I'd Like To Thank All The Little People

Polish the statues, turn up the lights, and roll out the red carpet because the Academy Awards are tonight.  I don't throw any viewing parties or anything like that, but I will admit that I'm a fan of the spectacle.  I mean, who doesn't like the chance to see modern-day American royalty showcase itself to the masses?  Yes, royalty.

Ok, so obviously Hollywood celebrities aren't actually kings and queens and dukes and duchesses, but I think they serve that same function.  You know, as a monied class to whom society has some very mixed and conflicting emotions.  People to at once place on a pedestal and take down from that very same pedestal.  Which, when you think about it, is kind of funny given that our country is founded on core principles completely antithetical to the notion of a caste system that would breed an aristocracy.  What that says about human nature is beyond me, but interesting food for thought.

Now, some people are certainly much more cynical about the whole extravaganza--"Why should we sit and watch Hollywood pat itself on the back for doing well what it's supposed to be doing well in the first place?"  I certainly won't argue with that.  Much of the Academy Awards is self-serving, condescending, and borderline offensive, but hot-damned if its glamour isn't downright alluring, a radiant glow that we're instinctually drawn to; that we want to get just a little bit closer to.  And perhaps it's that glamor that raises Hollywood into the rarefied air of royalty.  And why conversely other public figures such as politicians (who are in principle are merely our elected servants) and the merchant elite (who for the most part remain too anonymous for adoration) don't get that same status.

Anyway, whether they're royalty or not, tonight they gather at the Dolby Theater, and a lucky few will leave with a uniquely American Knighthood, forever known as "Academy Award winner."  I know I'll be watching.  And keeping score--let's go Argo!  Hot damn, I've always loved me some palace intrigue.

--KM

"And the Oscar goes to. . ."