“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”―Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
I didn’t invent the Oscar game. It existed before I came along. I just turned it into a year-round event. Probably that would have happened anyway. The long and short of it is this: The film industry was the Titanic. The Oscars are not the steerage passengers. The Oscars are the ones who got in the lifeboats. The Oscars can exist as long as they find their own niche. Why can’t they, say, have their own streaming channel? Why can’t they be their own HBO Max or maybe fold into TCM? No ratings pressure. Niche audience found and catered to. Done and done.
They will just never be what they once were. Neither will movies. Neither will I. Neither will any of us.
I walk by an elder care residence almost every day. The smokers always gather out there – yes, even at their age. I know them by face, and they know me. We always say hello to each other. Every so often, one of them is just gone. Poof. Others take their place and I start saying hello to them. One in particular was an old man in a wheelchair from New Orleans. He always wore Mardi Gras beads around his neck. He did know me by name and would call me over to talk with him all of the time. I mean, sure, he was probably just staring at my boobs half the time, but I wasn’t going to deny an old man simple pleasures. I never really would have called him a friend until he disappeared. He was my friend, not because he interrogated me and asked me my stance on vaccines and masks but because he saw me as a human being (and a pair of boobs, but you can’t have everything). I actually miss him. Poof.
I always think about the fact that I have two legs and can walk wherever I please, and that I still theoretically have a lot of life left to live. I know one day I’ll be one of them, though. Saying hello to people who go past me, feeling fortunate to have one more day of life, wishing I could still walk around the neighborhood with my own legs. And that thought always leads me back to how lucky we are to have things we mostly don’t think about, like running water. Like shelter. Like freedom of speech.
Life is about change, for those of us lucky enough to live it. Some of the changes I’ve gone through have been well received. Some haven’t. I sometimes think I am hated as much I am loved. If you are young, you don’t yet think that life is so short. If you are old you know just how little time you have left. It goes by so quickly, and the older you get the faster it goes.
There is no going back and changing your past. You can’t really become a worthwhile, interesting, or useful person unless you make a lot of mistakes. You certainly can’t be a great artist. You’ll never be a great writer or journalist or designer, thinker, lover. This seemingly new concept that we all should have been pure from birth and always “right” is ludicrous when you consider that right and wrong is almost always defined by generations that come of age. Unless you are a devoutly orthodox Christian or Jew, wherein the bounds of your moral responsivity is mostly decided for you. Right and wrong is an easy thing to figure out and in most cases there is a path to forgiveness and redemption.
Not so with the new Stasi. No forgiveness allowed! You are a good witch or a bad witch and one social media post or photo or anything people choose to use as “proof” is all it takes to convict you. It might as well be a witch’s tit, people. That doesn’t take the place of actual evidence.
Just like Andy crawls through a tunnel of sewer sludge and comes out the other side under a shower of cleansing rain, so too do the best among us come to realize what that feels like. You will never make a lasting impact on people’s lives unless you’ve been through things that changed your perspective.
In art we can find the answers to the things we struggle with, but only if we allow our artists to tell the truth. If we force them to tell an idealized version of the truth so as not to offend a single person – it is no longer art.
The latest aggression against me, although they are interchangeable at this point. is for my detractors to declare that I do not draw the Trump Line — meaning, to many of the most strident, that I do not treat Trump voters like human garbage. If I vigorously criticize the Left, it’s because I feel they deserve criticism. I refuse to see Trump as the Devil Himself and thus, I am not given over to the same fear and panic that so many of my friends seem to possess. I am not telling them they should not be afraid. But they want me to join them in dehumanizing another group and that is something I’m never going to do. Quick, name a time when that ever worked out. Don’t say the Nazis because the Nazis were the ones doing the dehumanizing. The side that’s doing that is always the wrong side. Always.
I don’t draw the line because, to me, it’s all part of the same hysteria, it’s all part of the same machine. It’s all part of the same mindset, in which we are led to believe that there are good witches and bad witches, and that you are one of the moral arbiters for that. I just don’t go along with that and this is apparently a good reason to yet again threaten my business, my writing job at Netflix, my friendships, the people who work with me.
