France Wins the Oscars: Part 5

This should be read as a direct continuation of; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/france-wins-oscars-part-4.html

The Danish Girl: Aside from race one of the very fashionable trends amongst student activists of late has been transgender rights. 

Amid the demands for unisex bathrooms and all the talk about Caitlyn Jenner you kind of get the impression that there are legions of yuppie, middle-class parents secretly wishing their children are transgendered because it would make for the ultimate fashion accessory.

This is quite a difficult topic for me to get excited about because for many years I lived in Brighton which is really the UK's gay capital. As such I've got to know numerous men who want to transition into women along with numerous women who've transitioned into men and pretty much every shade of strange in between.

Therefore if you tell me that someone is transgendered I really don't need ten minutes staring out over the beautiful scenery to compose myself from the shock.

However it was way back in 1998 that Israeli post-transition female singer Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest. Transgenderism really became a global issue when South African runner Caster Semenya was outed as transgender following the 2009 Athletics World Championships.

As a result here in 2016 people are really starting to get bored of a topic that every angle has been worked through numerous times.

Telling the story of Lili Elbe - one of the first known people to transition from male to female - The Danish Girl really helps to make this point. From the fact it's set in the 1920's it should be obvious that transgenderism isn't some fad we've simply made up the last couple of years.

The nomination of Alicia Vikander for Best Actress in a Supporting Role also goes some way to answer that much talked about issue this year - membership of the Academy itself. Although I can't say that I'm familiar with the Swedish actresses work I get the impression from her peers that she is extremely talented and exactly the sort of person that the Academy wants as a member. 

The problem is that to be considered for membership of the Academy an actor or actress has to have appeared in a significant speaking role in three movies considered worthy of the high standards of the Academy. You then have to been nominated by two current members of the Academy - in the acting field - and finally be approved by the membership committee.

Vikander has so far only really been in one movie of Academy standards - "Ex Machina" (2015). Although this was nominated and won in some of the more obscure categories this year due to a distribution problem it was released at that awkward point where it was really too late for last year's Oscars and a little bit too early for this year's Oscars. 

As such Vikander seems to have been fast-tracked into Academy membership because although nomination and even victory don't automatically qualify you both award nominations and membership are handled by the same committee. 

Carol: This tells the story of a lesbian relationship between a middle-aged married woman and a much younger woman in 1950's America back when homosexuality was illegal. 

So in a similar vein to The Danish Girl this makes the point that homosexuality is neither a choice or some sort of modern invention.

Rather missing the point of their own movie the "Filmfour" division of the British government who had a hand in producing Carol are already using at as an example of how edgy and controversial they are.

Meanwhile hardcore movie-buffs are all sitting there going; "Meh. Surely it's just a tame remake of Liliana Cavani's "The Berlin Affair" from 1985. Even if the rich colour palate and extensive work done by the costume and design departments really do help bring the glamour of the era to life."

Before I finally finish I should also mention a movie that's something of a wildcard not really fitting in with the year's main themes.

Steve Jobs: The big attraction to this biopic is that it employs a very inventive narrative. Rather than telling all of Steve Job's life story it instead focuses in on three specific events in his life. These events are then played out in real time.

The Oscars is obviously a celebration of stories and the different ways to tell them. Therefore this type of new and innovative approach is something that the professionals are very interested in.

Also in the movie Jobs is portrayed as a creative genius albeit an extremely arrogant one. In fact at one point another character is shown telling him; "It's not binary. You don't have to choose between being a genius and being polite!"

With the movie industry being dominated by many creative geniuses amid all the Oscar parties it might rather difficult working out exactly which 'Steve Jobs' is being referred to.

23:25 on 29/2/16 (UK date).

France Wins the Oscars: Part 4

This should be read as a direct continuation of; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/france-wins-oscars-part-3.html 

Trumbo: This is another 1950's set biopic telling the story of Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo. It focuses on a very dark period in American and particular Hollywood history.

Being what I think these days would be termed a "Progressive" or a "Liberal" Trumbo joined the Communist Party of America during the Second World War back when the US and the Soviet Union were still officially allies.

Then when the Cold War began America was gripped by fervent waves of anti-Communist paranoia. This was largely led by Senator Joe McCarthy and his Un-American Activities Committee. They were particularly worried that the Hollywood producers of movies like "The Wizard of Oz" - I recently read an analysis of it as a metaphor for the 1896 Bryan V McKinley Presidential race - were secretly brainwashing their audiences with Communist propaganda.

