
I’m not saying this has anything to do with the song being offensive or not, just pointing out that was pre-taped.
Nite all.
Dragon, you’re right, of course. I got those screen grabs while I was on the phone and wasn’t playing close attention. I didn’t even have the sound up.
I’m not somewhere that I can watch it again properly right now but thinking back I know you’re right. I remember the Lawrence fist-pump and recall that was the moment when I first thought, “ok, staged, fake, weird.”
Mostly weird. Because staged, pre-taped, or not — it’s all still too weird for me.
These scenes in serious films when actresses need to be nude are bound to be extraordinarily emotionally stressful, and it’s quite fucked up for MacFarlane to be mocking it and drooling over it like a louse.
I don’t think MacFarlane is truly a louse or a douchebag, but he sure plays a convincing douchebag on TV. And millions of actual douchebags see a tuxedoed douchebag at the Oscars and they think it validates them. The meta cleverness becomes just another form of pre-approved douchery where it fine for men to proudly slobber over tits and pretend to be mortified by a dire forecast that in the future they end up “joining the gay men’s chorus.” — and then Seth looks stricken to hear he’ll be gay one day, speechless in slack-jawed shock as if he’s been given a cancer diagnosis.
I remember watching Helen Hunt’s face through this whole insulting mess, and she wasn’t pretaped. I read her face and to me it said what I was I was thinking: “wow, so this is the best you could come up with after 5 months preparation? Star Trek forecasts insinuating your future gayness?” Helen Hunt looked pained to be sitting there trying to force a pleasant noncommittal expression.
The whole opening act was borderline monstrous. More like a freak show than the Oscars I was hoping to see. But in a sick way, fitting. Hurray! let the glitzy shitshow begin!
I’m not asking or expecting everybody to feel offended. I’m way past hoping that most people won’t get a kick from this kind of tasteless frathouse laziness.
But likewise nobody should expect to convince me that I shouldn’t be offended. I know how I felt and the feeling is easy to describe: I found the whole tone of the show offensive. Makes me feel better to hear other people saying they felt the same way.
Robert A, oh shoot you’re right, good call. I was reflecting on my past wishful thinking I guess.
I want to congratulate Seth on siding with women (minus Jodi Foster and Whoopi Goldberg) on the topic of Mel Gibson’s phone treatment of females.
“It feels like Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is the only sexy BP nod we’ve had in years.”
And we didn’t even have that, since Dragon Tattoo wasn’t a BP nominee.
I hope that it goes without saying that I’m referring to the Rooney Mara/Daniel Craig sex scene when I say Dragon Tattoo is sexy.
Ohhh, see I thought he was dissing on Hollywood for objectifying women to sell tickets all while calling it brave art. I’m with Sasha, movies need more sex and nudity. It feels like Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is the only sexy BP nod we’ve had in years. I hope this controversy doesn’t make BP nominees even more vanilla than they already are. Have Tina and Amy perform ‘We Saw Your Junk’ next year and all will be fixed.
“Or is she just playing along, pretending to be embarrassed for MacFarlane, as part of the meta-humiliation?”
She did pretape her bit. And, then, signed on as a colead in his next film.
???
“And, then, signed on as a co-lead in his next film.”
??
Becoming the first coworker in the history of people working together who doesn’t necessarily approve of everything ever said by someone she works with.
I don’t much care for MacFarlane but if somebody offered me $5 million to be around him a few hours a day for a few weeks, I would say, “Great! When do we start?!”
The Oscarcast was disrespectful to women, whereas the industry isn’t? hmm. So what’s the reason an award-winning actress like Davis hasn’t had any plum roles lately like, say, male actors her own age?
Wish people would target the disease and not just one silly symptom. Tittie jokes and career paralysis are not equal in gravity, but guess which one is easier to bitch (sorry) about.
I didn’t watch the show properly and in full but I saw this segment — it was coarse and unfunny.
Context was a huge part of this segment. It was part of an ongoing joke (the debate over it being too long is for someone else at another time) that MacFarlane was being warned by “Captain Kirk” from the future that the headlines the next day would decry him as the worst Oscar host ever. At one point, MacFarlane asks what he did that was so awful, and “Kirk” pointed out he had performed this really offensive song — cue “We Saw Your Boobs.” The whole point of the setup was that the song was offensive, and should be avoided by MacFarlane if he wants to salvage his respectability.
It was a sort of meta-monologue that didn’t work for many viewers, and definitely taken out of context seems like it’s offensive and shouldn’t be part of the Oscar telecast. But that was the entire point in using it, namely that he shouldn’t perform it for fear of getting exactly the kind of reactions that he ended up receiving anyway.