I believe in basics – due process, innocent until proven guilty, people in glass houses should not throw stones, let he who has never sinned cast the first stone. I’m not religious but I know why that was the moral line and why it’s lasted as long as it has. It runs counter to our nature.
One day all of the madness we’re living through will be over and we will have to live with what we were once like. We leave a trail of that behavior and must face it when everything inevitably flips around. Suddenly the witch hunters will be the ones judged by the future.
Remember, each of us are writing our own stories. We are writing our own futures. If we write it down now and read it back later, maybe we’ll laugh. Our maybe we’ll be embarrassed. Maybe we’ll understand better what it’s like to live through something that didn’t bring out the best in us. Our memories are where we have been. How we choose to remember them will tell us everything we need to know about who we are.
Giving Thanks
I bring all of this up because it’s Thanksgiving and I have some people to thank. I am lucky that every so often someone writes me a private note and tells me they are sorry that I am being targeted with so much online abuse. “It’s your own fault,} many on Twitter would shriek back. Yes, I know. How dare I have… thoughts. I want to say thank you to all those who reached out to me privately, even if I won’t name them.
I am also lucky that I have an incredibly supportive staff here at AwardsDaily. To one degree or another, all of them disagree with almost everything I say and the way I say it. I have reminded them many times that, because of the climate of fear we’re living through, I wasn’t going to obey – but rather to push back as often as I could. I’ve let them know that this was going to cause me and them grief. I told them I would help them find other jobs or even build them their own websites if they feel don’t want to weather the shit-storms. And every single time I advised them of that, they wrote back with supportive messages and held their ground. That is what you call character.
There’s the esteemed Ryan Adams has been managing health issues for a while now but has always been there to offer his friendship, help, and support. We could not be more opposite on many issues at the moment but he would never prioritize that over his relationships. There’s Clarence Moye, who has somehow hung on, and might be the most humble person I know. And is also the only person I know who can quote Terms of Endearment like I can.
There is our new hire, Mark Johnson who fits right in. He’s such a pro and is someone who has always been nothing but kind, not just to me but to almost everyone — and that isn’t easy to do on Twitter. There is Megan McLachlan who has nothing to gain by hitching her trailer to this truck and yet, here she still is. Joey Moser who seems able to roll with the good, the bad, and the ugly as long as there are corgis. There is my good friend Jalal Haddad who probably has no idea just how much he means to me because he has my back and I know he has my back and there is really no reason for him to offer his support the way he does – but, he just does. That is what you call being made of strong stuff.
And then there is our adjunct professor Marshall Flores who has been coming to this site and contributing probably longer than he’s been alive. I don’t know, what’s the math on that? He’s slogged through the stats with me for years and knows them so well he should write a book (he really should). There is the talented David Phillips who is also someone who disagrees with me frequently. We somehow manage not to fight about it – we just hover in the same space of mutual respect. It always shocks me that we can be civil towards each other when we often see events in completely opposite ways but somehow he isn’t the kind who would ever join in a witch hunt.
We have amazing contributors, like Frank Avella, Ryan C. Showers, Zhuo-Zing Nu, Shadan Larki, Ben Morris, and our long lost friend, Stephen Holt. We still sort of consider Jazz Tangcay one of our staff even if she is now a hotshot over at Variety.
The Awards Daily staff are brave. They take a lot of shit. They have to endure all of the same wild-eyed purity cops without having done anything to deserve it. Let this serve as a thank you to each of them on Thanksgiving.
But when all of this madness collapses like a house of cards, as it has very other time in history when it has reared its ugly head, they will be better able to sleep at night knowing that they never let disagreements get in the way of their humanity. Or to put it another way, “no man is a loser who has friends.”
Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. Thanks for sharing your lives with me. Thanks for sharing your passion for movies and the Oscars with me. Thanks for enduring countless too-long think pieces. Thanks for hanging in there as part the vibrant AwardsDaily community through thick and thin, and rolling with all its notable changes.
Never forget, you can’t get to this — you can’t feel redemption – you can’t understand what life is about unless you crawl through that tunnel and come out the other side. Find your best teachers who will not coddle nor protect you from harm, but rather, will have a lasting impact on your ever-changing life.
