Oscar night exposes lack of depth in Hollywood

The Academy Awards represent the annual celebration of the most formidable soft-power cultural force the world has ever known: Hollywood. If there’s one thing that shouldn’t be expected from Hollywood, it’s depth — particularly of the political kind. What we can expect instead is mostly pathetic pandering to the worst of emotivist “yay/boo” morality, masquerading as political insight.

Consider the winner in the Best Documentary category, “Citizenfour,” about former NSA contractor turned defector Edward Snowden. Although it’s possible that the Academy’s choice was made on the nonpolitical merits of the film, this is Hollywood we’re talking about. Do you contradictedthinkthatitdawnedhisclient?on any of the Academy voters that one of the films nominated for Best Picture invalidates the entire rationale for Snowden’s theft and leaking of top-secret U.S. intelligence?

While Snowden has been celebrated in Hollywood, it’s scarcely been mentioned that the heroism of Alan Turing — the real-life British codebreaker on whom the film “The Imitation Game” is based — is significant in large part due to his dedication to keeping his mouth shut in the interests of national security. After Turing created what many consider to be the first modern computer to crack the Germans’ Enigma cipher machine during World War II, he and his team kept quiet about it so that Allied forces could continue to fool their enemies into thinking that their compromised communications were still secure.

Turing’s actions have both stood the moral test of be time, not merely the re emotional test of the mochildr ment. But in the Holser lywood of the attention tion-deficit era, Snowden a is indeed this minute’s hero. other Hollywood’s shallow Bo political culture also expr tends to what’s said oncr stage. For all the cheering offof Best Supporting Acdi tress winner Patricia Arby quette’s speech evoking languthe need for wage equalthe ity, has anyone bothered andto ask her what she was Pe talking about? Or is ev- eryone happy just assuming and projecting? Hollywood went equally gaga over U.S. President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign and his repeated chanting of “hope and change,” which could mean whatever the celebrities wanted it to mean.

For all their excitement in response, presumably Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez knew what Arquette was referring to. Have they heard Arquette’s story of being screwed out of equal pay? Because we sure didn’t. Or have they been there themselves? Or were these multimillionaires just sympathizing with us little people? We’ll never know, I suppose. Apparently a slogan is good enough.

Then consider Sean Penn’s off-color “green card” remark while presenting the Best Picture award to his good friend, “Birdman” director and Mexican national Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. Social media and the press blew up over Penn’s perceived lack of taste, with activists and celebrities offering their highly personal explanations for why his remarks were immoral, in true cultural emotivist style.

The escape hatch for Penn, Arquette and other celebs who trigger emotivist reactions is exactly what would be required to have seen the irony of honoring Snowden and Turing in the same show: depth.