topic Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP in Community Chat

Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

SeaMaiden — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 15:19:26 GMT

Charles M. Blow on "The Slap" as a cultural Rorschach test

from CBS news Sunday Morning.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-m-blow-on-the-slap-will-smith-chris-rock/

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

mspatmac — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 15:43:13 GMT

@SeaMaiden wrote:

Charles M. Blow on "The Slap" as a cultural Rorschach test

from CBS news Sunday Morning.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-m-blow-on-the-slap-will-smith-chris-rock/

@SeaMaiden Excellent, thanks for sharing. Now if we could only appreciate and respect each others point of views it would be a step forward. Thanks again

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Group 5 minus 1 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 15:59:53 GMT

Looking at the photo Chris Rock is not laughing,but Will Smith appears to be.

Still think it was scripted.

On another note: watched Colbert the other night and he talked about Will Smith training for the film Ali and how big his hands are.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

ellaphant — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 16:03:39 GMT

@Group 5 minus 1 wrote:
Looking at the photo Chris Rock is not laughing,but Will Smith appears to be.
Still think it was scripted.
On another note: watched Colbert the other night and he talked about Will Smith training for the film Ali and how big his hands are.

Scripted?

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

shoechic — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 16:14:20 GMT

@ellaphant

People who STILL think this was "staged" will never admit they were wrong.

Why anyone would think that these two "faked violence" is beyond me.

Yes, Will smiled as he walked away. For a moment he felt satisfied & the crowd was laughing because they also thought it was a skit until Will started shouting profanities.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

MarkeieMark — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 17:28:55 GMT

The commentary should be on HOLLYWOOD. But in Hollywood fashion, they yell squirrel.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Greeneyedlady21 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 17:46:54 GMT

It is a Rorschach test. Perhaps those who don't want to acknowledge that just don't want a mirror held up to themselves.

The commentary should be on our culture and what we see and how some try to divert attention from other things.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

DiAnne — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 18:02:47 GMT

This is not on "Hollywood" this is completely on Will Smith!

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

MarkeieMark — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 18:07:02 GMT

That's what HOLLYWOOD said as they let him sit there, and then get a reward.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 18:58:19 GMT

@shoechic wrote:
@ellaphant

People who STILL think this was "staged" will never admit they were wrong.

Why anyone would think that these two "faked violence" is beyond me.

Yes, Will smiled as he walked away. For a moment he felt satisfied & the crowd was laughing because they also thought it was a skit until Will started shouting profanities.

@shoechic

Uh, sorry, but this has nothing to do with "right" or "wrong". It's an opinion.

MANY people thought it was probably a comedy skit, and waited for it to continue to play out. Thinking back on the previous awards shows' comedy sketches (Billy Crystal comes to mind, among others) no one would have likely thought it was real.

Even shouting profanities might have been part of a skit. Profanities can easily be bleeped out.

The CBS comentator nailed it, IMO.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:01:07 GMT

@DiAnne wrote:
This is not on "Hollywood" this is completely on Will Smith!

@DiAnne @MarkeieMark

Yes, it's completely on Will Smith. This isn't about "Hollywood" at all.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Citrine1 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:07:02 GMT

@shoechic wrote:
@ellaphant

People who STILL think this was "staged" will never admit they were wrong.

Why anyone would think that these two "faked violence" is beyond me.

Yes, Will smiled as he walked away. For a moment he felt satisfied & the crowd was laughing because they also thought it was a skit until Will started shouting profanities.

I agree that Will was smiling (smirking, I thought) because he felt like a big man who defended his damsel in distress. He wasn't smiling because it was staged or scripted.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

feline groovy — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:11:34 GMT

He has one of the best comments I've seen; it's egotistical men in a nutshell:

"I saw an expression of toxic masculinity how men too often respond to passions with violence, and call it love; how they cloak their viciousness in valor; how they profess to protect the vulnerable with violence, when in fact they are animated by their own fragility."

