8ball
Maximum Facepalm
Has no one said Smith was "enacting whiteness" yet?
The Oscars
- Thread starter Nanker Phelge
- Start date
Has no one said Smith was "enacting whiteness" yet?
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
A shade unfair to A level students there.
I'm in team jesus christ are people still going on about this, so I've no idea why I've decided to enter the fray today.
surreybrowncap
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
The bit in the bible about Jesus turning the other cheek was (according to proper church going Christian’s I used to work with) an attempt to make his oppo look soft by forcing him to slap JC ‘like a girl’ (ie with the palm of his hand). It was one of two examples they gave of jokes in the bible.
Steel Icarus
we move
What was the other? The idea of god?
Appalling judgment from both men is the place to start, I think.
On Rock's part, the joke was not particularly funny (GI Jane jokes were weak in the 90s - they are weaker still now) and, crucially, it went after someone because they look weird as a result of their ill health. That could hardly be closer to the bone and, in total, it looked less like a poor quality joke and more like a very barbed insult.
On Smith's part, I don't see a man losing control at all. Everything he did, he just as well could not have done. At no point does he give the impression of being a man overruled by his passions. The odd thing about it for me was the oddly unconvincing nature of it all - not even Rock seemed 100% sure about the intent behind it even as he was joking about being slapped. It was a performance, quickly calculated and pre-meditated in the moment and, for the life of me, I can't work out what on earth he thought he would gain by it. The behaviour of a slightly insecure man, surrounded by flatterers, I suspect.
Why behave so poorly? Well, this is how stars behave - they are rampant egotists of the very worst order. That's why they do the political stuff, for if they bared their true souls, people would run a mile!
The slightly nauseating sense of disorientation that marks almost all the subsequent takes must surely come from the fact that this seemed to touch on things that people think are really politically important - the status of black men, violence among them and men more widely, BLM-style allyship, women's honour and whether that exists - and yet, weirdly, as an incident, it seems to have almost nothing to say about any of it; oddly illustrating the yawning chasm between the world of an unconvincingly politicised media/thespian elite and the issues that they pretend to care about.
Some of the more out-there white supremacy takes make a point of the ceremony being run by an all-black production crew for the first time ever and for this to take place. Apparently, that's evidence of white supremacy somehow. It seems a pretty foolish thing to have given it to an all-black crew anyway as any cock-ups, such as happened with Moonlight/La La Land a few years ago, would then become a "black" failure, as some will probably seek to paint this.
On Rock's part, the joke was not particularly funny (GI Jane jokes were weak in the 90s - they are weaker still now) and, crucially, it went after someone because they look weird as a result of their ill health. That could hardly be closer to the bone and, in total, it looked less like a poor quality joke and more like a very barbed insult.
On Smith's part, I don't see a man losing control at all. Everything he did, he just as well could not have done. At no point does he give the impression of being a man overruled by his passions. The odd thing about it for me was the oddly unconvincing nature of it all - not even Rock seemed 100% sure about the intent behind it even as he was joking about being slapped. It was a performance, quickly calculated and pre-meditated in the moment and, for the life of me, I can't work out what on earth he thought he would gain by it. The behaviour of a slightly insecure man, surrounded by flatterers, I suspect.
Why behave so poorly? Well, this is how stars behave - they are rampant egotists of the very worst order. That's why they do the political stuff, for if they bared their true souls, people would run a mile!
The slightly nauseating sense of disorientation that marks almost all the subsequent takes must surely come from the fact that this seemed to touch on things that people think are really politically important - the status of black men, violence among them and men more widely, BLM-style allyship, women's honour and whether that exists - and yet, weirdly, as an incident, it seems to have almost nothing to say about any of it; oddly illustrating the yawning chasm between the world of an unconvincingly politicised media/thespian elite and the issues that they pretend to care about.
Some of the more out-there white supremacy takes make a point of the ceremony being run by an all-black production crew for the first time ever and for this to take place. Apparently, that's evidence of white supremacy somehow. It seems a pretty foolish thing to have given it to an all-black crew anyway as any cock-ups, such as happened with Moonlight/La La Land a few years ago, would then become a "black" failure, as some will probably seek to paint this.
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
I don't know if I'm on Team Smith, though I'm emphatically not on Team Rock or Team Oscars. Making fun of someone's alopecia on the biggest of stages is fucking horrible. I've no problem with Rock getting a slap and even more with the self congratulatory tripe of the oscars getting disrupted. Also, in passing the stuff mentioned upthread about him going with the joke is wrong. I suspect it was a bit of editing that showed him with a smile on his face or at least that timelag that anyone has when something offensive is said. It just takes a moment to register that something taboo breading has been done/said. The one bit that is problematic was Smith reverting to 'I decide how to respond to my wife's offence'.
