Monday, March 8, 2010

Oh, Oscars! FAIL

I'm not talking about the hosts, the random "stars" who presented awards/introduced tributes. I'm focusing on the "In Memoriam" segment.

Lovely tribute with music from James Taylor. But they left off one film star who died last year:
Farrah Fawcett.

She was an award winning actress. She deserved a spot in that tribute. I know the show tends to drag on, but Michael Jackson never won accolades for his acting. In fact, his performance in "The Oz" was hardly Oscar-caliber. But her performance in "The Burning Bed" was her best work (sorry, fellas, "Charlie's Angels" jiggle does not count). If you've never seen it, you can watch it on YouTube (it's 9 parts, so be patient). Bea Arthur was also left out. She belongs in that tribute more than Michael!

Once again, Michael has left Farrah in his shadow. Her death last year was the story of the day - for just a few hours until Michael died. Now, it's like the Academy Awards has decided Michael was worthy of its time and Farrah was not. See for yourself:

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences spokeswoman Leslie Unger says the segment can only honor so many people.

"Every year it's an unfortunate reality that we can't include everybody," she tells the Associated Press.
Can't include everybody? Maybe if you took ten seconds out of that interpretive dance silliness - or ten seconds from awkward talk before a toss to the nominees - you COULD include everyone!

The point is, the Academy Awards are supposed to be ALL things cinema. That's why we sit through those technical awards of people most of us have never heard about nor will we remember. But to do an "In Memoriam" without Farrah? That's beyond wrong. It's just mean. I watched that segment twice last night, thinking I must have missed mention of her. Nope. They intentionally left her out.

Oscars, if you can't include everyone in your tribute, don't do it. Or find some other way to do it - perhaps scattering the tribute throughout the show. Want me to produce next year's show? I could do a better job! I certainly wouldn't leave an icon out of the ceremony.

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