Tuning Out the Oscars

Varney & Company
August 9, 2018

https://www.steynonline.com/8751/tuning-out-the-oscars

Programming note: Mark returns for a full hour of guest-host-level semi-professionalism on this evening's edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight", live across the continent at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific, with a rerun at midnight Eastern. And tomorrow, Friday, join him for a full three hours at Rush's 30th-anniversary Golden EIB Microphone on America's Number One radio show. We hope you'll tune in.

This morning Steyn started the day on one of his favorite shows, "Varney & Company" on Fox Business. Stuart quizzed me about Venezuela's collapse and the resurgence of beards, but Fox chose to post our discussion on Hollywood. Click below to watch:

If you're a Mark Steyn Club member please feel free to add your thoughts below. If you'd rather bend Mark's ear on person, then there's a berth waiting for you on the inaugural Mark Steyn Club Cruise.

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34 Reader Comments

Babs J • Aug 11, 2018 at 00:47

A GENERAL COMMENT: I'm really perplexed by the hyper-critical comments here about movies and actors, made by people who have never made a movie themselves and never acted in one either, I'm betting, and from those who state on their own how long it's been since they watched one. It's like the people who sit in the stands at a basketball or football game and critique the coaches and players up one side and down the other, yet they never played the game (or if they did they weren't any good) nor coached a game, and probably never read a rule book nor studied the opposition. It's also like the largely anonymous YouTube viewers who trash the videos and short films of creators and influencers, just because they can. I've been both an actor, a writer and a head coach and you might think I would be very critical of those in the industry, but even I am far more charitable to others than I'm seeing here in this thread, regardless of my political affiliations nor the calibre of their work. I always stay at the end of a movie and watch ALL the credits, whether I particularly like the movie or not, just out of respect for the effort and the risk-takers, while everyone else gets up instantly and leaves the theater. It take a lot of guts to put your work out there for everyone to tear apart just because they can. Dinesh Desouza's movie "Death of a Nation" is being trashed by Leftists as I write this, just because they can and are full of hate for conservatives and the Truth. Most likely none of them even saw the movie. I saw it Wednesday night and would encourage everyone to see it, but more, to be supportive of the effort and the risks taken by those associated with it. Because they DO risk a lot in this political climate.

Ian Cory

Babs J • Aug 11, 2018 at 10:56

The best judge of a pair of shoes is the wearer not the cobbler.

Babs J

Ian Cory • Aug 11, 2018 at 12:52

Try comparing apples with apples. Movies are a one size fits all. LOL.

Ian Cory

Babs J • Aug 11, 2018 at 14:12

I don't understand your comment. If I've bought a pair of shoes and I don't think they are very good as against other shoes I have bought, am I going to compare this pair of shoes with a shirt?

Babs J

Ian Cory • Aug 11, 2018 at 15:31

Ian, since a wearer is not a cobbler and has no idea what it takes to make a pair of shoes, any shoes, a wearer's judgment means relatively nothing. A wearer likely doesn't know why he doesn't like the fit much less how to correct it, and a wearer's opinion has nothing to do with another wearer's foot and fit. Perhaps he bought the wrong size, so then the problem is not with the shoes, but with the wearer's choice. Perhaps the wearer's feet are too wide or too narrow. That's not the fault of the shoes either. Perhaps the wearer has bunions. Again, not the fault of the shoes. Sometimes shoes have to be broken in and the wearer doesn't wait to do that before assessing a negative judgment. So the best judge of a pair of shoes is NOT the wearer at all. That's too narrow an opinion and biased and likely based entirely on faulty criteria. The best judge of the shoes IS the cobbler (or another cobbler), because only he/she knows how the shoes were made and the quality of the materials used to make them and the standards for that particular style of shoe. He/she does their best to create the best shoe possible, given budget and materials, and takes a certain amount of risk in putting them up for sale, knowing not every conceivable size and shape of foot will be ideal for the shoe, and also knowing that wearer's can be awfully dumb when selecting shoes. The cobbler is at the mercy of the wearer being honest and taking responsibility for their uninformed and often careless decisions. But even if that were not all true, buying shoes is not the same as the making of a movie, therefore I said please compare apples with apples, and not with shoes or oranges even. Lastly, you cannot compare one pair of shoes against another pair of shoes unless made by the same cobbler with the same materials and all other criteria. Do you go compare one author's book against every other author and book ever published? Of course not. That's not fair nor meaningful. Compare a movie with the last one made by that director in the same genre. I'd be ok with that. At least you're not comparing a war movie against a romance or against movies made by other directors with different styles and a different cast and story, etc. My stance here is to encourage consumers to be a little more charitable about judging publicly what they consume, particularly when they have no experience or expertise about the creation of such. Just because one consumes, that doesn't make one an expert nor free of personal bias nor fair. Have a blessed day.

