Hollywood Keeps Dissing Documentaries at the Oscars

By Danny Schechter, AlterNet. Posted March 5, 2007.

New York, New York: "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda."

Remember that famous phrase from the Jerry Seinfeld show, a program that ruled the airwaves in part because of its absurdity? The comic got rich while avoiding any serious social commentary. On its last night "the show about nothing," held a farewell party at the real Tom's restaurant on New York's upper west side. Every TV truck in town was there to "go live" from this world-shaking historic cultural event.

On the very same night, two blocks away, the poet Alan Ginsberg, whose passions were about everything, was being memorialized at a packed New York Cathedral. No TV trucks turned out to cover the passing of a prophetic poet even though his death was page 1 News in The New York Times.

Jerry seemed to have taken the money and ran, but then turned up the other night on an audience pandering Oscar telecast. The man who stood for so little was given the job of introducing the documentary awards honoring films that chronicle our times and stand up for what really matters in a tinsel town that mostly doesn't.

If you saw the telecast, you saw what a jerk he was, putting down documentaries and trivializing their impact. What an outrage that Hollywood's patrons would chose Mr. Yadda Yadda to do these honors.

John Sinno, one of the documentary honorees that night has now bravely written an Open Letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to protest the way documentarians were treated so differently than other award categories where directors and actors were praised.

"When comedian Jerry Seinfeld introduced the award for Best Documentary Feature, he began by referring to a documentary that features himself as a subject, then proceeded to poke fun at it by saying it won no awards and made no money, " he writes. "He then revealed his love of documentaries, as they have a very "real" quality, while making a comically sour face. This less-than-flattering beginning was followed by a lengthy digression that had nothing whatsoever to do with documentary films. The clincher, however, came when he wrapped up his introduction by calling all five nominated films "incredibly depressing!"

Ha! Ha!

Sinno goes on, "Jerry Seinfeld's remarks were made at the expense of thousands of documentary filmmakers and the entire documentary genre. Obviously we make films not for awards or money, although we are glad if we are fortunate enough to receive them. The important thing is to tell stories, whether of people who have been damaged by war, of humankind's reckless attitude toward nature and the environment, or even of the lives and habits of penguins. With his lengthy, dismissive and digressive introduction, Jerry Seinfeld had no time left for any individual description of the five nominated films. And by labeling the documentaries "incredibly depressing millions" of viewers not to bother seeing them because they're nothing but downers."

Now I know some of you may be saying that wasn't it great that Al Gore won and that the issue of global warming was showcased at a ceremony that the former Vice President claimed was thoroughly "green." May I remind you that Gore himself was not the winner. Davis Guggenheim, the filmmaker who translated his power point presentation into a financially successful movie, won the revered statuette.

Bear in mind also that global warming is the cause du jour in Hollywood these days with even Arnold Schwarzenegger getting reelected on the strength of his becoming a born-again environmentalist. Climate change is a tres' chic and safe subject. Who but a few crank scientists and Bushies are against this danger. Gore himself said it was not political but moral. Not surprisingly, the movie was well funded with distribution by a rich company with lots to spend on marketing.

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News Dissector Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. His latest documentary is “In Debt We Trust. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org.

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