As others have said, you don’t hire the writing/voice talent behind “Family Guy” to host an awards show without figuring he’s going to go for humor all over the place, high and low, gender-based, religion-based, ethnicity- based… which is exactly what he did. Dissatisfaction with MacFarlane’s hosting needs to be directed at the Academy; MacFarlane delivered his style of humor, which is definitely not for everyone. If he had tried to deliver humor completely out of his persona, that would be cause for criticism of Seth MacFarlane himself, but I didn’t see that happen.
Kirk” pointed out he had performed this really offensive song — cue “We Saw Your Boobs.” The whole point of the setup was that the song was offensive, and should be avoided by MacFarlane if he wants to salvage his respectability.
…and then he does the song. For three offensive minutes.
oh, so now the excuse is that it’s “meta-monologue”?
If you’re not offended, good for you, then you’re in on the joke!
If you ARE OFFENDED, well then, that’s the whole point! you’re SUPPOSED TO BE offended!
win win! everybody’s happy!
…?? wait…
Does Charlize Theron look happy?
or is she just playing along, pretending to be embarrassed for MacFarlane, as part of the meta-humiliation?
Dissatisfaction with MacFarlane’s hosting needs to be directed at the Academy
Let’s not lay this on the Academy at large. (They have enough to atone for already). The Academy doesn’t get to vote on who’s chosen as host. The Academy members don’t get to screen all the crude humor in advance.
A small handful of men on the Board of Governors and the producers of the broadcast chose MacFarlane. No more than half a dozen guys played a part in choosing MacFarlane as host and approving his script.
If there were more women involved in these upper echelons, then trust me, there would have been more women standing up to say, “Nope, Sorry, That’s wrong.”
I think Seth was the epitome of a fucking douche bag. Maybe people think douche bags are funny, maybe people think douche bags are just that. The whole opening segment was embarrassing. It was anti-gay and anti-women, much like the Oscars themselves. Some people might thing that it was avant-garde, please, it just reaffirmed the status quo, straight male assholes run the academy/everything else. The Oscars is suppose to be escapist bubble gum, not reaffirm everyday oppression. Thanks Seth for bursting that bubble for me…what a dick…
I think Seth was the epitome of a fucking douche bag. Maybe people think douche bags are funny, maybe people think douche bags are just that.
I can’t remember where I read it, but it’s estimated that 120 million Americans think douchebags are funny. 80 million of those Americans are douchebags.
The problem with McPharlane is who his jokes were aimed at. Ricky Gervais did not get invited back to the globes why? Because he took jabs at people, mostly men, in Hollywood, the guys who control things and took offense, and shocking saw no humor in their being poked fun at.
You have every right to think McPharlanes humor is cutting edge just like many of us think his humor is typical cynical degrading bathroom humor that uses the cover of being smart and satiric. Haha to a boobs song that includes clips of actresses playing rape scenes. That’s hysterical and so satiric.
(I am a heterosexual guy [a foreigner, too]. I sometimes laugh with and at some weird things and fart jokes. Quite a reasonably high level of tolerance.)
To each his own. As far as the so-called Boobs song goes — I didn’t watch the show properly and in full but I saw this segment — it was coarse and unfunny. I wouldn’t have let anyone sing a freaky song like that to people I care. The only funny thing, ironically, is how they could ever let him perform at first place.
Not to mention the Meryl non-intro…. [duh]
The man himself was all right, in my opinion, but the joke material, you know, …………………….
Sasha, so true. Of all people Jane Fonda had the nerve to critique Seth’s jokes…and I like Fonda….but now is not the time to be a prude after you’ve done nude scenes and had threesome with your husband.
Has Geena Davis ever done a nude scene?
BTW, Seth’s introduction of Meryl is one of the best ever.
I thought MacFarlane’s boobies song was scathing towards Hollywood regarding actresses getting naked will establish credibility. A lot of the examples he used were Oscar winning roles. Halle Berry and Charlize Theron’s roles in the two monster movies showed breasts when they didn’t need to and they were considered daring, and therefore got an edge at the awards. It’s shit, and he was pointing it out. I got the message rather easily.
Nothing can be more offensive than Geena Davis’ career in the last 20 years.
In my opinion, MacFarlane’s biggest sin is that he wasn’t funny, which left his jokes and humor seeming all the more offensive. To some at least. I’ve never found him funny, so I wasn’t surprised. Like you said, you get what you sign up for.