And when you understand that life is a series of mistakes and the odd moment of happiness, you will really understand the ending of The Shawshank Redemption:
I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
Happy Thanksgiving, AwardsDaily family. I hope it’s a lovely day for each of you. I hope you will watch lots of good movies. I hope you will be with friends and family, and if not, that you can find some comfort in being apart. I hope.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating! Great to have Awardsdaily over the years most especially during this pandemic, to continue talking about films and cinema regardless of different perspectives.
Kinda worried when I read about your health, Ryan. But I hope everything’s fine and doing well now. Continue to stay and keep safe you all!
It’s a great site. And warmest wishes to Ryan, one of the key forces that keeps this place great.
“But I hope everything’s fine”
Same! Not seen him in the comments since my return. Hope all is well with him and his return to our midst is imminent. 🙂
I tend to agree with your assessments with the issues of the woke left, but I just went through an entire holiday hearing how Biden is Hitler, Gates will put chips in us and is evil, that Confederates were just flawed people, their statues are OK but not George Floyd, that liberals are the reason why this country has been bad for 50 years, and that anyone who disagrees with any of this is an idiot and a fascist. So…yeah the woke is pretty bad and intolerant, but the other side is just as horrifying and intolerant. Like my family believes that because the majority of New York State counties vote red that means they should get more representation than what a popular vote election entails. This is tyranny of the minority and don’t kid yourself that it’s insidious is prevalent and scary. And as shitty as the woke are, and they’re very shitty, I don’t hear these completely fascist ideas from them. And this is why their populism is full of shit.
The amazing thing about some in red state America is that while they wrap themselves up in the Constitution, they are willfully ignorant about the philosophical underpinnings of the document. John Locke for instance. He said that a regime cannot be legitimate without the consent of the governed, yet the modern GOP openly believes that no Democrat can legitimately win an election or hold public office. Trump has openly declared the last two democratic presidents to be illegitimate. Scores of voters are being impeded from voting. The “silent majority” may very well win in 2022 but they are taking us down a path that pithy blog postings won’t be able to undo.
Can you please, please, please write one essay this year without demonizing “The Left” for reasons that exist only in your head? Then I will have something to be truly thankful for.
There is something hilariously ironic about complaining about bullies on the internet while simultaneously comparing the majority of her readers to the East German secret police among other out of line jabs.
Refusing to see Trump as the Devil is not the same as treating the Left with one broad sweep as “human garbage”. Aggression towards you on this site is no more or less than your aggression towards “others”. Trump is not the Devil. He is a deeply flawed human being driven by self serving, deeply insecure human instincts and desire for self-aggrandizement, power and greed by all means and at all costs, capable of inciting great division and hatred. People forget that January 6 is not the end, it is the beginning. If we stop reminding ourselves how easy Mike Pence could have been hung or Nancy Pelosi murdered by a mob, we have no one but ourselves to blame the next time it happens with more dire consequences. The more we ignore, the more we condone and endorse, the more we encourage dissent, violence, vigilantism in service of partisanship. So my suggestion is, everyone stop playing victim and start taking some responsibility. This is not JUST ANOTHER protest featuring peace and tourism. This is an attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government based on what is now revealed to be lies, lies, damned lies. If it is not worth investigating and condemning as one of the most shameful chapters in modern American history, we do not deserve our democracy. The rise of “wokeness” is not the biggest problem in America today. The normalization of hate, division, vigilantism, and the desperate fragility of democracy is.
Finally, I hope The Power of the Dog wins Best Picture in 2022.
Well, you had me all the way until that last sentence.
Me t00 !
Here, Here!! That was well worth one of my few comments on this site. And behind The Dog, as well.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!!! Having this community to discuss film and awards is so wonderful. We don’t always have to agree, and that’s a good thing! I love seeing others opinions and being challenged and enlightened through different perspectives. Awards Daily is a a beautiful place to be, and am so grateful for it!
Thank you Sasha for being a fearless leader, and to all the other editors/contributors who keep things awesome!
