I find the Oscars tedious, and only watched a few minutes last night — I bailed shortly after Captain Kirk made his appearance — but apparently I should have stuck around, if only to watch the insufferable Seth MacFarlane’s award-winning performance as Unfunny Misogynist Asshole Host.
What, you say, he didn’t actually win an award for that? Well, yes he did: Having read a number of accounts of the whole sorry spectacle, I’m awarding MacFarlane the non-coveted Man Boobz Boob of the Day Award (Oscar Edition). In the wake of MacFarlane’s performance at the Oscars, in which he devoted a whole song to actresses’ breasts, I should note that I am using the word “boob” to mean “nincompoop.” Which, to be honest, is an undeservedly mild epithet for a guy who punctuated his comments with repeated jokes about rape.
A few of the highlights of MacFarlane’s night:
That song-and-dance number about how great it is to see so many boobs in films – including, specifically, in The Accused, and Monster, and Boys Don’t Cry. You know, during the rape scenes in those quie serious films.
MacFarlane’s animatronic teddy bear (from his movie Ted) joking about attending an orgy at Jack Nicholson’s house – you know, the place where Roman Polanski raped a 13-year old girl.
Oh, and then there was MacFarlane joking about how 9-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis would be too old to date George Clooney in about 16 years. (What, is Heartiste writing MacFarlane’s jokes?) And his bizarre domestic violence joke about Chris Brown and Rihanna. And on and on. (See here for many more examples.)
Getting into the spirit of the evening, whoever was doing The Onion’s twitter account decided it would be hilarious to refer to the aforementioned 9-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis as a “cunt.” The Onion later deleted the tweet and offered an apology for it.
Somehow I doubt we’re going to get an apology from MacFarlane.
Here are a couple more takes on the whole unfortunate evening.
Why Seth MacFarlane’s Misogyny Matters (Vulture)
Seth MacFarlane and the Oscars’ Hostile, Ugly, Sexist Night (The New Yorker)
Oscar Watch: Was That Awful or What? (NY Post)
EDITED TO ADD: Oh, joy! The Men’s Rights subreddit weighs in on the issue, in a thread sort-of-responding to that New Yorker piece.
EDITED TO ADD AGAIN: Actually, r/mensrights has two threads on the subject; here’s the other one.
RE: Kittehs
Scott Joplin is one of my favorite underrated composers. I have something like four discs worth of his music. I love it. And the Sting is, of course, a great heist movie all on its own.
Obviously I have been too well-trained by my friends. I put the hubby porn ELSEWHERE. 😉
Also, is it strange that I’m relieved it was Seth McFarlane and not Seth Rogen? I didn’t even think I LIKED Seth Rogen, and yet I find myself oddly glad it wasn’t him being a dick at the Oscars.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, a Seth apologist from the Vulture comment section. He had many deep things to say:
“I think Seth is one of the few straight guys who does television geared toward straight men that points out that we (and guys in particular) need to look at this stuff. His banality is his entry point to the sometimes sick mind of guys. I think comedians like him need to do it in a way that is accessible to the folks that really aren’t looking to be challenged on this stuff, that is, in a way that is funny to them.
I get that folks don’t think it was appropriate for the Oscars, but that is largely on the producers who hired him to bring in a bigger male 18-34 audience to a program that is skewed demographically toward women and gay men. Undoubtedly, he was hired partly because he offends.”
*facepalm*
OK, I’m having a drink.
Oh, and this in particular:
““I think Seth is one of the few straight guys who does television geared toward straight men that points out that we (and guys in particular) need to look at this stuff. His banality is his entry point to the sometimes sick mind of guys.
Because, you know, most things aren’t geared toward straight white guys. And allegedly, the minds of all guys can be classified as “sick.”
Ahhhh, merlot, is my friend.
A question to the straight guys here. Are any of you ever offended by how horrifically low some people’s ethical expectations of you are?
I haven’t been posting much because shockingly enough I made friends at university, friends who are much less shitty than my high school friends. Between that and school, I haven’t had much time for internet stuff in general.
LBT, I know, right?
Well, far be it from us to criticize anyone making friends and spending time with them at college! It’s a great time for that.
@aworldananoymous, that’s really, really great.
No, no. I’m never offended by the fact that people assume that not raping people is being a good friend. I like the vague sense of surprise and look of approval people send me when they realize I put on pants by myself. Why! I love having my friends over and end the night in the usual quagmire of “… but as a guy, fart jokes are funny… bitch”. When my friends tell me that oh-ho-ho, they ‘know’ that as a penishaver I am literally incapable of focusing on anything but jamming my bits into things, it’s a warm fuzzy feeling. That entire “Straight guys are only ever horny or hungry” meme is hilarious. Right?
Right.
… right.
It’s not that the standards are low and the usual bandied little joke being that you’re naught more than an animal, it’s that the thing is so… ingrained. Like, it’s never: “Well, hey, I happen to enjoy fart jokes and I have a sick mind” it always ends up in “Hey, every guy is sick and you’d totally rape that girl if you could give her a pill so she’d forget the moment after! And if you tell me that’s a lie, I know you’re just pretending because every guy is sick, we are, yep!”.
What offends me is the inability of people to own up to their own motivations and hobbies and the need to hide behind everyone else.
