Showing posts with label 2014 Oscar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2014 Oscar. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Matthew McConaughey's 'God' Speech at the Oscars Required Courage

Matthew McConaughey's 

'God' Speech 

at the Oscars Required Courage


BY TYLER O'NEIL , CP REPORTER, CHRISTIAN POST
March 4, 2014|1:29 pm
(PHOTO: REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON)
Matthew McConaughey accepts the Oscar for best actor 
for his role in "Dallas Buyers Club" at the 86th Academy Awards 
in Hollywood, California March 2, 2014.

Matthew McConaughey, winner of the Academy's "Best Actor" award, gave homage to God for his victory on Sunday evening, a move that few make in acceptance speeches, according to a graphic by The Associated Press. Voices in Christian media praised his speech, arguing that it took courage.
"First off I want to thank God because that's who I look up to," McConaughey, who won the "Best Actor" award for his portrayal of AIDS patient Ron Woodruff in "Dallas Buyers Club," declared at the Academy Awards on Sunday. McConaughey added that God has "graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand." Before thanking his wife, children, mother, and late father, the actor quoted late British Actor Charlie Laughton – "When you got God, you got a friend and that friend is you."
Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture for the Media Research Center, argued that this speech "breaks the mold of what Hollywood's image of Christians is." According to a graphic by AP, Academy Award winners thank many people, but God is not usually on the top of their list. More frequently, they thank the Academy, their spouse, mother, father, children, and management – in that order.
Many twitter users reacted negatively to McConaughey's reverential nod to God. "Ok so you really deserved it McConaughey. Just stop the stupid god talk," one detractor tweeted. "I thought we could get through the Oscars without someone thanking god but no he had to ruin it…," another responded.
"When did Matthew McConaughtey turn into Joel Osteen?" asked Elaine L (@LaineyGossip).
Gainor argued that the actor's reference to God took a great deal of courage. "He's a young guy, he just won an Oscar – arguably at the high point of his career," Gainor noted. "That's like saying you just won the Super Bowl and you're going to thank God on national television."
Product of Hollywood's Hedonistic Culture?
According to this graphic compiled by the Associated Press,
Oscar winners rarely thank God for their success.

"The increasing marginalization of what used to be mainstream Christianity is merely being reflected by Oscar winners," said Alex Wainer,associate professor of Communication and Media Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Wainer argued that the trend against thanking God reflects a strong degree of secularization in Hollywood.
Academy Award winners "may not see God's hand in the approval of their fellow artists and thus don't thank God because they either don't see His hand in their success or may be embarrassed to be associated with such a benighted demographic as the Christian community," Wainer argued.
Gainor agreed. "Hollywood has a hedonistic culture – there's no doubt about it. It's an 'anything goes' sex, drugs, and rock and roll mentality," he declared.
Gainor did not necessarily blame the actors and directors for this, however. "Any sort of ego-fed field feeds our inherent narcissism, our lust for things that are not good, and it makes it very hard to turn to good things," he explained. Certain aspects of acting, like performing a love scene with someone who is not your wife, naturally undermines what is good.
"The family-friendly movies now are movies like 'Frozen,'" animated films that seem unrealistic, Gainor explained. "It's almost like the good things are comic book, cartoons, and the bad things are what they depict as real life."
Paul Asay, senior associate editor of Focus on the Family's Plugged In movie review site, argued that the general trend against thanking God in Oscar speeches may have nothing to do with an anti-Christian or anti-religious bias. The trend, if there is one, could speak to the fact that God is not as big of a motivating factor in the entertainment industry as He once was," Asay admitted. But he quickly added that "it could also be a demonstration that people view their faith as a more private exercise."
"Anytime you talk about God, there is going to be a little controversy about that," the reviewer argued. The Oscars do not aim to promote controversy, but try "to make people as comfortable as possible." In a way, Asay argued, "the Oscars are in the vein of Hollywood conservatism – they don't want to send any false notes."
Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and editor-in-chief of Movieguide, argued that the lack of gratitude to God is not limited to the Oscars. He noted that, even at the explicitly Christian Movieguide awards, which aired Monday night, "you thank Movieguide, you thank your family." When a colleague buys dinner, "you thank the person who takes you out to dinner, but not God."
Baehr expressed a preference for fewer praises to God at public events, in favor of more authentic tributes. "I'd rather have a heartfelt statement than a lot of people flapping their lips like it's what they should do," he explained. The critic mentioned rappers who thank God with their lips and then feature "abhorrent" sex acts abusing girls in their videos. He also mentioned Adolf Hitler, who appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1936 for "Thanking God."
"We know that Hitler was not a Christian," Baehr explained, citing the book The End of the Spear, among others.
As opposed to Hitler's false thanks, Baehr praised McConaughey's genuine gratitude. "I think Matthew is very explicit about God because he had been kicked out of Hollywood," the critic explained, referencing the actor's previous involvement with marijuana and other drugs.
Magnify.net
Matthew McConaughey's Oscars Speech
Contact: tyler.oneil@christianpost.com, @tyler2oneil (Twitter)
 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Hollywood Flips Over Oscar-Nominated Christian Movie Theme Song (CharismaNews)

Hollywood Flips Over Oscar-Nominated Christian Movie Theme Song

'Alone Yet Not Alone'
The family-friendly drama 'Alone Yet Not Alone' garnered a 2014 Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. (Enthuse Entertainment)
Enthuse Entertainment’s family-friendly drama Alone Yet Not Alone garnered a 2014 Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. The nominated title song was written by Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel and sung by best-selling author and artist Joni Eareckson Tada.
The song beat out others by Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion and Lana Del Rey. The other nominations include Frozen's "Let it Go," "Ordinary Love" by U2 from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Pharrell Williams' "Happy" from Despicable Me 2 and Karen O's "The Moon Song" from Her.
Some people in Hollywood have questioned the nomination from a Christian film that is virtually unknown. Broughton, one of the writers, is a former music branch governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as a former chair of the music branch. Deadline.com claims he used his connections to gain a nomination.
Ray Costa, who helped promote the song to Academy members, disputes the claim.
"If he could influence the Academy in that way, he should have got a lot more nominations over the past 30 years," Costa said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "There were 75 songs being considered, and this one was different. It was inspirational and integral to the movie."
The title track single is available to audiences digitally through iTunes. The full soundtrack, composed by William Ross, will be available in stores this year.
No DVD release information has yet been announced. An Alone Yet Not Alone young adult book by Tracy Leininger Craven was released earlier this month by Zonderkidz.
Alone Yet Not Alone tells the story of Barbara and Regina Leininger and their journey of faith and survival during the French and Indian War in 1755. Captured by the Delaware Indians in a raid on their home and transported across 300 miles of wilderness to Ohio, the sisters are sustained only by their trust in God and their hope of escape against all odds to be reunited with their family. 
In its limited theatrical release in September, Alone Yet Not Alone became the highest-grossing film on opening weekend in terms of per-screen average, reaching $13,396 per screen in its limited opening in select cities. This per-screen average surpassed the per-screen average of most other wide-release movies, including Enough Said ($9,238 per screen) and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 ($8,439 per screen), ranking Alone Yet Not Alone with one of the highest per-screen-averages for independently released faith-based films to date, according to an Enthuse Entertainment representative.
The 86th Annual Academy Awards will be held March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.
Gina Meeks contributed to this report.