Due to the fact that my husband is a huge Walking Dead fan, I didn't get to watch
much of the Oscars last night. Between
the new episode of Walking Dead and
the follow-up discussion show Talking
Dead, the hours of 9 to 11 were already spoken for. After that, I just went to bed, although I hear
the Oscars lasted for like 3 and a half hours this year, so I guess I could
have still watched a good chunk of it.
As it is, though, the only part of the Oscars I watched was Seth MacFarlane’s
opening bit. I watched it because I've become a bit of a Seth MacFarlane fan ever since he hosted SNL recently, and
because the opening bit of the Oscars is always the best part (though if you
ask me nothing will ever beat the
year Hugh Jackman hosted.)
The point is I watched Seth MacFarlane’s opening monologue. And I was uncomfortable, deeply
uncomfortable, with his “We Saw Your Boobs” musical number. But I couldn't quite put my finger on
why. It remained with me all day (not
the least of reasons because it was so dang catchy). Something bothered me. Something upset me. Something made me uncomfortable, and I was
loathe to admit it. After all, it was
supposed to be funny. It was a joke. Supposedly those “reaction” shots of
celebrities he mentioned were staged, faked for the sake of the joke inside the
joke, the joke that the song that Seth MacFarlane sang was crass and
unprofessional and “ruined” the Oscars.
(So Meta, right?) But something
made me go… that wasn't funny. That
crossed a line. But I couldn't articulate, even to myself, why I felt it crossed a line, so I worried I was
being too over-sensitive. I checked the
blogs I usually read. When there’s an
egregious display of sexism in pop culture, I can usually count on them to be
all over it, to parse it, to explain to me what I was already feeling, deep
down, but couldn't express. But nobody
seems to be talking about this one. So I
thought, and I thought, and I thought some more. I started to feel like Winnie the Pooh when
he thinks too hard. And finally, I
figured it out.
