{"id":2532,"date":"2016-03-13T15:13:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T22:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=2532"},"modified":"2016-12-18T10:51:25","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T18:51:25","slug":"straight-outta-compton-snubbed-by-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2016\/uncategorized\/straight-outta-compton-snubbed-by-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Straight Outta Compton Snubbed By Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h3>\n

\"StraightThe Oscars<\/strong> are well over but the whole controversy over #OscarsSoWhite led me to view the wonderful film<\/a>,\u00a0Straight Outta Compton.<\/strong>\u00a0I was surprised at how great it actually is.<\/p>\n

To say it should\u2019ve at least been nominated for an Oscar for best film, is a no-brainer. I was stunned by its complexity, the performances, the directing, and the story. What better film to shower with attention than this one at a time when there have been so many incidents of police shootings of blacks, and now that racism is so apparent in the Trump campaign for presidential election. Not that this film is about any of that. It\u2019s not. But it does give a window on what it\u2019s like for many black youth in America today.<\/p>\n

Story<\/h3>\n

Straight Outta Compton<\/strong>, directed by F. Gary Gray, \u00a0is about four young men who took themselves out of Compton through their music. They achieved superstar status through their rap, that spoke of police brutality, of being the underdog, of being in a culture of violence. I\u2019ve never been a fan of gangster rap but I\u2019d heard snippets at various awards shows and on film. I had dismissed it as too violent in content. But now that I\u2019ve seen this movie, I understand where and why this music arrived when it did and how it revealed the truth of too many black youth\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n

In the film, there\u2019s a clip of Rodney King<\/a>\u2019s assault by police and the following trial\u2019s outcome. The film doesn\u2019t dwell on this miscarriage of justice but the incident and its violent aftermath, the riots in L.A., took place during the rise of these musical stars. Showing police brutality underlined the message that there is an imbalance in America\u2014racism on the streets of its cities. The film exposed the other America, one that many of us don\u2019t see because we don\u2019t live or travel in those circles.<\/p>\n

\"Straight

From Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n

Straight Outta Compton’s Snub, A Tragedy<\/h3>\n

Getting back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences<\/a>\u2014which is responsible for the Oscars\u2014I wonder<\/p>\n

how many of its members actually saw Straight Outta Compton<\/strong>. If they had, they couldn\u2019t have possibly overlooked this superb film or could they have? And if they did see it and chose not to nominate it, you have to wonder why. It\u2019s a tragedy. I\u2019m obviously not alone in this opinion. We all know the fuss that was made this year when the Oscar nominations were announced and there were no black contenders in the group of nominees.<\/p>\n

Spotlight<\/a>, the film that won the Oscar for best film, was very good\u2014great story and ensemble acting\u2014but when viewed alongside Straight Outta Compton, it pales in comparison.<\/p>\n

Would love to hear your thoughts.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oscars are well over but the whole controversy over #OscarsSoWhite led me to view the wonderful film,\u00a0Straight Outta Compton.\u00a0I was surprised at how great it actually is. To say… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,88,1],"tags":[863,78,34,288,864,865,866,7,862],"class_list":["post-2532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-life","category-uncategorized","tag-academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences","tag-diana-stevan","tag-film","tag-oscar","tag-oscarssowhite","tag-rodney-king","tag-spotlight","tag-story","tag-straight-outta-compton"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-EQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/inspiration-and-the-kings-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":0},"title":"Inspiration and The King’s Speech","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"28 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When Tom Hooper, won for best director at the Academy Awards last night, he mentioned his mother inspiring him to do a film based on a staged reading of the play The King's Speech. Inspiration can come from anywhere-\u00a0a poem, a song, a memory, a news item, an anecdote. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Kings-Speech-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":859,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/asghar-farhadis-film-a-separtion-universal-film-and-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":1},"title":"Asghar Farhadi’s Film, A Separation – A Universal Film and Story","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"29 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw Asghar Farhadi's film,\u00a0A Separation, the week before it won best foreign film at the Oscars.\u00a0 Shot in a very intimate fashion\u2014no panoramic shots of city or country\u2014this film tells a story that could be told anywhere. The movie's about a man struggling with a father who has Alzheimer's\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Asghar Farhadi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/A-Separation-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":796,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/storytelling-in-the-artist-and-the-descendants\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":2},"title":"Storytelling In THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I started off the new year by seeing THE ARTIST, superbly directed and written by\u00a0Michel Hazanavicius. It\u2019s a curious film, since it\u2019s mostly silent\u2014except for the musical score and a few bits of dialogue at the end. It\u2019s also shot in black and white. A brave endeavor indeed in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/The-Artist-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":908,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/not-your-typical-fairy-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":3},"title":"Not Your Typical Fairy Tale","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"1 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing up reading fairy tales and seeing films with a happy Hollywood ending, I expected more or less the same kind of ending \u00a0when I got married. I soon found out it took more than love to keep a relationship working. Unlike fairy tales, couples in love don\u2019t always live\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/The-Last-Kiss.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2232,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/film-2\/bye-bye-blues-revisited\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":4},"title":"BYE BYE BLUES REVISITED","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"24 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in 1988, I remember getting a phone call from my daughter, Robyn, who was on set for the filming of Bye Bye Blues, directed by Anne Wheeler, in the Alberta badlands, home of dinosaur tourism. I recall hearing about the challenging role she had to play, requiring a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Genie Winners","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6795.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6795.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6795.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6795.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_6795.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/the-many-paths-of-inspiration\/","url_meta":{"origin":2532,"position":5},"title":"The Many Paths of Inspiration","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"29 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written about inspiration before, but I gave it short shrift. The Encarta dictionary defines inspiration as: \u201cstimulation for the human mind to creative thought or the making of art\u201d. The Oxford dictionary says: \u201cthe drawing in of breath\u201d, and \u201cthat which is thought to prompt poets etc. and that\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Stephen-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}