The time has come

Aside from the fact that the award was announced by the uniquely insufferable Barbra Streisand, and that the nominee’s ex-husband’s name was mentioned in the news of the nomination as much as hers was, I was thrilled on Sunday night when Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for best director. It’s shocking to me that it took until 2010 for a woman to win the award, but it’s no more shocking than the fact that we haven’t had at least 20 female presidents of the country by now, and that the names and images of women do not adorn our currency. But better late, I suppose, than never. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed by her acceptance speech. Saddened, perhaps, is a better word for how I felt when she held her award up and said that it was for the women and men in uniform, for all they do. The audience applauded wildly and the following morning the conservative talkies were beside themselves with joy that “Hollywood” finally said something supportive about the troops. That’s the level of dialogue – if it can be called that – in this country, and that’s what not only saddens me but scares me as well. When you express anything other than absolute allegiance to the wars in which we’re engaged, you’re attacking the troops. That this sort of nonsense is still accepted blows my mind. I don’t like the idea of war, I don’t like the concept of war. I don’t like it when people kill each other intentionally. I don’t like it when groups of adults – nations, let’s say – need to use force to resolve differences. I don’t like it when stuff blows up. Saying that in public, somehow, has come to mean that I do not support the troops. Here’s how I feel about that: I’m not talking about the troops, I’m talking about the war. Those are two completely and utterly and absolutely separate nouns. The business of sloppily ladling one topic onto another like hot fudge onto ice cream is so infuriatingly stupid, almost as dumb as taking something one director says – Kathryn Bigelow, for example – and attributing it to Hollywood, as if Hollywood has a point of view, and opinion, as if Hollywood were somehow an actual person, which it is not (they don’t even make movies there, but that’s an even more complex subject). But as long as I’m on that path, it’s like saying that if you don’t like the entertainment industry, or aspects of the entertainment industry, you therefore – automatically and unconditionally – believe that there are no movies made that should make it to the big screen.