The Shadow of Trump at the Oscars
President Donald Trump was 3,000 miles from the Oscars on Sunday evening, but his presence was greater at the Dolby Theater than anyone in the room. From the opening monologue of Jimmy Kimmel to the acceptance speeches to advertisements punctuating the ceremony, he thought that sometimes the Oscars were more focused on the delivery of an extremely public reprimand to Trump than on the celebration of the art of cinema.
The question is to what extent these forms of protest are effective in a media environment in which more than half of Americans think that the press is too critical of the current president. Kimmel was one of the few personalities in the room who mentioned Trump; Others have largely chosen to impose, without saying your name. While the blows on the president and his Twitter fixation made easy punchlines, the most guilty and memorable moments of the night were those who chose to show, not to say – to reveal how Trump’s policies are in direct opposition to the spirit of art in general and the film in particular.
Trump was an irresistible target for Kimmel, who was introduced into the presenter Oscar from the start. “This program is watched live by millions of Americans,” he joked, “and in the world in more than 225 countries that hate us now.” He was briefly serious, forcing all those who watched to reach out to a person with whom they disagree and have “a positive and considerate conversation, not as liberals or conservatives” – something, affirmed, could really make America again. But then, it was back to business as usual: to thank the internal security for allowing the French actress Isabelle Huppert in the country, emphasizing the drastic weight loss of Andrew Garfield for a proof role that Hollywood discriminates not against nationality, but against age and weight. An extended gag pressing the “interest -free performance of Meryl Streep” seemed directly torn from Trump clean criticism of the actress after the Golden Globes.
The second prize awarded, for makeup and hairstyle, went to Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson for Squad suicide. “I am an immigrant. I come from Italy,” said Bertolazzi, accepting the price. “I work in the world and it’s for all immigrants.” His feelings were taken up in more specific terms by the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who won the best foreign language film for The sellerBut chose not to attend the ceremony to protest against the ban on Trump immigration on seven majority-major countries. His prize was accepted by the American Iranian astronaut Anusheh Ansari, who read the Farhadi declaration aloud. “Divide the world into We And Our enemies The categories creates fears, “she said, Farhadi calling for” inhuman “immigration law earlier this year.” The filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break the stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy we need today more than ever. »»
A presenter also took the opportunity to put a human face on Trump’s policies. The actor Gael Garcia Bernal, co-presenting the price of the best animated feature film, slipped into a rapid declaration, saying: “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I am against any form of wall that separates us.” And last year’s winner of the best support actor, Mark Rylance, briefly thought about how actors and filmmakers could work to unite the Americans. “The opposition is great in cinema and stories, it’s wonderful in sport, it’s really good in society,” he said. “The things that these films made me remember and to think were the difficulty – something that women seem better than men – to oppose hate.”
But Kimmel’s well on Trump’s jokes has never been dry. The movie Marvel Doctor Strange was not only nominated for the visual effects, he was also “appointed secretary of housing and urban development”. Presenting the president of the academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Kimmel noted how refreshing he was to have “a president who believes in the arts and the sciences”. At one point, noting Trump’s Twitter silence at the ceremony, Kimmel had his phone project on a screen at the back of the stage, and tweeted: “Hey @realdonaldtrump u up?” To the president, followed by the hashtag “#merylshasheshi”.
It was lagging behind the expert level, with his goal only to lower Trump and remind him that he is more in ruin in Hollywood than ever. It is cathartic, perhaps, but it comes from a place of power-there is not much that the president can do this directly threatens the film industry. But he can, for example, defeat the NEA, which has a long history of helping projects (such as the 2012 drama South South South Beasts) and artists who go up later to the glory of the Academy. Underline the personal failures of the president will almost certainly lead to Viral tweetsBut to determine how its policies harm the arts of arts and entertainment could have a deeper long -term impact.
The most powerful moments of the ceremony, in the end, were finally those who illuminated the people excluded by the policies of the president. Accept the Oscar for the best scenario suitable for Moonlight, Also the best value winner, Barry Jenkins had a message for the people for whom the film was made. “For all the people who think that there is no mirror for you,” he said, “that you think your life is not reflected, the Academy has your back, the aclu has your back, we have their backs, and for the next four years … We will not forget you.” In one of the most remarkable Oscar’s acceptance speeches of all time, Viola Davis explained her mission to make art. “You know, there is a place where everyone with the greatest potential is gathered and it is the cemetery,” she said. “People ask me all the time –What kind of stories do you want to tell, alto-alto? And I say to exhume these bodies. Exhume these stories – the stories of people who dreamed of great and who have never seen these dreams materialize, the people who fell in love and lost. »»
This is this kind of message that seems to have the most impact in the next four years. On the one hand, President Trump – for once – seemed remarkably resistant to all the fishermen who occur on stage. “Some of you will be able to come here on this scene this evening and deliver a speech on which the President of the United States will tweet in all the ceilings in his breast of 5 am tomorrow,” said Kimmel at some point. However, however, there was not such an answer.