Shout out to several of my favorites that I’ve come to love and be challenged by and always enjoy seeing their perspective—Phantom, Pete, Sammy, Jesus, Dave, and Claudiu—the real MVPS.
And me?
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Aww, thanks. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58feca75826270d7a9ebe889e30658161706ea75ab5258167bd3265c43497b16.gif
Thank you – and know that I always enjoy reading your comments as well! 🙂 Always thoughtful and level-headed…
Thanks to Sasha and everyone (aside one AD’er and they know who they are) for a much more civil discourse this year than in prior ones. May we observe and comment on an Oscar season that I believe all of us hope will be a little more representative of what Americans have enjoyed, instead of going rogue and off the reservation even more than they did in March. For the continued relevancy of their brand depends on it.
Thank you to Sasha, Ryan and the whole team for this site. I have come here to read and comment for many years now and, it has been a calm during various storms for me. Sure, I may disagree with plenty of what is written. But that’s life. Accept it or don’t. For me, the good far outweighs the not so good. And thank you also to my fellow commenters who have entertained me and taught me so much about this thing we love … movies and the Oscars. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Time to give thanks for ‘Licorice Pizza’. Or for fans of feature-length digital videos, nearly every other title in release. Happy Thanksgiving 🙂 !
*eats popcorn in European*
Happy Thanksgiving t0 everb0dy!
Ugh. Even a Thanksgiving message has to be Sasha canonizing herself as some brave Woke-buster. Yawn.
Anyway! I’m really grateful for this site and the insightful and passionate commenters.
Can you believe I used to think she wasn’t full of shit? Shame on me.
Well, this might be the first Happy Thanksgiving article that is about the “Stasi”, the “devil” and – of course – the “Nazis” – strange times, indeed. The USA seems to be in trouble!
If you haven’t figured out the game, Sasha is like those old nostalgia concerts where the one-hit wonders come out and perform their greatest “hit”.
And it ain’t Hey Jude either.
The song should be called Twittesteria.
The irony of the Tale of Two Cities callback is that the Jacobins aren’t the people complaining about the Chappelle special. Its Bannon, Gaetz, Boebert, and Greene. And how well did the Jacobin thing work out for anyone?
R0bespierre is my Spirit Animal!
It’s true, the angry mob storming the Capitol in order of a coup d’ état, that’s our Jacobin equivalent (at least in their radical later forming).
Happy thanksgiving to the crew of regulars who have commented here as long as I can remember, many as far back as the Crouching Tiger days (I hadn’t even met my wife and the mother of my two kids yet). The insights you have still make this a great little sandbox to play in.
Love the PTA sandbox reference.
Happy Thanksgiving to you Sasha and the indefatigable Ryan and the entire hard working team. The only succinct statement I can make to you in these times is ‘Fortune Favors The Bold’. Bold is Good. Bold is why you have been doing this for more than two decades and this is a robust place for bold discussion.
With thanks; Dave.
Thank you Sasha, and all the wonderful staff at AwardsDaily, and all the commenters around, for keeping this amazing site and this magical community alive! My favourite hobby wouldn’t be the same without you all!
Aggression against you?! You’re pretty aggressive against people and quite disrespectful of people’s right to their own opinions. So yeah… And by the way, the Cancel Culture is working. First you get canceled, then you get a Grammy nomination. Looking forward to Kevin Spacey’s spoken word album.
Speaking 0f Kevin Spacey what ever happened t0 the m0vie he was g0ing t0 d0 with Franc0 Ner0 and the Slate review 0f P0wer 0f the D0g talks ab0ut it’s h0m0 er0tic theme , h0w it’s alm0st a female centric versi0n 0f There Will Be Bl00d and h0w similar Phil Burbank’s character is t0 Daniel Plainview. S0 it’s n0t just me !
“I refuse to see Trump as the Devil Himself.”
Please list all the other American presidents that tried to overthrow democracy. We’ll wait while you do your due diligence.
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Trump isn’t the Devil. The Devil with all 0f his faults is much m0re classy and well sp0ken than the M0l0ch 0f Mar a Lag0 !