George Clooney as punching bag

Friday, March 10, 2006

While doing my research for Iraq (trying to find a map that showed the proposed three-way split up of Iraq with a country for the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis), I kept coming across information about the film Syriana and specifically George Clooney.

I saw Syriana at a press preview thing. Yes, it complicated. But only because it was a tapestry woven of stories dealing with subject matter that is complicated. I liked the movie, although the torture scenes were a bit unbearable. And it was a movie that made you think. Not just think while you were watching it, but a movie you think about the next week or the next month. Possibly every time you fill your gas tank you think about this movie.

Anyway, a lot of the stuff I pulled up via the web was about George Clooney winning an Oscar on Sunday for his role in the above movie. Now, George Clooney is the favorite Hollywood punching bag of the right wing media (Ann Coulter, O'Reilly, et al). And so I shouldn't have been so shocked by Peggy Noonan's op-ed piece called Boy in the Bubble.

First, let's just settle that Peggy Noonan doesn’t know what the hell she is talking about. It comes across in the little things (listing the Golden Globes and Foreign Press awards as separate things). But, it comes across loudly in bigger things.

Noonan's ignorance is shown when she states that Mr. Clooney just "read an article" and now wants to pontificate. Mr. Clooney would be the first to say that as a celebrity you better know what you are talking about before you open your mouth. Or else they will call you on the details.

Noonan's ignorance is shown when she states that Mr. Clooney claimed himself to be a hero. Maybe a superhero, in reference to Batman. But, where in this transcript of his acceptance speech below. Do you see this self-hero reference?


Wow. Wow. All right, so I'm not winning director. It's the funny thing about winning an Academy Award, it will always be synonymous with your name from here on in. It will be Oscar winner, George Clooney. Sexiest Man Alive, 1997. Batman, died today in a freak accident at a -- Listen, I don't quite know how you compare art. You look at these performances this year, of these actors and unless we all did the same role, everybody put on a bat suit, and we'll all try that. Unless we all did the same role, I don't know how you compare it. They are stellar performances and wonderful work, and I'm honored, truly honored to be up here. And finally, I would say that, you know, we are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. And we, you know, we bring up subjects. This Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be a part of this Academy. Proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch. And I thank you so much for this.

I see nothing that says "look at me! what a hero I am!" Some of these reactionaries are so good at putting words in people's mouths.

Noonan's ignorance is shown when she talks about how Hollywood is out of touch with America. Or at least what America wants at the box office. All the irony aside that someone who writes for the Wall Street Journal would have any clue about what middle-America is like or wants, I can only wonder if Ms. Noonan would prefer a world where movies consisted of "Forty Year Old Virgin" and "The Wedding Crashers". Both are very funny movies and topped the box office. But to say they are examples of great movie making is like saying comic strips are great literature. Sometimes making box office bonanza movies equals selling out, or selling your soul.
And that's what it comes down to. That "movies with a message" are not setting box office records. So, in Ms Noonan's world, that means that Hollywood is out of touch with what America.

I want movies that make me think. I want movies that teach me. And if Mr. Clooney is the teacher, all the better. (I mean, who wouldn't want to be Teacher's Pet?!) And he isn't the only one making these "movies with a message". One only has to look at the movies that were up for Best Picture to see many lessons we can all learn. The first lesson being that quality doesn't always equal box office quantity.

But, I've also read right-wing Op-Ed pieces that stated that Hollywood isn't ahead of the curve but 50 years behind it. They state segregation (a point in Clooney's Oscar speech) ended decades ago. Yes, formalized and legalized segregation has ended. But one only has to look around St. Louis to see segregated neighborhoods which create segregated schools. And even our churches, which is to worship one God, are (for the most part) segregated along racial and ethnic lines.

These same pundits point to Good Night and Good Luck as an example of a story that is too old to bother to tell. The Crucible isn't about witch trials (which would seem irrelevant in the 1950's) but more about what was happening during that decade when Arthur Miller wrote the stage classic. And if you think that Good Night and Good Luck isn't relevant today, maybe you do need some schoolin'. It relates as much to today' society as it is a historical portrayal of what happened 50 years ago.
posted by suzyjax on 3/10/2006 12:59:00 PM > 0 comments

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