Eugene Robinson: Oscars showed how Trump's racial crusade is failing
“Let’s all be on the right side of history,” a jubilant Spike Lee said Sunday night as he accepted his Oscar. He needn’t have worried. Hollywood seems to have gotten the message.
For the most part, at least.
I’d have preferred seeing the biggest award, Best Picture, go to Lee’s razor-sharp “BlacKkKlansman” (because of its excellence) or even the comic-book extravaganza “Black Panther” (because of its massive impact on the movie business) rather than the actual winner, “Green Book.” But think about it: Out of the eight Best Picture nominees, three black-themed films? Plus Alfonso Cuaron’s lyrical “Roma,” about a dark-skinned indigenous maid working in Mexico City?
Hollywood finally managed to produce an awards show that might legitimately be called Oscars Not-So-White. The broadcast, blessedly lacking a host, featured such a diverse group of presenters and winners that at times it almost looked like the NAACP Image Awards, or perhaps the Hispanic Heritage Awards. Actor Samuel L. Jackson handed the gold statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay to his friend Lee, who leapt into Jackson’s arms. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro opened the Best Director envelope and was delighted to see “a name I can pronounce,” that of Cuaron.
Only the Best Picture award to “Green Book” reminded us that the motion picture industry’s wokeness is a work in progress.
There’s certainly nothing objectionable about the theme of racial reconciliation that “Green Book” ably presents, and the movie’s stars — Best Supporting Actor winner Mahershala Ali and Best Actor nominee Viggo Mortensen — are great artists in their prime. But there’s also nothing that feels particularly relevant about the film right now.
“Green Book” flips the script of an earlier Best Picture winner, “Driving Miss Daisy,” making the white character the low-status chauffeur and the black character the high-status passenger. But the message is no less simplistic.
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