Ian Cory

Babs J • Aug 12, 2018 at 10:34

This is undoubtedly the funniest comment I've read this year!

Babs J

Ian Cory • Aug 14, 2018 at 02:10

Happy to have entertained you! I have a son named Ian, by the way, so I know how to deal with ya. hahaha

Perry Pattetic • Aug 10, 2018 at 20:49

When were the Oscars? Was this last year or have they just been?
These luvvie fests are like the European Car of The Year Award, or The Guardian Businessman of The Year Award - a sure sign that the car is appalling and the "Business"-man/woman is a virtue-signaling Eurofanatic drag on the stock price who will get a job running some Public Accountability body after they "step aside".
Avoid Oscar winners at all costs - I am still in shock after being forced to watch grunting Leonardo DiCaprio out-acted by a man in a bear costume.

TxRebel66 • Aug 10, 2018 at 19:32

I too observe the "modern state" of motion pictures as being little more than a Progressive Assault upon Human INTELLIGENCE.

Our "modern day" motion pictures feature insipid, duplicative story lines, complete with childish writing, and "acting" that would embarrass a 4th-grade school play. And CGI - OH YES! - more and More and MORE CGI - CGI is virtually the ONLY mechanism that can inject any interest or excitement into a modern motion picture.

[P.S. I hold an earned M.A. in Film History from a Top-10 Communications School. The last movie that I bothered to view in a theater was "Schindler's List" - and it was GREAT picture. But virtually every succeeding "movie" appears to be unworthy of the effort to visit a theater... Far easier to watch REAL movies on TCM from my own living room... (And I have No Financial interest in TCM.)]

Richard Klein • Aug 10, 2018 at 01:46

The lifetime award given to Elia Kazan was a very interesting moment for me - in my mind it classified some attendees as politically incorrect "good guys" who stood right away and applauded the man for his outstanding achievements (Karl Malden, Warren Beatty (!), Kathy Bates, Meryl Streep (!), Kurt Russell, Kim Novak), squishes who applauded half-heartedly but remain sitting (Steven Spielberg) and haters who folded their arms and looked sour (Ed Harris and his wife Amy Madigan, Nick Nolte). Special appreciation to Martin Scorsese for introducing him and being obviously moved at the end. Beatty was also moved at the end.

Sol Cranfill • Aug 9, 2018 at 23:23

The guiding principle of this crowd could be called "oppositional superiority". It doesn't seem to go much deeper. Whatever average, uncool America is for, they may at a whim oppose, in order to rest in the nobility of standing up to the vulgar tastes of those beneath them. It's a harvest for the fashion-setters who watch each other like flying birds, knowing which millisecond to change course to stay as a single flock. All that has to be done is to look out at what contented people are enjoying doing and place a target on a behavior. Suddenly everyone naively drinking with a plastic straw is a baby whale killer with a lot of past sins to confess and atone for. This passes as fun for a lost star cluster, as it animates condescension into useful currency; for example, lecturing the inferior masses about elections.

Michael Bledsoe • Aug 9, 2018 at 18:02

The documentary Mark talked about was 1974 "Hearts and Minds," a load of anti-American, pro-communist propaganda I was forced to sit through in college. I remember all the faculty who were there sitting quietly afterwards and one said "that just put the last nail in the coffin of the Vietnam war." By that point a few years after the fall of Saigon, the communists had slaughtered many of their old enemies, some had disappeared, and others were "re-educated." None of that seemed to bother the professors. Neither did the torture of US POWs or the mistreatment of returning veterans. I hadn't thought about Hearts and Minds in a long time. I'll be just as glad if I never think of it again.

