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Violence at the 94th Academy Awards
I have a few things I’d like to say about the 94th Academy Awards that took place this last Sunday.
One thing I’m not going to tell you is whether I condone violence under any circumstances. I live in a society in which violence occurs daily in many forms — some practiced by the state, much of it shown onscreen — and it seems to keep going on whether I condone it or not, so please forgive me if I choose not to waste my breath on that point.
The first thing I do want to say is that I wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would decide exactly who they want to be when they grow up, and then put together an awards ceremony consistent with that identity.
I get it that they want their annual awards ceremony to be something that people actually watch, and I understand that there is a long tradition of having comics emcee the show, and I know that they commonly insult many of the stars in attendance because — well, the stars are royalty, and it’s always the role of the jester to take a bit of air out of the stuffed shirts. And I know that not all of the jokes are going to be funny, and I appreciate that modern comedy has changed, even if I don’t always enjoy it.
Still….
My discomfort, and apparently Will Smith’s, seemed to start early in the show, when he and other…