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

manny2 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:16:15 GMT

I don't see the analogy to a Rorschach test. Maybe why he did it is subjective, and opinions will vary, but what he did is not. Assault is assault and that is not ok.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Vivian — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:39:32 GMT

i read Charles Blow's piece in The NY Times and watched him on CBS this morning. I agree with him. I too was angered by the idea put forward by Smith and others that his violence was based on love. That is hogwash. Mrs. Smith has every right to be upset about her alopecia but that is no excuse for such an immature and out-of-control act.

I think Hollywood is in the process of self-destruction. As one comedian said, the reason they gave WS a standing ovation when he got his Oscar is that the audience didn't have time to call their publicists to find out what their most marketable reaction should be. I am a fairly liberal person but when I heard about some of the upcoming rules for Oscar eligibility (I won't mention them because I'd be zapped), I thought that you can't legislate creativity. It will be interesting to see what part of these Oscars will lead to anything. Meanwhile, Will Smith deserves punishment for what he did.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

cindyNC — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 21:08:38 GMT

Kareem Abdul Jabbar's commentary

“When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer wrote in a Substack column published Tuesday. “With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.”

The NBA Hall of Famer also wrote in his column that some fellow celebrities have agreed with Smith’s actions toward Rock, noting comedian Tiffany Haddish’s remarks on the altercation that romanticized Smith as a loving husband who defended his wife’s name.

“Actually, it was the opposite. Smith’s slap was also a slap to women. If Rock had physically attacked Pinkett Smith, Smith’s intervention would have been welcome. Or if he’d remained in his seat and yelled his post-slap threat, that would have been unnecessary, but understandable. But by hitting Rock, he announced that his wife was incapable of defending herself—against words,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

“From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show,” he added.

Abdul-Jabbar noted in his column that Smith’s incident will allow more pundits to continue to push a narrative that Black people are “more prone to violence and less able to control their emotions,” also applauding Rock for handling the situation with “grace and maturity.”

“I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others,” Abdul-Jabbar concluded.

published Tuesday. “With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community.”

“From everything I’d seen of Pinkett Smith over the years, she’s a very capable, tough, smart woman who can single-handedly take on a lame joke at the Academy Awards show,” he added.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

cindyNC — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 21:12:04 GMT

Stupidity based on love also reminds of when fathers rage and talk about what they would do if their daughters are sexually assulted. It only makes the daughters be reluctant to come to their fathers with problems.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Group 5 minus 1 — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 22:08:13 GMT

Still think it was scripted. And what a great way to get out of a contract.

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

Cakers3 — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 22:47:01 GMT

This was a personal commentary and not a Rorschach test.

The author really did not submit any original observations; as a man defending his wife, as an assault, as the result of an insult in comedy; etc.

We have seen the same observations on this very forum.

The Rorschach test is not used extensively today; nor did the author apply Exner scoring his observation. (Exner took earlier scoring and made a comprehensive study regarding scoring.)

Now this quote from his article, again his own perspective, is the most original part of the article:

I saw an expression of toxic masculinity – how men too often respond to passions with violence, and call it love; how they cloak their viciousness in valor; how they profess to protect the vulnerable with violence, when in fact they are animated by their own fragility.

While this article was - well, creative at best -it is hardly a Rorschach test.

(btw: originally developed to test for Schizophrenia. Just sayin'.)

Re: Excellent commentary on THE SLAP

drizzellla — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 22:59:53 GMT

@Vivian wrote:
i read Charles Blow's piece in The NY Times and watched him on CBS this morning. I agree with him. I too was angered by the idea put forward by Smith and others that his violence was based on love. That is hogwash. Mrs. Smith has every right to be upset about her alopecia but that is no excuse for such an immature and out-of-control act.

I think Hollywood is in the process of self-destruction. As one comedian said, the reason they gave WS a standing ovation when he got his Oscar is that the audience didn't have time to call their publicists to find out what their most marketable reaction should be. I am a fairly liberal person but when I heard about some of the upcoming rules for Oscar eligibility (I won't mention them because I'd be zapped), I thought that you can't legislate creativity. It will be interesting to see what part of these Oscars will lead to anything. Meanwhile, Will Smith deserves punishment for what he did.

You got that right. I read all the rules and it will be interesting to watch the outcome.