I'm trying not to be Oscar obsessed but the more I think about it the more I'm baffled/angry about Robert Downey Jr's nomination for his performance in Tropic Thunder, a role that comprises exactly one (admittedly well-played) half-clever joke, mostly at the expense of the Academy. It's distressing to think of the level of not-addressing-the-problem indicated by giving a goddamn statue to a goddamn white dude. I thought RDjr was very funny/satirical/clever/interesting/etc in that movie, don't get me wrong. I just think it's lame to honor gimmicky crap, but it's beyond bizarre to do so when the gimmick in question is blackface. BLACKFACE. Somebody explain to me again how this is about racism and therefore not...racism.
