Don’t worry everyone Tucker has it covered.
You know Tucker Carlson right? The guy Jon Stewart once obliterated on CNN for the world to see? Yes, the guy with the fifth grader’s haircut who admitted to not watching the Oscar-nominated movie “Moonlight,” and now is here to tell us why “Moonlight” really won best picture at the Academy Awards. Drum roll please: Because it was a “foregone conclusion.” Of course. Why else would an all black cast, with black directors, focusing on the journey of a marginalized member of society win an award? On merit? Merit smerit.
Carlson believes that the “political implications” of the feature, which boasts some of the most promising young actors in the industry, was the only reason it won best picture. Alright, Tuck, for the sake of the debate, I will humor you. What exactly do you think was “political” about “Moonlight?” Did they discuss policy? Government? Congress? The president? Maybe I missed it. Or maybe is it that the only way your brain could fathom a movie about a black, gay man, made by a predominately black creative team, and black directors, taking home the ultimate prize, is to deem it a fix, a foregone conclusion? Or maybe it’s that to Tucker a movie about a black, gay character is inherently political whereas a movie about a white, straight character is not. Merely by pointing a camera at a black, gay man, Tucker believes you are automatically making a political statement. So by his definition, since Hollywood isn’t supposed to make political statements, Hollywood shouldn’t tell the stories of black, gay men. Or other marginalized communities, I guess.
At first glance, Tucker comes across as yet another shallow Fox mouthpiece advocating for celebrities remaining separate from political issues and politics in general remaining separate from Art, whilst spending 30 minutes of his valuable Monday morning, talking about politics and….Art. But look closer and Carlson’s point of view reiterates the still all-too-prominent inherent conservative perception that black and queer experiences exist outside the norm. They only exist in the realm of politics, whenever “others” try to assert themselves and be heard. They aren’t mainstream or deserving of equal attention but instead are granted an award just to appease Hollywood’s need to moralize.
Who here hates movies but wants to spend all of Monday Morning talking movies?
Now if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Carlson also went on to contradict his already contradictory statement by saying the feature ‘had to win because we knew what the film was about, that’s part of the problem with Hollywood...That’s the law, there is no way around it”.
Wait so you are saying it is the law of the academy to celebrate diversity and a movie that explores homosexuality and there is no way around it? I think you will find there is a way around it, mate. The academy has been dancing around celebrating the gay community and most marginalized communities for decades, so If your problem is that this year Hollywood celebrated a monumental break in the all-too-familiar pattern of celebrating predominantly straight white actors, then your real problem is an inability to fathom change as progress.
Let me guess, was Mahershala Ali winning Best Supporting Actor also political, seeing as he is the first Muslim to win an Academy Award? Or is that just the instinctive response from someone terrified of change?
But the last part of this fallaciousness seals the deal and is arguably the most absurd comment of 2017. You’re off the hook, Kellyanne.
“The second you feel a political imperative, it destroys your art.” Tucker Carlson, 2017.
So what you are saying basically is that when you base your art on what’s going on in the world, a lot of which is influenced by politics, the art becomes redundant. I’m sorry what? I wonder if Picasso shared the same take as you when he created Guernica? How about Goya and Third of May? Norman Rockwell and The Problem We All Live With? Or maybe paintings aren’t your thing, what about films, music, other art forms? Bob Dylan? Chaplin’s The Great Dictator? Arthur Miller’s The Crucible? Beyonce’s Lemonade? What about right wingers like Lee Greenwood? Did politics plague their work?
Maybe in your privileged little bubble it’s all sunshine and unicorns but throughout history, people have dealt with political struggles by putting pen to paper or brush to canvas to express how they feel. To enlighten others about their struggles, their trials and tribulations. And as a result we witness greatness, break new ground, make and change history. Crazy, right - progress? But by all means please stick to whatever fairytale shite you watch that allows you to remain in that bubble, and just leave the adult conversations to us then sport.
In the end, Moonlight’s groundbreaking victory should be celebrated, not dismissed or diminished by tools like Carlson who can’t see beyond their own politically skewed perspective. So join me in appreciating this film for what it is, a brilliant, groundbreaking, history making piece of art. Politics and all.
Follow me on IG @francismmaxwell and continue to resist.
