"… of the chameleon's dish: I eat the air, promise-crammed”.
(‘Hamlet’, William Shakespeare)
We awoke in Israel yesterday, 10 hours ahead of Hollywood, to learn that this year's Oscars ceremony had dissolved into an ugly shambles.
Even as the ceremony dragged on, every news source was screaming about how actor, Will Smith hit comic presenter, Chris Rock because Rock had insulted Smith's wife.
It left me reflecting first, that if either of them had been white, it would have sprung another race war. Hours later it was claimed that the episode had been stage-managed in order to boost declining audience ratings.
Will we ever know the truth? Fake or real, the punch-up gave us a glimpse beneath the lacquer-thin veneer of civility at such high-octane, uber-competitive gatherings.
The grand folk there are no better than the millions watching their antics and who are all too painfully aware how easy it is to misbehave in a genuine mangled fit of love, fear and rage.
Further, I felt deflated that Volodymyr Zelensky's request to address the gathering did not materialise. The Ukrainian president, a successful actor, would probably have begged for yet more desperately needed aid for Ukrainian refugees.
But no! Those in charge worried about Oscars' night becoming politicised.
Excuse me?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
often fetes highly political movies on Oscars' night and is currently as self-righteously obsessed with the politics of identity and diversity as it has ever been consumed by those of envy.
A video appearance by Mr Zelensky would have had a huge impact on the occasion's global audience and could have added a note of gravitas. - and much more financial aid for the millions of dispossessed refugees.
Instead we saw a likely scripted fistfight.
To be an actor is to be a chameleon; a personality not always trusted off-stage. Could this be why Shakespeare, so exercised by the exigencies of his twin professions of playwright-performer, understood and examined the shifting borders of fantasy and reality so often and so well?
Is this why he uses the chameleon metaphor in the scene at the heart of his most famous play? The work to which Zelensky alluded when he addressed the UK House of Commons?
I leave those thoughts with you and conclude instead with a mock-heroic tribute to Zelensky whom I regard as a genuine modern man of valour.
The Chameleon Comedian
So there‘s appeared a comedic-hero who
knows no borders –
a chameleon, warrior-politician –
a magician, a flashy, artful,
yarn spinning ether rhetorician -
The people’s servant -
an all-singing, disco-dancing
player king whose circumcised thing
once tinkled a tribal tune on a tinny
ol’ joanna.
Now as the armoured skies start to
fall, their shed blackened waters
rock and roll, our man bears his
standard, blue and gold across
Nachman’s antique bridge and cries:
“We need ammo, not a ride.
Please don’t be afraid”.
© Natalie Wood
29 March 2022