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
Kind of reminds me when Jarvis Cocker 'intervened' in Michael Jackson's Brit Awards performance (against the hypocrisy of him appearing with a stage full of children). He was taken away by the police and held for a while. There were no obvious charges but they held on to him for 'offences against Michael Jackson'.
JimW
支那暗杀团
Yes, with killerb's salient point about why the fuck are we still talking about this in mind, I thought the same too, even if he did hear it would take a minute to register and take you out of gurning for cameras at awards bash mode.
girasol
Addicted to handstands!
I didn't know Jada had alopecia and I thought she just had her hair like that because it looked great - she doesn't look "weird" at all. I also noticed her daughter also shaved her hair.
BUT let's say shaved hair didn't suit her perfectly formed face, let's say she didn't have a symmetric face - here's what I'm uncomfortable with, as a woman...
a) why should women feel bad because they have shaved hair? Why do we feel so attacked when people make comment on our appearance? That is problematic. We should feel valued for a lot more than that.
b) people make jokes about men's appearance all the time - being ugly and mean looking is almost a badge of honour, a lot of men embrace that. It's also a very patriarchal mindset that calling a woman ugly is such a terrible insult. If someone calls me ugly it literally means nothing to me, granted it took 40 years to get that inbuilt notion out of my head, because as women we are brought up to think it's really important, how we look.
BUT let's say shaved hair didn't suit her perfectly formed face, let's say she didn't have a symmetric face - here's what I'm uncomfortable with, as a woman...
a) why should women feel bad because they have shaved hair? Why do we feel so attacked when people make comment on our appearance? That is problematic. We should feel valued for a lot more than that.
b) people make jokes about men's appearance all the time - being ugly and mean looking is almost a badge of honour, a lot of men embrace that. It's also a very patriarchal mindset that calling a woman ugly is such a terrible insult. If someone calls me ugly it literally means nothing to me, granted it took 40 years to get that inbuilt notion out of my head, because as women we are brought up to think it's really important, how we look.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Aladdin
Well-Known Member
Chris Rock was definitely being a major prick...considering he did a documentary called Good Hair which mentioned how some Black women have a predisposition to problems with alopecia.
Major dickhead and back of my mind...I do think he deserved a slap. Maybe not a big heavy one from Will but yeah...I'd have given him one in my head. Not in reality mind.
Will should not lose an Oscar for it.
He will probably donate to some cause...and I don't believe he is intrinsically a "violent" man...he just got pissed off at Rock. And probably pissed off at himself for his initial laughing...and realised "shit my wife will not be happy that I laughed".
He may even have thought ..."so how do I remedy this? Better be in trouble with Chris Rock than my missus."
So the slap was quite exhaggerated..it wasn't a fist..didnt knock Chris who is quite slight..
All school yard behaviour. Not his best moment..not excusing it... but I'm not going to condemn Will Smith for a slap.
Major dickhead and back of my mind...I do think he deserved a slap. Maybe not a big heavy one from Will but yeah...I'd have given him one in my head. Not in reality mind.
Will should not lose an Oscar for it.
He will probably donate to some cause...and I don't believe he is intrinsically a "violent" man...he just got pissed off at Rock. And probably pissed off at himself for his initial laughing...and realised "shit my wife will not be happy that I laughed".
He may even have thought ..."so how do I remedy this? Better be in trouble with Chris Rock than my missus."
So the slap was quite exhaggerated..it wasn't a fist..didnt knock Chris who is quite slight..
All school yard behaviour. Not his best moment..not excusing it... but I'm not going to condemn Will Smith for a slap.
Numbers
an ting!
The 'weird' reference was/is strange alright.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Jesus Christ.
only according to racists though.
surreybrowncap
“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
The original tv series was excellent....
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
hmm never seen the TV show its based on so might of had some legs if they had no made it so silly
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
I suspect than Will Smith got a major earful off his wife when they got home both about laughing at the joke and sticking one on Chris Rock as a result of it. He was on a loser either way.
Jada’s reaction in the same shot is completely different so doesn’t seem to be from a different moment in time.
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
Fair enough, though I do think the comments that he was okay with the 'joke' till he saw she wasn't are off. More a case of taking time to process what was being said.
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
Yeah, that’s what a glancing tap on a lapel mike sounds like.
Last edited:
Wilf
Slouching towards Billingham
Isn't there some room for negotiation here, I mean, it's Jimmy Carr we are talking about.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
I imagine when they edit these things the reaction shot is a behind by a few seconds, otherwise you don't get to see the reaction.
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
I think the crew knows what’s coming and have the cameras lined up ready.
