like a box of KFC face wipes - wet, sanitised, insubstantial. And very American.
If there is one thing the ritual is not about it is talent. The Oscars are a local rite in which mediocrities are held up as examples; where stardom is an end in itself, celebrity a fetish for the foolhardy.
At no point does the question of acting ability arise as the principal criteria. Tom "ham" Hanks is proof of that. These totems are doled out for other qualities.
It is hard to be precise about the attributes required by a successful Oscar winner. It has something to do with films The judges - or "academy", to use their favoured affectation - also like a dose of idealism, preferably wrapped in a sugar coating of glossy sentimentality. Forrest Gump fits the bill perfectly. Those who said that last year's acclaim for Schindler's List was evidence of a new maturity in Holly. wood have been proved wrong. Forrest Gump is a celebration of shallowness; stupidity made fashion. The academy choose the fatuous Forrest Gump over the brilliant Pulp Fiction because it was safe. A folksy epic of small town America that are positive - celebra- is going to win out every tions, messages and moral- time. ity tales all go down a treat. But it is not the conservaSo do films which make tism of the academy which a mountain of moolah. is truly striking, but what the popularity of the film indicates about America.
Since release the movie's simpleton protagonist has become a veritable icon; a dullard role model for American males. You too can succeed - as long as you don't think too hard about the world and your place in it.
Puerile
Zemeckis' puerile ode to idiocy makes intellect a burden, foolishness a virtue. And a big chunk of America is lapping it up. "As Forrest says... " is becoming the catchphrase of the year - everyone is required to memorise their own selection of Gump quotes to get them through the day.
What better summons up the helpless and powerlessness ordinary Americans face than the "life is a box of chocolates" nonsense?
He is the man for the moment. But Tom Hanks' hick with a flag salute to home and hearth has relevance for us too.
The themes of family, home and Christian ethics are not so far from Tony Blair's own chosen agenda. Tony and Tom are on the same think-small anti-political crusade.
They share a fantasy world without class division, without institutionalised oppression, without the possibility of real change.
It is a hopeless helpless ideology of defeat and despair.
But, then, stupid is, as stupid does...
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