In 1947 Trumbo and nine others - collectively; "The Hollywood Ten" - were summoned before McCarthy's committee and asked to name other members of the Communist Party of America. Although I've heard it said that Trumbo was more interested in worker's rights and civil rights than keeping the Red Flag flying over the Kremlin all 10 refused to testify. So in 1950 they were all jailed for 11 months for contempt of Congress.

Upon release from prison the Hollywood Ten found that they had all been blacklisted by every Hollywood studio. As the studio system still very much dominated the movie industry in those days that blacklisting effectively meant that the Hollywood Ten's careers were over and they were doomed to never work again.

Trumbo however refused to give up and spent years secretly working on scripts for the "B-Movies" that eventually began the Blacksploitation movies of the 1970's. 

He actually won the 1954 Best Screenplay Oscar for "Roman Holiday" but due to the blacklisting Trumbo had to let his friend Ian McLellan Hunter take all the credit. In 1957 Trumbo again won the Best Screenplay Oscar for "The Brave One" even though at the time it was credited to "Robert Rich" - a fictitious pseudonym of Trumbo's.

As such Trumbo serves to remind the Oscars So White protesters of Hollywood's long history of activism on liberal and civil rights issues. It also makes the point that perhaps there are worst hardships to endure then not winning an Oscar at your first attempt.

Officially this anti-Communist blacklisting ended with the Presidency of John F. Kennedy and Trumbo being brought in from the cold by Kirk Douglas to write the script for "Spartacus" - suddenly the famous "I am Spartacus!" scene makes a lot more sense. However the suspicion has always been that the blacklists never really went away and continued just below the surface.

Take for example the 1976 movie "Rocky." This is of course about boxing. However it is also about the deep yearning of a working class man in post-industrial Philadelphia's to do whatever it takes to become part of the wealthy elite. 

I've long felt that particularly under President Ronald Regan this reference to the struggle of the working class was viewed as so dangerously close to Communist propaganda that Sylvester Stallone was forced to make the truly awful "Rocky IV" to prove his flag waving patriot credentials.

So despite what it might say on the official documents I doubt Sylvester Stallone's nomination this year has anything whatsoever to do with the movie "Creed."

There appears to have been an example of this type of political censorship at this year's Oscars. Based on the nominations I get the distinct impression that the Academy was keen on humiliating Turkey for its support for ISIL by handing "Mustang" Best Foreign Feature and Charlotte Rampling Best Actress. While it's certainly abusive I supposed that you could say that Rampling's character in "The Night Porter" is the child bride of the Nazi.

The Best Foreign Feature award was handed out right before Lady Gaga took to the stage to promote the "It's On Us" campaign against sexual violence. She was introduced by US Vice President Joe Biden. As Biden is the US' point man on Turkey this would have been hugely embarrassing for him.

Therefore the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seems to have been intentionally playing up the security threat to the Oscars in order to put pressure on the Academy not to do anything to embarrass the regime. 

For example just on Thursday (25/2/16) there was a shooting spree in Hesston, Kansas which was absolutely littered with references to the Wizard of Oz. On Saturday (27/2/16) members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were violently attacked by Black Lives Matter protesters in Anaheim, California and forced to stab three of the attackers in self-defence.

It seemed this pressure paid off with Best Foreign Feature going to "Son of Saul." Due to the nomination of Kate Winslet I suspect that the Academy was well aware that this was a cynical attempt by Hungary to take everyone for fools. The question is; Does Biden realise that? After all "Theeb" clearly went right over the heads of the Obama administration.

Charlotte Rampling's Best Actress Oscar went to Brie Larson for the "Room." I suspect that the "Old Nick" character in the movie would argue that he wasn't keeping Larson's "Ma Joy" character prisoner. He was merely keeping her safe.

Sylvester Stallone's Best Supporting Actor then had to go to Mark Rylance to keep Bridge of Spies in public view. 

The Best Documentary Short went to the Pakistani movie "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" which deals with many of the same issues as Mustang. Only in a shorter format and a less high profile category.

I should make clear though that I'm not trying to detract from the achievement of any of the winners. After all the mere fact they'd been nominated for an Oscar means that they've excelled.

With their deafening cries of "Racism!" and "White Privilege!" the Black Lives Matter campaign seems to have become the new McCarthyism crushing any attempt at free speech or free expression that dares to get in their way.

The most high profile examples of this probably come from the news coverage of all these police shootings. In particular the Walter Scott shooting in South Carolina and the Laquan McDonald and Cedrick Chatman shootings both in Chicago, Illinois.

In the America there is a common law principle known as; "The Fleeing Felon Rule." This holds that if a felon is fleeing you are entitled to shoot and kill them to prevent their escape. This was tightened in the SCOTUS ruling Tennessee V Garner (1985) so you had to have an honestly held belief that the fleeing felon posed a danger to the wider public. It was tightened again in the SCOTUS ruling Graham V Conner (1989) to ensure that the belief not only had to be honest but also reasonable.

