Oscar Madness!

Movies and TV, TV and movies. For decades they were, for better and worse, what defined us.

Video games were just a bleep-bloop-pew on the horizon. The Internet hadn’t yet caught us in its web. And TikTok wasn’t even on the clock.

But films, which have provided widespread escape and inspiration for America since the 1930s and ’40s, and network television, which began permeating our culture in the ’50s, have felt like they’d never loosen their grip on popular culture.

Oscar day — today! — is traditionally when they come together.

Never mind that box office totals in general and TV ratings for the broadcast have been steadily eroding, or that the ceremony is ditching network television altogether in 2028 and will be moving to YouTube the following year. The show is still a very big deal, as Hollywood takes our temperature on everything from art and fashion to politics and culture.

Think about this: In 2015, all 20 nominees in the acting categories were white. Of course, by 2016 — no, wait, in 2016 it happened again. Best actor and supporting actor, best actress and supporting actress — all white. Two years in a row, 40 nominations.

#OscarsSoWhite became a major social media hashtag then, forcing the Academy to pay more attention to racial disparities than at any time since 1973, when Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage at Marlon Brando’s behest to decline his best actor award for The Godfather. Brando was protesting Hollywood’s insensitivity toward Native Americans and never accepted the trophy.

Did Hollywood listen? Well, Littlefeather wasn’t given time to read much of Brando’s eight-page statement and was effectively blacklisted from future work in film and television. But at least John Wayne, who rushed toward the stage, was prevented from physically ejecting her. So there’s that.

By comparison, #OscarsSoWhite had much greater impact. Coming during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which surged a few years later after the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, the Academy was aware enough to name Chris Rock as host in 2016, and Rock addressed the issue head-on with his signature biting humor throughout the night.

The Academy was slow to respond, but stars didn’t let up and neither did the fans. Eventually, the powers that be agreed to a five-year plan, effectively doubling the number of women and minorities in the Academy.

And now, a decade later, let me be the first to pre-congratulate Michael B. Jordan for his historic seventh NBA championship first Oscar win for playing not one but two roles as identical twins in Sinners, a film that probably wouldn’t have been made earlier this century, much less be honored with 16 nominations, more than any other film in history. You can see him collect his statue and hear what he has to say about it all tonight, probably sometime during the final hour of the ABC telecast.

Because of the changing demographic makeup of Academy voters, and I’m especially thinking here about its youthification, I don’t feel too qualified to make a lot of predictions. But some winners, like Jordan, are slam-dunks.

Jessie Buckley, best actress nominee for Hamnet? Start clearing mantel space and writing your acceptance speech. Delroy Lindo for Sinners? Your lifetime achievement award in the form of a supporting actor win is coming tonight. Paul Thomas Anderson? You’ve been nominated as best director three times before, but this fourth one for One Battle After Another will be your first victory.

As for best picture — not a slam-dunk but most pundits see it going to either One Battle or Sinners, and I have no more insight than that to add.

Truth is, I’m not too invested in winners and losers this year, but I am hoping to see some great acceptance speeches. If they’re in line with my political views, so much the better.

My best shot there would have been Sean Penn, who’s nominated for a quirky, larger-than-life performance in One Battle After Another. Penn is known for speaking his mind whenever he’s got a platform, but I’ve already given that category to Lindo.

We’ll just have to hope for some surprises, and luckily there are always a few.

Thanks to all who’ve checked out my podcasting debut a week ago, especially those of you who joined us live with questions and comments that we never saw or responded to because of a careless, technical oversight that I attribute to first-time jitters.

I’ll do better next time, I promise.

The conversation was still great, mainly because of my guest, the celebrated anti-war activist and Vietnam veteran, Scott Camil, who generously shared incredible stories from his 50-plus years in the public eye and beyond. A link to our talk will remain available on my Substack page for those who missed it.

Substack is doing more to make these livestream conversations appealing to hosts, guests and viewers alike, and I intend to keep at it until things are running a little more smoothly.

So stay with me, send suggestions for possible future topics and guests, and if you’re not yet a paying subscriber, now would be a great time to upgrade.

Of course, free subscribers are appreciated too, so spread the word and let’s keep building our community.

Movies and TV, politics, sports… There’s a lot of pop culture out there to assimilate. You might as well start off here.