This blog post will explore why I believe Jada Will and Chris have become scape goat distractions to the much deeper cultural issues of the academy and Hollywood and what it is like for those working in that realm.
Why exactly are we referring to the event that occurred at this years Oscar awards as the slap and the joke and not the fact that either side of the event actually unveils much deeper issues within the culture of the academy and Hollywood, and western culture as a whole? To begin, Chris’ joke is being treated as wrong because of Jada’s health challenges. As someone who also faces an autoimmune disorder, I strongly understand that this adds a layer of inappropriateness to the joke, however I think we are missing the deeper narrative here. Over the past while so many horror stories have come out of Hollywood regarding sexual assaults and abuse made by men against women and their bodies. Even if Jada did not have alopecia, these kinds of jokes are the foundational building blocks that lead to this primarily male-embodied violence against women occurring. Women are also judged by their outward appearances and bodies in extremely hurtful ways within the industry – sometimes being denied roles and often treated as lesser than. There are so many reasons why this joke is inappropriate when the academy has so many toxic layers when it comes to women’s bodies and their autonomy. Especially with all that has come to light in recent years. I am curious if Jada’s hurt and fallen face in response to the joke was deeper than just the pain of her health issues and cut beyond that to any role she has ever been denied based on appearance or any negative experiences of lack of respect towards her body that have occurred over the years within the industry. Jada’s health struggles represent only one of many MANY reasons why these approaches and standards in the industry are wrong, unhelpful, and unrepresentative of the full range of the human experience. I have heard so many people say that Will resorting to physical violence is not okay because the joke was not a form of physical violence and was only emotionally hurtful. Is that truly the case though? To be clear I do wish Will’s response had been different and he had walked on stage looked Chris dead in the eye and demanded he apologize rather than slap him. But so many people are talking about how physical violence is only ok in response to physical violence without any acknowledgement that these kinds of joke are exactly what leads to physical assaults against women and physical sexual abuse and many other forms of physical gender-based violence. Jokes about women’s bodies are exactly what starts to erode and remove autonomy from women over their own bodies and feed the mindset that men have a right to act towards these bodies however they may please. This kind of joke is the first step in the journey of physical violence against women. To be perfectly clear, I do NOT assume Chris to be a danger to women himself. It seems to me to be more like oversight and lack of understanding of what women face. But the joke is feeding another man’s mindset that these actions are ok and that that other man has the right to say of or do to women’s bodies as he pleases. I think Chris owes more than just Jada an apology. I think he owes an apology to every woman in Hollywood who has ever been assaulted (sexually or in any other physical way), inappropriately hit on, denied a role based on physical appearance, encouraged to change something about their physical appearance in order to get a role etc. And men and non-binary individuals too for that matter! Because yes ALL of these things also happen to men and non-binary individuals too. The slap was not okay, but the joke was equally as violent. I also don’t understand why Will is no longer with the academy. Either both of them should be removed from the academy (which to be clear I do NOT think is what should happen), or better yet both stay in the academy and we start to acknowledge the deeper issues of what is going on and work towards change in the industry. I would love it if they were to have a discussion around Jada’s big red table about how both their actions negatively contributed to the problems that run rampant in the academy and start to discuss solutions towards forward movement and change that needs to take place in the culture of the academy. There are several layers to what needs to shift in Hollywood that came to light in that moment. And instead of Hollywood taking the time for everyone to do their inward reflection and work and acknowledging that large scale change needs to occur, both of these individuals, Will and Chris (and Jada too), have become scape goats to put the blame on and talk as though they are the only two and make the event about them and their sides of the story (and about Jada’s health struggles) rather than what each element represented and how their actions (or lived experience with alopecia) were simply arrows pointing to much deeper complex issues within the academy that need to change. I actually think that Jada, Will, and Chris are all victims to the toxic culture of Hollywood that they have been doing their best to navigate and fit in, and that that is really what was coming to a head and led to that moment on stage where one individual felt it necessary to use an inappropriate joke and another had finally had enough and choose to stand up against injustice in any way he could think of in the moment in what realistically may have not been the best or most effective approach. Working for years in a toxic environment leads to toxic actions that match with the energy of the environment you are in. It’s the basic psychology of the human experience. The issue here is neither Chris nor Will (though both could certainly grow and act differently in the future), but rather the toxicity of the environment that they both embodied in different ways that day. We also cannot avoid the fact that African-American actors are under certain added pressures when doing their best to fit the environment that the white patriarchy found within Hollywood (and western culture as a whole) creates. As a white individual it would be inappropriate for me to offer an opinion or speculate on what these pressures might be or what the possible impacts of this intersectionality are, but I am certain this has added another layer of difficulty for each of these individuals as they attempt to navigate the work environment and toxic culture of Hollywood. And I would love to hear from voices who do have lived experience that could offer insight and opinions on this topic. I have the utmost respect for all three of these individuals and the work they have done over the years and will continue to do in the future. They are all doing amazing things and I hope this experience does not deter any of them from continuing to move forward and bless the world with their gifts. I would love to see these beautiful folks come together around Jada’s red table and unpack their learnings and experiences in the toxic environment that is Hollywood. I would love to see them use this as an opportunity to come together in unity and identify the real problems and deeper issues that this event just scratched the surface of. To me that would be an extremely powerful thing to see moving forward and I think it would help shed light on the toxic elements of the academy in a way that truly could start to lead towards some very positive changes. There is opportunity here – a sapling ready to sprout from the ashes in order for new growth to take root.
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Life Coach Practitioner Katelyn Townsend helps individuals like you build enriched lives full of joy. Archives
December 2022
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