The video of the Walter Scott shooting quite clearly establishes that he is a felon - by way of assault of a police officer - and that he is fleeing. It also shows him to be in possession of an offensive weapon creating more than a reasonable belief that he is posing an imminent danger. Likewise we have footage of McDonald and Chatman both fleeing the scene of a felony in possession of an offensive weapon.

As such none of these cases are anywhere near as outrageous as the Black Lives Matter protesters would have you believe. However you won't hear any of that on the news. 

Honestly I cannot count the number of times I've watched Anderson Cooper on CNN interview not one but four talking heads who all agree that these cases are murder plain and simple despite the fact that is a clear legal nonsense.

Obviously you expect that from the left-leaning media such as CNN. 

However it seems that even the traditionally right-leaning Fox News feels unable to fulfil that most basic duty of a journalist - reporting the facts - when it comes to Black Lives Matter protests. To me the reason for this seems clear - they're terrified that if they dare disagree with Black Lives Matter then Black Lives Matter will come and burn down their houses.

During the Northern Irish Troubles the British government passed a law that broadcasters were not allowed to give voice to the terrorist cause. The Obama administration appears to have passed a similar law - US broadcasters now may only give voice to the terrorist cause.

The Black Lives Matter campaign seems to be just the tip of the iceberg though with a much wider attack on free speech going on in university campuses across the US and even the UK & Europe. Here thousands of students are demanding "Safe-Spaces" to protect them from people they disagree with and "Triggering Warnings" on academic texts that challenge their world view.

The term "Safe-Space" has its roots in the time when homosexuality was illegal. It referred to a location - such as a bar - where people could acknowledge that they were gay without being arrested or having their heads kicked-in.

In its modern context "Safe-Space" seems to mean a place where you will get your head kicked-in for expressing a political view - no matter how reasonable or peaceful - that the group-think doesn't approve of. Melissa Click being a case in point.

Black Lives Matter have helped bring this campus culture into the mainstream. Particularly with the campaign to have the Confederate flag removed from the civil war memorial outside the South Carolina statehouses. It feels as if they're trying to remove any reminder that the Democrat Party backed the Confederacy during the civil war against the Republican backed Unionists. 

Recently I saw Helen Mirren who stars in Trumbo being interviewed on the UK's uber left-wing Channel 4 News about the movie. The presenter Jon Snow asked her if it was a reference to Donald Trump. She responded with the sort of withering look that only Helen Mirren can deliver.

Straight Outta Compton: The lack of recognition to this movie has frequently been cited by Oscars So White as an example of racism. 

However it seems obvious that it was overlooked because much like "Selma" last year it made the cardinal sin of trying to whitewash an uncomfortable element out of the story. Specifically Dr Dre's violent misogyny. 

The only nomination that it did receive was for the screenplay - sometimes known as a "Treatment" - which was given to the two white screenwriters. That strikes me as a particularly pointed snub. 

The director Felix Gary Gray should probably be grateful that very talented people took the time out of their busy schedules to explain his mistake to him. 

Joy: This tells the true story of Joy Mangano who in 1989 was single mother living in her mother's basement trying to care for her depressed mother, her elderly grandmother and her two children while trying to hold down a full-time job. 

One day Joy invents a self-wringing mop. She then seeks out investors and a manufacturer to build this new mop. After successfully launching her new product on the home shopping networks such as QVC Joy discovers that the manufacturer has been ripping her off all along patenting the design for themselves and stealing all the profits. This forces Joy to embark on a whole new battle to get back what is rightfully hers. She was successful and is now a multi-millionaire.

This story obviously sends the message to the Oscars So White protesters that in life many, many people face hardships. However some of them just get on with it and succeed anyway rather than constantly blaming everyone else and demanding special treatment.

The movie also brings together much of the cast and crew from the 2012 multi-Oscar winning movie "Silver Linings Playbook."In that movie whenever Bradley Cooper's character - Pat Solitano - hears the song that was played at his wedding it drives him into violent, uncontrollable, near psychotic rage. 

When mental health professionals talk about "Triggering" that is what they mean.

What we have in the Black Lives Matter movement and across university campuses is boring people trying to make themselves seem more interesting. And failing.

20:10 on 29/2/16 (UK date).

France Wins the Oscars: Part 3.

This should be read as a direct continuation of; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/france-wins-oscars-part-2.html

Probably the most disappointing thing about the "Oscars So White" protests is that this year's nominations featured a number of movies specifically intended to mock them. Unfortunately this all seems to have gone completely over the heads of the protesters.

