Mayank Shekhar: Is it the Oscars or Nobel Peace Prize?

From left Mahershala Ali winner of best actor in a supporting role Emma Stone winner of best actress in a leading role Viola Davis winner of best actress in a supporting role and Casey Affleck winner of best actor in a leading role PicAFPNo I didnt boycott the Oscars in 2016 They just didnt invite me Much like in 2017 I did mentally boycott the protest against it though as OscarsSoWhite gained momentum like a social meteor at the Academy Awards last year mdash because no coloured person had been nominated for best actingfilm honoursThis was reverse racism I felt Basing film nominations on colour seemed more detrimental to qualitative merit in art than beneficial to any race Lets look at race of another kind for instance As is quite likely what if you only saw black men charging down from all eight tracks of a 100 metres race at the Olympics finals Would you hashtag tweet OlympicsSoBlack NoBut the Oscars in 17 were more sensitive than me They came back fully sprinkling the nomination rows with coloured people in the house What had changed As People Magazine editor Jess Cagle pointed out on the red carpet show the Academy had changed literally in terms of members And there were films of undeniable merit mdash Hidden Figures Fences and Moonlight So this was in Cagles words part activism part coincidenceThe first award itself with Mahershala Ali the first Muslim ever to pick up an acting nod at the Oscars set the tone Not that Id ever thought of Oscars in terms of religion but Iranian Asghar Farhadi picking up best foreign film while the Muslim ban does not allow him to visit the US could not possibly have gone any other way even as the host Jimmy Kimmel announced the show was being watched in America and 225 countries that now hate usNo sir we were just watching you very closely bringing in unsuspecting blackcoloured tourists to interact with stars on the frontrow interspersing segments with more coloured people talking about their filmic inspirational moments besides a long but befitting tribute to the Chinese Jackie Chan as you lifted Mumbai boy Sunny Pawar on your arms with candies showered at LAs Dolby TheatreJust a year ago when we were legitimately aspiring for a postracial world given a halfblack man was already the planets most powerful President I wouldve barfed at this apparent overcompensation for an otherwise allwhite crowd that Oscars have always been for and aboutAward winners themselves for the longest have followed an arguably crackable formula 1 Harvey Weinstein should be the films producer 2 The film should be a biopic 3 There should be a British connection I havent tallied this years results but 23 Oscarnom at worst best picture gong at best According to research if you may more best pictureactor winners in the Oscars televised history have thanked Weinstein than God on stage Ive hung out with some Hollywood execs and theyre the most insular lot youll ever meet The world according to them is Hollywoodmdashthe former being merely the market that sometimes accounts for 70 per cent of the latters revenueSo why was I mistyeyed as if one of my own had won when Viola Davis delivered that heartwrenching speech calling art the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life Or when a gratified Barry Jenkins for Moonlight exulted For the next four years we will not forget you referring to the selfadmitted bigot Donald Trumps presidencyMaybe the slipup for Best Picture Oscar between La La Land and Moonlight was a Freudian slip Even if theres gentle blaxploitation or a faint hint of hypocrisy among Americans who voted Trump in now cheering on their black matesmdashwe will take it any day over overt frickin hatredBecause the times they are a changin Mitron Our concerns are more posttruth In less than a year even America looks as if it has turned upside down Trust the sickular libtards of the Academy to stand against the blowin wind At the show one heard far more of the catchwords intolerance immigration racial violence gender discrimination than films or fashionmdashalthough both still held the tentpoleHave the Oscars always been about taking a stand More or less yes Which is what prompted a publication this is an old quiz question to cry out loud Is this the Academy Awards or the bloody Nobel Peace Prize referring to the year 1982 that Richard Attenboroughs Gandhi pipped Steven Spielbergs ET to the post Ang Lees Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2000 was as much a gentle acknowledgement of Chinas political ascent as greatness of that particular film Should film awards be apolitical From a partisan politics point of view Of course But what does art however commercial embody if not empathy What is that response to injustice if not politicsAs emcee and antinational No 1 Kimmel livetrolled his President on Twitter from the Oscar stage and I thought to myself yup thats why America is great Only Gary Kasparov could have put it better brackets mine There is no weapon or wall that is more powerful for American security than America being secretly envied openly imitated and grudgingly admired across the worldMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom