I don’t watch the Oscars. I used to, but recently I decided spending three hours of my life watching a spectacle devoted to padding the egos of a bunch of millionaires, accompanied by a handful of overly PC — and thus downright lame — jokes was not the best way to spend my time. Add to that the fact that more often than not I have only heard of a handful of the movies that are nominated and generally only enjoyed one or two. Maybe that’s because I have discriminating taste or maybe it’s because I’m an angry loner who is jealous of any successes other people have, who knows?
To be honest, there are really only a couple of redeeming aspects of these ridiculous awards. One is the fact that the awards still take the time to honor the people who work behind the scenes. The graphic designers, the animators, the wardrobe specialists extraordinaire — they deserve to have their moment in the sun. The problem is that the majority of these awards are being shuffled away to the pre-ceremony, so as not to distract the public from the beautiful elite they know and love.
So, the one and only true genuine aspect left in the Oscars, in my opinion, is the “In Memoriam” section. Up until this year, that is. This, of course, is when we look back and remember those film legends we have lost in the last year, and we either say “aww,” or “who the f— is that?” Well, like I said before, up until this year this section of the Oscars was my favorite, but as is becoming the norm with Hollywood these days, they decided this year to take a crap on any shred of respect I had left for them.
What, you ask, could strike such contempt into my soul? Well, folks, this year when narrowing the field of passed celebs that were to be honored in the tribute, the Academy decided to cut the one woman who deserved it the most, Farrah Fawcett. I mean, did any celebrity in 2009 have near as much bad luck fall on their plate as Farrah? She underwent an extended struggle with anal cancer that she eventually lost, and on top of it all, the day she died just happened to be the same day that one of the most well-known and controversial figures of our century died. Farrah never got the chance to be remembered by the public because her death was second best that day. Hers was the Scottie Pippen of celebrity deaths, and now she’s been overlooked again.
The Academy’s explanation for snubbing my girl Farrah was that she was better known as a TV personality than as a film actress. Sure, most of her career was on TV and surely she will always be an Angel in our minds, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a solid film career. Fawcett’s filmography includes nearly 20 credits. Yes, one of those credits was a direct-to-VHS film produced by Playboy, but one of them is also that crazy trippy cult classic Logan’s Run, so … there you go.
Maybe I’m speaking out of bias since I never quite made it out of adolescence, but if the Academy can make room to remember country singer/Western B-movie actor Monte Hale, they damn sure should be able to spare a few moments for Farrah.
Mike DiMarco is a senior English major. He can be reached at dimarco at umdbk dot com.
