More passion

Boy, I thought we'd finally heard the end of The Passion uproar. I forgot about Oscars. Hollywood is determined to call down the ghost of McCarthy.

In a move that may incite the nation's evangelical core, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will not be considered for an Academy Award nomination in the Foreign Language category. According to Variety's Timothy Gray, the Academy concluded that the film does not represent the work of a single country because it was filmed in Aramaic, an ancient language, and therefore cannot be included.

Washington dispatch article

So, there shouldn't be any problem. It just doesn't fit the rules for the category, right?

Representing the other half of America, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is open to an Academy nomination for Best Picture.

Oh, well, that changes things. Why isn't Passion considered for Best Picture, eh? Is it? Huh? Well, it's gonna have to be if you pinko commie bastards in Hollywood don't want your fool heads handed to you on a platter again. We Red Staters spend a lot of our hard-earned money buying your product and spend most of our dumbed-down lives in front of the entertainment screens in our homes. We expect you to give us what we want. Didn't you listen to the will of the people on November 2?

A little background...

"I'll tell you why 'The Passion' won't be nominated," snaps one industry executive. "Happily, there are too many people in the Academy who believe the Holocaust actually happened."

MSNBC article

Oh.

The good news is that a complete snub of the film is unlikely. While the best-picture nominees are chosen by all Academy members, and therefore favor films that have broad appeal, nominations for most of the other categories are picked only by members of each discipline. Only actors nominate actors, for instance. Jim Caviezel could conceivably get a best-actor nod, and voters who have issues with the content of Gibson's film may still tip their hats to its art direction and cinematography.

Somehow, I don't think that's going to placate the Christians. The world has turned upside down, and they're expecting retribution for those Coliseum sports two thousand years ago.

"A lot of older Academy voters, who are largely Jewish, refuse to even see this movie," says one Oscar-campaign vet. "There's a level of animosity toward this film that is very real. When I talk to the members, I hear it over and over and over again." Complicating matters, says one exec, is the sense, fair or not, that Mel Gibson marketed the film as something Hollywood couldn't, or wouldn't, make. "It's a little weird to trash the establishment, and then to come knocking at the establishment's door during awards season."

It is a little weird. But it's a little weird to talk about offering awards when you haven't even seen all the films, too.

But if "The Passion" gets shut out, there's a concern that some Christians could protest and -- worst-case scenario -- boycott the Oscars. "The born- agains will come out screaming that it's another case of censorship," says one source. "The whole Sodom and Gomorrah thing about Hollywood will come up again."

I wouldn't worry about it. That's always been there. On the other hand, that boycotting thing could hurt. There's a lot of those people. Get over it. The Jews have controlled Hollywood for long enough. It's the Evangelicals' turn.

[A]t least one high-placed studio source thinks the fact that Disney CEO Michael Eisner blocked Miramax from distributing [Fahrenheit 9/11] may give voters an additional incentive. "A vote for this is a vote against Eisner, and that's... appealing."

See, people? Get over it. It's not about what's a good movie. Can't you just decide that for yourselves? Do you need the Academy to validate your likes and dislikes? Oscar night is not about what's good. It's about Hollywood insider politics. It's just politics. The Academy Awards are just politics. Just like everything else that takes your money away from you.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Update 8:15 am: YWA reader Angie reports that the Golden Globes nominated Passion and snubbed Fahrenheit. Thank goodness. (Thanks for the info, Angie.)