The scope of the Oscar ceremony is global and as such is an expression of the so-called “soft power” of the United States. Usually most people underestimate the culture, the ideas and the culture, because unlike wealth it is not easy to measure. But their role is extremely important. “Soft power” combines two components: the message and its circulation.
In the case of the Oscars, we are talking about a television event that fuels global debate. Neither Europe nor much more China or Russia can achieve anything similar. Trafficking is partly a technical issue, but it cannot be separated from the message. However, contrary to the famous saying of the media theorist Marshall McLuhan how the media shapes the message in this case the opposite is true.
The reason why the Oscars ceremony has this kind of care is due to Hollywood and its values that are concentrated in the possibility of social development and personal development based on special characteristics and individual effort away from the compulsions of the social environment.
The public debate over Will Smith’s slap in the face to Chris Rock is more important than the fact itself: what is written, how it is written, and what is silenced. Analytically,
- If a white actor slapped a black colleague live and in public, the discussion would have taken on an exclusively racial dimension with an emphasis on his white superiority and his white privilege.
- If his skin color was reversed, it would be a justified reaction in centuries of oppression.
- If the victim was a white woman the discussion would focus on toxic masculinity or the hegemony of heteronormativity.
In other words, the interpretation of the event is largely determined by characteristics such as skin color and gender and less by the individual choices and temperament of the persons involved. This is an approach that is in stark contrast to the values that fueled the US “soft power” and contributed to its success.
American society faces serious problems in managing racial inequalities, and these issues extend beyond the American border and now cover the entire planet.
The “soft power” of the US and consequently of the West was based on their ability to imagine and express some common dreams of modern humanity. But as things stand, Americans seem to be gradually losing this great ability, and if that happens, the question is what happens next.