Bridge of Spies: This biopic tells the story of James B. Donovan who was an insurance lawyer in 1950's New York City. 

In 1957 the FBI arrested a Soviet spy by the name of Rudolf Abel. Rather than summarily executing Abel as they were entitled to do the US government decided to give him a civilian trial to highlight their superior morals and minimise Soviet propaganda. Donovan was appointed to act as Abel's lawyer.

Although they wanted to give the appearance of due process Abel's trial was never intended to be anything other than a show trial that would result in his conviction. As such Donovan wasn't expected to work too hard in his defence and if he did with little experience of criminal law it was unlikely that he would be able to do anything like a good job.

Donovan though surprised everyone and angered many by mounting a passionate and competent defence of Abel. Although Abel was guilty and therefore rightly convicted Donovan still managed to persuade the Judge to spare him the death penalty and instead sentence him to 30 years in prison. Donovan then went and appealed Abel's case to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on a 4th Amendment issue and only narrowly lost on a 5-4 split decision.

As a such much of the first half of Bridge of Spies is spent championing the founding American values of justice for all, the protections of the Constitution and how we shouldn't let fear or hatred stop us from granting those rights to all.

I think it's fair to assume that at the time Rudolf Abel was about as popular as alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof is today.

The movie then moves forward a few years to 1960 when an American U2 spyplane crashes over the Soviet Union and the pilot - Francis Gary Powers - is captured. Impressed by the integrity he showed during the Abel trial the Soviets request that Donovan is brought in to negotiate a prisoner exchange of Abel for Powers.

This exchange is set to take place in Berlin, Germany which at the time was split between Capitalist West Germany and Communist East Germany. Donovan soon learns that the East Germans are holding another American - Frederic Pryor - prisoner as a spy. That prompts Donovan to embark on an extremely complex, tri-party negotiation between the US, the Soviet Union and East Germany that would see Abel freed in exchange for both Powers and Pryor.

Despite the negotiations coming to the brink of collapse on numerous occasions eventually all three prisoners are exchanged in a huge victory for the integrity of the quiet American.

Obama desperately wishes he could claim that mantle as part of his legacy.

Although I don't know what prominence it is given to it in the movie the U2 spyplane that Powers crashed originally took off from United States Air Force (USAF) base Incirilk in Turkey. In the immediate aftermath the Soviet Union demanded that Turkey ceased all similar operations from Incirilk and Turkish President Mahmut Celâl Bayar agreed. Already under pressure from the US over his refusal to end the production of Opium Bayar didn't last long after that and was removed from office in the coup of 1960.

A lot of the current problems in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stem from the US being over-sensitive to Turkey's demands in return for the use of USAF Incirilk.

So that was a hell of a good spot from a movie that started principal photography some 14 months before the US began its anti-ISIL operations.

Spotlight: Yep. It made both lists.

The Boston Globe investigation didn't just uncover child abuse by the Catholic Church. It also uncovered a vast conspiracy between the Church, the local police, politicians and the Courts to cover up that abuse. If you know what you are looking for you can see a similar sort of conspiracy at work as part of the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Probably the most blatant example and the one I'm most familiar with is the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, Maryland. Here I think it is very obvious to all that Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby is conducting a politically motivated vendetta against the accused police officers in the hope of getting her husband Nick Mosby elected as city Mayor.

What's worse is that none of Baltimore's Courts seem prepared to stop her.

For example a mistrial was recently declared in the first and strongest prosecutions against William G. Porter. Although it's unlikely we'll ever truly know what happened in the secrecy of the jury room the strong rumour I'm now hearing is that 11 jurors voted "Not Guilty" while just one holdout voted "Guilty." If that is true then the Judge should have accepted the majority verdict of Not Guilty.

Failing that the Judge really should have dismissed the case with prejudice as regards the 5th Amendment ending proceedings.

However with the case against Porter continuing to proceed a whole new argument has emerged over whether Porter can be denied his 5th Amendment right to silence by being compelled to testify in the trial of Caesar R. Goodson Jr. - the second officer to go on trial. As a result the entire case has ground to a halt while the issue of Porter's testimony is resolved.

I'm getting the distinct impression that this delay is the result of a conspiracy between the Mosby campaign and Baltimore's Courts to delay all the trials until after the Mayoral election. The intention being to prevent the Mosby campaign being handed six damaging defeats in quick succession right before the election.

However I think it's worth noting that on the day Porter's case went to the Supreme Court of Maryland, February 19th (19/2/16) Marilyn Mosby was invited to address the state Congress on the issue of child sexual abuse. 

17:50 on 29/2/16 (UK date).