Monday, February 06, 2006

Not Switzerland

A curious thing occurs each year about this time (post-nominations / pre-Oscars). I begin to get various e-mails, messages questioning my biases and such in my film coverage. The core of these messages always seems to be: You should be neutral.

Newsflash! I am not, have never been, and never wish/plan/could be neutral. I am not a reporter. You're reading opinion pieces. Without editorialization and point of view there is no Film Experience. There is no blog. There is nothing for me to say that you can't read somewhere else. I'm assuming most of you reading understand and embrace this. But for those who don't... I am not Mary Hart reporting on everything from someone's payroll with a non-judgmental smile. I am just a passionate devourer of film, theater, tv, etc... who likes to write about the things that amuse, annoy, and perplex me as well as the things that are so great that they demand my complete subservience and obsession [this past few months that'd be A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain, and Project Runway for those not paying attention.]

So, no, the Oscar coverage is neither fair nor balanced. I'm rooting for Brokeback, Ang Lee, Heath Ledger and Reese Witherspoon. It's out in the open! ...not like it wasn't already painfully obvious.

4 comments:

Glenn Dunks said...

Were these e-mail by anonymous people?!

no, but seriously, I don't see a problem with you (on your own blog/site) talking about things you want.

adam k. said...

I don't either, since I generally want the same things.

Anonymous said...

Thing is, it's purely because of your bias that I for one have watched films I would have missed or just plain not heard of. Haven't liked all of them and don't necessarily agree with everything you like, but my horizons are a bit broader than they might have been.

So, thank you for not being Switzerland.

Anonymous said...

love your biases, love your blog, love your site. this is one of my daily must visits before my coffee kicks in. thanks, keep up the fantastic writing/work. go brokeback, ang, heath, reese (and for sentimental reasons on my behalf, jake & michelle)
-emai