John Shuba • Aug 9, 2018 at 17:50

In one of the most bizarre twists in our bizarre age, awards ceremonies and late night talk show hosts have become two of the biggest of the "big guns" in the radical lefty armory. Who ever thought that anyone could weaponize the Golden Globes, the Oscars, the Grammies, Jimmy Kimmel or Seth Myers? In one way it's comforting - Its a sure sign that the Left is bankrupt of actual ideas and has nothing in its shot-locker but shallow, bad-tempered snark and smarmy Trump jokes. Fortunately (for me) I haven't watched a creepy show-biz award show or self-congratulatory late-night gabfest in decades. They give me heartburn.

Michael Bledsoe • Aug 9, 2018 at 17:29

Calvert Whitehurst • Aug 9, 2018 at 16:42

I stopped watching the Oscars in, I think, 2006, when all the celebs paraded in wearing orange ribbons to show their solidarity with the Gitmo detainees. Julie Christie happened to be strolling in front of the cameras suitably be-ribboned when the thought flashed into my brain - "fine, we can send them all to Julie Christie's house." But, yes, there used to be more diversity and a sense of propriety on Oscar night. I remember the pro-and-anti reactions to Vanessa Redgrave's pro-Palestinian speech; or Jane Fonda forestalling any speculation that she would use her acceptance speech to air her views on the Vietnam War by saying something along the lines of "there are things that need to be said, but this is not the place to say them;" or watching who applauded and who didn't when Elia Kazan received his lifetime achievement award. But I don't even go to movies anymore; and when I'm viewing Netflix or one of the premium movie channels, there are certain actors I just refuse to watch.

Fran Lavery

Calvert Whitehurst • Aug 9, 2018 at 17:59

That's roughly when I lost interest, too, Calvert. I'll go to the cineplex for an occasional special event like a ballet or opera but at the showing of the last opera they had technical problems and lost connection to the feed. There was no rescheduled showing. Mostly we get films mailed or our public library has thousands to loan. Although the last one I borrowed, "The Man Who Would Be King" froze by the time Peachey Carnehan and Brother Daniel Dravot arrived in Kafiristan. The one that arrived by mail yesterday, "Youth" a recent Michael Caine film, stopped and skipped who knows how many frames at least a dozen times. The "Death of a Nation" a Dinesh D'Souza film, did get me back to the big 12 Cineplex and that was worth it except the popcorn was stale. I slipped out to get some fresh popped and the young girl told me it will all be the same. "Popcorn: plain or buttered, stale or very stale," should be the wording on the sign!

Calvert Whitehurst

Fran Lavery • Aug 9, 2018 at 21:56

Fran, that's the trouble with renting DVD's. You don't know how many times they've been used, or just how they've been used by previous renters - as a drinks coaster, handled with greasy fingers, or played in an old player that damages them in some way.

Fran Lavery

Calvert Whitehurst • Aug 10, 2018 at 01:11

Most of the time, things work out fine, though, Calvert. I've just had a cloud hovering over me on and off for a few months. My son just called from a thousand miles away wondering how things were going with us and all I could think of relating were the things on the list that went south recently. He then asked if I could tell him anything good and I momentarily tried reaching for a happy thought. "Yes," I replied, "my two favorite dogs are hanging steady with their terminal illnesses." Exasperated, he asked, "so that was the good news"?

Hey, sometimes you have to recognize the garbage in the river, push it aside and swim steadily right through and past it. Then realize it wasn't total waste because you pushed it aside and enjoyed the swim for the extra challenge it provided and know it made you tougher for the rest of the garbage that's heading downstream. I'm in such a chipper mood tonight, aren't I?

BallBounces in PEI • Aug 9, 2018 at 15:39

"There were two sides then". Sounds like an epitaph.

Matthew McWilliams • Aug 9, 2018 at 14:34

Isn't Transphobitoba one of the western provinces in Canada?

Babs J • Aug 9, 2018 at 14:27

I can see why Fox chose to air the Hollywood clip. You were hilarious! Also brilliant. And you hit the nail right on it's condescending, talk-down-to-you head. I stopped watching a few years ago and will never watch again. But I'm also very glad to see who's the worst of the lot so that I can stop watching their movies altogether. I'm saving money as a result.

Susan Loring

Babs J • Aug 9, 2018 at 21:52

Regarding who's the worst of the lot, Babs, I've resolved to never watch another film with Meryl Streep in it. Even if she gets paid before a movie is released, it is my hope that other conservatives will like me decline in droves to attend movies she's in, so that she gets her just reward for displaying her extreme contempt for half the American audience. May she become box office poison.

