As usual, Ricky Gervais scored a humorous victory on Sunday night. His partners, albeit inadvertently, were the very same Hollywood A-listers he had just admonished.
They made his joke for him.
Hosting the Golden Globe Awards, Gervais warned the assembled celebrities not to become politicians. "If you do win an award tonight," he said, "don't use it as a platform to make a political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg."
Predictably, this message fell on deaf ears. Tom Hanks was far from amused, but it's Tom Hanks so we'll let him off.
Then came the award speeches.
Patricia Arquette utterly proved Gervais's point. Here's a quick hint for future Hollywood pundits: if you want to sound serious while discussing foreign policy towards Iran, you might not want to wear pink sunglasses indoors. In a rambling 45-second speech, Arquette warned about war with Iran, the Australian wildfires, and the need for everyone to vote in 2020. Arquette did not suggest who she wants Americans to vote for. Regardless, I'm not wholly convinced that her sunglasses speech will move the needle.
Other celebrities echoed the same political agenda.
Through Jennifer Aniston, Russell Crowe used the admittedly tragic Australian wildfires to call for the ending of millions of blue-collar jobs. "We need to act based on science," Crowe argued, "move our global workforce to renewable energy and respect our planet for the unique and amazing place it is. That way, we all have a future."
I get why this green energy revolution rhetoric sounds good to many. And I share the belief that the environment is something to treasure and protect. But it must be done in the right way, and Crowe's way isn't the right one.
[Read more: ‘If ISIS started a streaming service, you would call your agent’: Ricky Gervais roasts Golden Globe actors]
Read between the lines and it quickly becomes clear that the green revolution would cause energy prices to soar for those least able to afford it (not Hollywood, then), and would end millions of well-paying jobs in return for fewer jobs of greater inefficiency and marginal cost. To be clear, this is not obviously moral. Want to reduce carbon emissions? Stop giving China a free pass.
In short, Gervais won the day.
Sadly, many in the media don't seem to have realized it. Los Angeles Times culture writer Lorraine Ali complained that "The last thing anyone needed was for the smirking master of ceremonies to reprimand [the A-listers] for having hope, or taunt the room for trying to use their influence to change things for the better." Gervais, Ali says, should have been "brave enough to drop the tired agitator shtick and, for once, read the room."
No, he really shouldn't have.
At Vox, Constance Grady celebrates Arquette's message as "one that viewers are talking about."
Really?
The simple truth here is that too many in Hollywood are just too self-absorbed to recognize that they might be better off learning about history and the news before lecturing millions of others about it. Adorned by great wealth and assuaged by their fans, they believe they have all the answers. And that it is their duty to provide those answers to the masses of those who know less.
But their boring reaction to Gervais also speaks to something else. They just don't seem to get that his humor is designed to be uncomfortable. This is the British tradition of humor, one that finds its roots in a legacy of wars and constant rain. Note, for example, the long and unashamed British tradition of Nazi jokes. It's humor, judging by the social media reaction to Gervais's speech, that many choose to laugh at.
Credit to those in the audience who found the courage to laugh with the rest of us.
"Hollywood" - Google News
January 06, 2020 at 08:24PM
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Ricky Gervais' Golden Globes opening exposed Hollywood - Washington Examiner
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