(In case it’s not too obvious – yeah. Yeah it’s offensive. Well, I mean… I guess it’s actually just sad. Because… well… imagine having standards that low? For an entire group of people? Muy triste )
The saddest thing is that so long that “Guys are only ever hungry or horny” is assumed to be some casual, throwaway “Sure I ain’t saying it’s true for everyone, but most people…” it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get anyone to accept the notion that, oh, I don’t know, people have personal rights and the world is complex and perhaps hammering on about 9 year olds being cunts is in some way not brilliant satire but just silly. Hey, I’m wearing pants lady. What else do you want? A humanizing conversation between two individuals?
Eh, get me a sandwich.
Muy triste Fibi 🙁
🙂 Fistbump, fib.
That kind of posturing just makes me want to roll my eyes. It’s like they’re sitting there going HEY I HAVE A PENIS, NOT LIKE MOM, CHECK IT OUT. They’re marking themselves as non-girls via being as unpleasant as possible, basically.
It’s pretty funny when they then accuse feminists of being the ones who think poorly of men. Hey, dude, I’m not the one who just said that all men are “sick”.
@LBT: I really, really hate the Man Box that says Men Are X (or perhaps, Men Aren’t Not-X).
@aworldanonymous, Yay for non-shitty friends!
Not that it was a particularly good joke but I didn’t think that the Onion tweet was made at the expense of Quvenzhané Wallis. I saw the target being more the people who were surely saying similar things about Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence. Nobody is thinking that about Wallis but somebody is definitely thinking that about any other actress present that night. Of course, like I said it wasn’t a good joke and there was probably a better way to comment on the mean-spirited attitudes that come with Oscar season without having to use a 9-year old in order to achieve your cutting-edge satire or whatever.
I’ve hated Seth Macfarlene for a long time. I wish his transphobia would be brought up more. For a claimed LGBT ally, he is a true transphobic homophobic fuck, who loves straightsplaining and cisplaining.
“I don’t meet a lot of stupid homosexuals.”
http://www.metroweekly.com/news/last_word/2010/08/seth-macfarlane-surprised-by-g.html
LBT: Scott Joplin is one of my favorite underrated composers.
He is great. I have a CD which has four tracks recorded from piano rolls Joplin cut. So nice. The Entertainer that Hamlisch did was great too, in a very different way, but I think Joplin would have accepted it.
I don’t know about liked, he was very persnickety about how it was to be performed (at his tempo, and with the notes played with metronomic regularity. Piano rolls were perfect for his style).
A question to the straight guys here. Are any of you ever offended by how horrifically low some people’s ethical expectations of you are?
Sometimes. My former housemate (best housemate evah!) said that her primary, and a couple of other men helped her decide that men weren’t absolute shits; good for not much more than the occasional lay (she was monagamously involved with women for some years, and afterwards didn’t intend to get involved with men).
She’d had bad experiences, and her general opinion of men was being influenced by the sexism she saw in the general culture, as well as her subcultures. But her primary, in particular; made her see that there are men who share feminist sensibilities. Even if we don’t get it right all the time.
But yeah, the idea that a slavering beast is what I am, and women ought to just cope, and let me revel in it… offensive as all fuck.
But mostly it’s a non-issue, because the people I hang out with/get involved with, don’t see it that way. They expect better of me, and that’s the way I like it.
@emmittnervend, I kinda feel like the word c**t is off limits for any person/corporate body that doesn’t want to be considered misogynistic. Throw in that it was about a young girl, and, well, I won’t be sad if whoever tweeted that gets shitcanned.
I feel like that word is where you cross the boundary from unthinking sexism into actively malicious misogyny.
I’m with Cassandra. I think I see what they were trying to do, but it’s still misogyny to say another actress would say that about a 9 year old.
And it’s malicious.
Utterly OT, but do any of the other instrument playing folks get annoyed at metronomes? I’m pretty good by ear and when I turn mine on I just want to launch it across the room. Caveat — mine doesn’t tick, it’s a little light on my tuner and I may just need to fork out the cash for an audible one.
And congrats aworldanonymous, cool college friends are awesome. Particularly the ones you end up bumping into years later (and it’s all “oh, you had a thing for me too?” Reason 302 the friend-zone is best solved by using your words)
My brain is all over the place tonight, I apologize! March is extra crazy time for me, so don’t expect me to make more sense for like, a month, sorry >.<
Oh yeah I definitely agree and I’m not playing any violins for the tweeter, I only think Wallis wasn’t the target of the joke. But by this point it’s not really about intent, and it never really is.
Comedy makes my brain hurt sometimes, I’ll take Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd singing opera over ironic use of hateful words any day.
I can’t use them. They distract me, and trying to measure time against them drives me up the fucking wall.
When I played I hated the ticking from a metronome. It was one of those perceptual things where it seemed to get louder over time just because it was so annoying.
Oh good, it isn’t just me. Driving me up the wall is a short trip, so I wanted a second opinion!
Btw, the blizzard and lack of heat killed my orchid, replaced it earlier and continue to be amazed at how stupid grocery store floral departments are /aside directed at Pecunium and other plant people
…plant people amuses me…and I swear I’m sober (I am drinking silly strong coffee)…maybe that’s the problem? Back in 2 shots!
Metronomes are good for startling cats…