Babs J

Susan Loring • Aug 10, 2018 at 01:00

I was going to name some of them but then didn't. I couldn't agree with you more. I would add Robert de Niro as well - I won't even watch their free prime movies any more. While I disagree with their politics, there are many who have not been disrespectful and lunatic, so I will still watch theirs, but Streep and de Niro? Never. Ashley Judd is another one and now that Jennifer Lawrence has put her career on hold to become an activist (probably paid by Soros), I hope there is no career later for her to go back to. There are others, but they escape my memory.

PK33

Babs J • Aug 10, 2018 at 09:20

Right out of the gate my spouse named Jennifer Lawrence as one who succumbed to Weinstein's sexual pressure to further her career and cited that the original character in "The Hunger Games" was supposed to be a dark-haired teenager, which Lawrence was not. Lawrence denied any transgression by Weinstein, and that seems a bit out-of-character, and so somewhat unbelievable, especially given the marginal, to put it mildly, talent of Lawrence. IMO anyway.

II'm rarely a movie-go or watcher so it is easy to boycott Hollywood. The debate in our household now is whether to keep or cancel our Netflix subscription as they lurch further and further Left.

Babs J

PK33 • Aug 10, 2018 at 14:48

I don't know if JL succumbed to Weinstein or not, but do beg to disagree with you about her acting ability. As one who studied acting for many years and have had my share of opportunities, I can tell you that she is very good, at least when it comes to displaying emotional pain and fear. I'm not talking about a cheap, predictable flix like Hunger Games. I saw her in a serious movie, though the name escapes me, where she played the daughter of a derelict in the backwoods who disappeared and she was trying to take care of her younger siblings and save their shack from foreclosure. To do that she had to find out what happened to her father. I do have respect for her talent, just not her politics. But to each his own.

Andrew L.

Babs J • Aug 10, 2018 at 16:31

Agreed, Babs. I get very frustrated with the tendency of conservatives to accuse stars of having little to no talent based on their political leanings. I saw myriad people call Meryl Streep a talentless hack after her Golden Globes bit. I don't need to agree with her to recognize her ability. Same goes for Jennifer Lawrence.

PK33

Babs J • Aug 10, 2018 at 19:04

Such a memorable performance, but you can't remember the movie. OK then.

PK33

Andrew L. • Aug 10, 2018 at 19:07

I don't watch many movies but I have found some vintage actors to be very good. As I've mentioned before, Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor are two favorites. I did watch The Hunger Games and Lawrence wasn't an activist at that point, but she still didn't convince me.

I get frustrated with the tendency of people to label me because I don't like a certain actor. Attributing my opinion to political leanings, whether they know how I vote or note is egregious, IMO.

Andrew L.

PK33 • Aug 10, 2018 at 20:46

For what it's worth, my comment was more in response to Bab's contrast of talent vs. politics, rather than a presumption about your tastes.

Sol Cranfill

Babs J • Aug 10, 2018 at 21:32

I liked her in that movie, Winter's Bone, before I knew who she was. I also liked her in The Hunger Games. I don't care for her as much when she's (over)playing Jennifer Lawrence. If actors and actresses could stand to be themselves a little more when they aren't acting, we could stand them a little more. It's like they don't know how to be and become an antic-factory like Jim Carrey in The Mask.

Babs J

PK33 • Aug 11, 2018 at 00:13

Don't be snarky, PK33. Winter's Bone is the name of the movie. I remember the stories, PK33, not the titles, thank you very much. It's all about the story and we were discussing the actor's performance in a story, nothing else. Titles don't involve acting, just the story enacted by the actors. So it doesn't matter one whit that at the time I wrote my comment I couldn't remember the title. Gees.

Elizabeth Neville

PK33 • Aug 11, 2018 at 07:05

Winters Bone

PK33

Babs J • Aug 11, 2018 at 09:38

This is a problem with comments, email and texts. It is difficult to get the tone. I was trying to make a sarcastic joke but it went over like a lead balloon.

Have a wonderful day Babs J!

PK33

Andrew L. • Aug 11, 2018 at 09:39

Apologies for the misunderstanding.

Have a wonderful day Andrew L. !