I’ve never liked the term: “a teachable moment.” But if any incident ever provided a nation and the world the opportunity to examine the complexity of human behavior and to learn from it, Sunday night’s Academy Award Slap & Shout is a good candidate. Like a fine Hollywood film, this year’s Oscars show presented raw emotions, characters we care about and can root for, more than one storyline and more than one conflict: jokes that offend; man defends mate; one-sided violence; public obscenity.
It’s what good drama should be: riveting and provocative. It makes us think, or, at least, if we’re willing to think, there is indeed food for thought in the WILL SMITH – CHRIS ROCK confrontation. (And it only helps us focus on the two antagonists that each one has a strong, monosyllabic first and last name.)
We’re so engaged because the issues are so big and so important. And because Smith and Rock have such friendly public personas and so many fans. They’re both likeable guys. And we expect them to like each other. But they didn’t Sunday night, or at least Will Smith didn’t take kindly to Chris Rock’s comic jab at Jada Pinkett Smith.
What interests me most about Sunday night’s public blow-up is the aftermath. They said what they said and they did what they did. Now what? How can a violent conflict be responsibly de-escalated? What constitutes an authentic apology? How can friendly relations, once broken, be re-established? Should there be legal repercussions? And, yes, what can we learn about ourselves from all this? I suppose that’s one main reason we love tv and film. We can see our own challenges and shortcomings so vividly displayed by the people on the screen.