Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures. He did the right thing, and I am certain he will return the Oscar trophy that the Academy will strip him of. Next to the official records for this year’s Best Performance by an Actor will be the word “Retracted.”
Unfortunately, there’s no way that Kid Rock can permanently retract his words. They sneer in the stage of memory, in a tape loop that mocks another person for being “disfigured.”
Oh, I forgot: it was a “benign joke.” I guess with the Academy’s full approval it’s back to the schoolyard again, with its merciless taunts of anyone different. I suggest that the Academy make sure that its rectitude is on full display next year. The president of the Academy should stand on stage on awards night and lead the entire audience in a prolonged chant of “G.I. Jane! G.I. Jane! G.I, Jane!” At least thirty seconds long. Such a show of organized unity will thereby obviate any doubt that it was anything other than a “benign joke.” If the Academy is fully convinced that it is in the right, then I see no reason for it to hesitate in reiterating the legitimate appropriateness of its humor. As part of the punishment for Smith’s offense, why should the Academy not drive home its point by piling on?
One notices, too, that the person who wrote the joke has not come forward to claim credit for it. Why not? What’s the hesitation? If you had written one of the most provocative jokes in the history of modern entertainment, wouldn’t you want credit for it? Or is there something you’re ashamed of? Something you can’t retract?
Come to think of it, it’s not the president of the Academy who should lead the chant next year. That person should be joined on stage by the joke writer who came up with it, just so that person gets his or her moment of glory. And just for the record, of course, it would be interesting to learn the race of the person who wrote the joke.
It was around this point in typing out this post that I thought of the title. The first part, of course, comes from a song by John Lennon on “The Plastic Ono Band” album. I suddenly realized, however, that it’s not just one joke writer or comedian or actor who’s crippled inside. It’s the entire society’s insatiable desire for public honor. It’s a feeding frenzy of aquatic predators that want to devour everything — even the ocean in which they swim — in hopes of greater acclaim.
Somehow I miss the joke that humanity is playing on itself, and even if I got the punch line, it probably would be too pathetic in its suicidal self-deprecation to laugh.
I guess it’s time to reread “Day of the Locust.”
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https://variety.com/2022/film/news/will-smith-resigns-academy-oscars-slap-chris-rock-1235221041/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/will-smith-resigns-from-academy-membership-1235123801/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60963054
About Bill Mohr