Drama girl

Did anyone watch the Oscars last night? As a kid, I used to live for them. Yes, I was a bit of a strange child in that I loved awards shows and the Olympics. As a 10-year-old I would record them off of t.v. and watch them over and over again. I remember watching Whoopi Goldberg win an Oscar over and over again, and I remember thinking a tribute to the career of Sophia Loren was pretty cool, and watching that over and over again. Huh? Yeah, I was weird.

I say was, but I still am a little eccentric I think in terms of my fascination for these things. Only a little, though. I watched off and on while folding laundry, looking at the paper, doing the dishes, etc. last night. The love from my childhood isn't quite there anymore...maybe it's something about watching a bunch of people, punctuated by celebrities take themselves and their art so seriously. I saw a commentary today about how 3.5 hours is better spent watching movies than watching people talk about movies. True, very true.

I do think awards shows are nice, however, in that they remind us of art for art's sake, and that's a good thing in a time when art is often sacrificed for more profitable pursuits. Yes, movies are big moneymakers. But as someone said last night in his acceptance speech (was it the guy from "Once?"), keep making art.

I was happy to see Diablo Cody won for "Juno." Derek and I saw this a month or so ago, and it was really nice, in my opinion. I cringed as I typed "nice," because it seems like such a vanilla way to describe something, but it was nice in the truest sense. I'll spare you the storyline since I think it's been told by just about everyone in every sort of medium. It's basic theme of accepting one for who they are and loving them unconditionally is presented in a straightforward and intelligent way that didn't insult the audience's intelligence or butter them up with flashiness or try to be controversial for the sake of stirring things up (and it wasn't controversial, by the way -- in my opinion). Cody seems like someone who tells it like it is, and this echoed through in a very honest screenplay lacking in any sort of pretentiousness.

Is Juno a comedy? Well, it makes me laugh. Is it a drama? Well, some of the situations have an inherent dramatic aspect to them. But it's neither knee-slappingly funny the whole way or a tear-jerker from start to finish. It meshes elements of both and, to me, is a pretty realistic reflection of the flaws, feelings and situations humans have dealt with for a long, long time. A good screenplay communicates something about the human experience that makes you think, and Cody did this by making me think about the basic needs of people, and what it takes to truly be happy. Juno may have been the only Oscar contender last night that I have actually seen, but that's not the only reason why I was rooting for it. Juno's a great movie, hands down, because it's refreshingly honest and relatable while also being surprising and new.