Politics dominated this year's Oscar awards. It was evident that Hollywood does not see eye to eye with Donald Trump. The world of glamor is clearly against the travel ban issued by him. Most artists have joined forces against Donald. This has been going on for some time. A few weeks back before the election Robert de Nero had said that he was so incensed that he wanted to punch Donald in the face.This year's awards had political overtones. Last year's awards had led to a black-white division. This year's awards were dominated by a feeling against the selective travel ban.
Politics at the awards
It started with "the salesman" being adjudged the best foreign language film. As expected the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi did not attend the award ceremony.He was protesting against the selective travel ban of Donald Trump. This was not the end as in an unprecedented move all five directors of the best foreign film category issued a statement disapproving the climate of " fanaticism and nationalism" as they see it in the USA and some other countries.The target was clearly the travel ban of Donald Trump which has generated tremendous discussion.
The awards themselves were in a way a negation of Trump's ideas. The anti-Trump bias was evident. "Moonlight" won the best picture award and that just about shows that Hollywood is mixed up in politics.
Giving the first acting award to a Muslim was perhaps also part of a statement. One gets a feeling that the awards are more politically oriented and not based entirely on merit.
Last word
Before the awards, many Trump supporters had called for a boycott of the awards function, and there were some scuffles in Los Angeles. Many top artists like Meryl Streep and Madonna have already stated their position against Trump.
Most of the Hollywood celebrities relish showing their antipathy to Trump. Maybe it's fashionable to criticize the president. With the second travel ban around the corner, it will be interesting to see what happens in the future. For this year, it is clear that at the Oscars politics won and maybe artistic merit took a back seat.
