Stephen King labelled 'backward and ignorant'

[Eldorado]

"Stephen King has come under fire after saying the issue of diversity should not be a factor for Oscar voters.

"The author, who nominates in three categories for the Academy Awards, said in a tweet that "only quality" matters."

Full monty at Sky UK: https://news.sky.com/story/stephen-king-criticised-over-painful-oscars-diversity-comments-11909029

 

"Stephen King in Oscars voting row after saying quality trumps diversity"

At the UK Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2020/01/15/stephen-king-oscars-voting-row-saying-quality-trumps-diversity/

"As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just three categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay.

For me, the diversity issue - as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway - did not come up," he tweeted on Tuesday.

"That said... I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong."

At Film News UK: http://www.film-news.co.uk/news/UK/71527/Ava-DuVernay-criticises-Stephen-King-for-diversity-comments

Edited January 15, 2020 by Eldorado

[+Nuclear Wessel]

He has a point--diversity shouldn't come into the equation at all. The only thing that should matter is the quality of your work.

[Space Commander Travis]

Oh dear, another one who must be consigned to the recycling facility of history for being insufficiently Woke. Does anyone remember the days when in democratic Western societies, people were allowed to have a diversity of opinions, and your thoughts didn't have to conform to a particular way of thinking? That's a bit ironic isn't it; you have to watch your diversity awareness at all times, except in the matter of your own thoughts. . That's just the kind of thing a writer would find amusing. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Dumbledore the Awesome

[papageorge1]

Good for Stephen. Maybe I am not the only one willing to stand up to political correctness bullies and get called names. We in the middle need to grow a backbone!!

[moonman]

Obviously, quality is the #1 factor in voting. Voting for crap just because the creator is in some minority is a dumb way to do anything - I can't believe we've come to this even being an issue.

[Piney]

29 minutes ago, Nuclear Wessel said:

He has a point--diversity shouldn't come into the equation at all. The only thing that should matter is the quality of your work.

 

I wish I could see the day when everybody is tri-racial like me. Then they will finally shut the **** up. 

[Tatetopa]

1 minute ago, Piney said:

I wish I could see the day when everybody is tri-racial like me. Then they will finally shut the **** up. 

Or we would be arguing which three make the perfect blend.

[XenoFish]

13 minutes ago, Piney said:

 

I wish I could see the day when everybody is tri-racial like me. Then they will finally shut the **** up. 

No they won't. Because they'll argue over who's the most mixed. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by XenoFish
Damn phone

[Tatetopa]

I agree with Stephen that quality is all that should matter.

It seems like we are struggling to find a balance in society and we pushed too  far in the PC way, but I will also point out that for most of my 70 years in the USA, quality has not been number one.

I get the sensitivity from minorities.

I worked with a female metallurgist in aerospace, not all that long ago,   She had a PhD in metallurgy and was way smarter than me  She went to Renssalear  as an undergrad soon after women we let into the engineering school.  One of her professors told the class that a woman was not capable of being a good engineer.  That was probably in the 1990's

When I was working in sawmills, the green chain foreman was a Mexican guy, good at his job.  When he started in Klamath Falls, he had trouble getting a job because he looked like an Indian.  When the boss found out he was Mexican,  he got hired, because he was told Indians are drunks and Mexicans are hard workers.

I guess we could argue the point, but to me it seems that through a couple hundred years of our history as a nation only white males' talents were judged on quality alone. 

[aztek]

he is NOT backward and ignorant, he is straightforward and honest, snowflakes are gaslighting again. but then what else can they do??

[XenoFish]

When it comes to quality in entertainment, it's sunk lower than the Mariana Trench.

[aztek]

Just now, XenoFish said:

When it comes to quality in entertainment, it's sunk lower than the Mariana Trench.

that is why i'm glad netflix has movies from all over the world. i lately watch more of those than hollywood. 

i stopped watching several shows, cuz they became a left propaganda tool more than a show.  they had to bring gun control, TG stuff, immigration,.... 

[XenoFish]

2 minutes ago, aztek said:

that is why i'm glad netflix has movies from all over the world. i lately watch more of those than hollywood. 

i stopped watching several shows, cuz they became a left propaganda tool more than a show.  they had to bring gun control, TG stuff, immigration,.... 

I got rid of my netflix. Nothing but crap was on it. Maybe it's because all movies are basically the same. 

[zep73]

The bullied has become the bullies...

[rashore]

I don’t recognize half the movies on the list, lol. But for those interested, here’s the 2020 list.... https://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2020-list-nominees-by-category

[Wistman]

What we are being 'told' by the PC purists, is that what we must have is a diversity of appearances.  Not actual diversity.

I would welcome actual diversity in the range, content, depth, style, message, etc, etc, etc. of Hollywood films.  Not adversity, but diversity.  But let's be frank....Hollywood is overwhelmingly uni-ethnic owned  and operated.  I don't currently hear any cries of outrage over that.

Steven's right of course.  But to challenge the studio/twitter amalgamoron authority is forbidden; he must be tarred, smeared, for going up against the diverting sport of 'shallow diversity'.

The oscars are supposedly about merit. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by The Wistman

[XenoFish]

I just want a return to originality and actual storytelling. 

[Bed of chaos]

I love how the movie (The Irishman) with most nominations is only available to Netflix subscribers (which I dont have). Why can't Stephen King address that?

['Walt' E. Kurtz]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

 

I wish I could see the day when everybody is tri-racial like me. Then they will finally shut the **** up. 

Tree racial? ;-) 

[rashore]

8 minutes ago, Bed of chaos said:

I love how the movie (The Irishman) with most nominations is only available to Netflix subscribers (which I dont have). Why can't Stephen King address that?

It did see theatre release. Just limited and not for long in the U.S., though some independent cinemas are running it. It went from theaters to streaming pretty quick.

[Essan]

Stephen King is absolutely right - we need more people like him to stand up against the racists, sexists and other ists - we all all equal and should be judged on our own merits alone 

[Essan]

Whether the Oscar nominations are really worthy of nomination is a whole different matter!    Personally, I consider nomination as being a fair indicators that it;s not a very good film ....  The best films get few or no nominations.

[+and-then]

2 hours ago, Dumbledore the Awesome said:

That's just the kind of thing a writer would find amusing. 

Especially one who regularly froths at the mouth with hate at the Bad Orange Man.  The revolution has reached the point of shooting their own.

[Bed of chaos]

1 hour ago, rashore said:

It did see theatre release. Just limited and not for long in the U.S., though some independent cinemas are running it. It went from theaters to streaming pretty quick.

It basically ran in one theater (very limited time) 50 minutes away from my home..and I didnt see a DVD release any time soon. Unlike other titles that released to DVD rather quickly (Once upon a time/Joker). Probably so Netflix makes more money.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Bed of chaos

[rashore]

28 minutes ago, Bed of chaos said:

It basically ran in one theater (very limited time) 50 minutes away from my home..and I didnt see a DVD release any time soon. Unlike other titles that released to DVD rather quickly (Once upon a time/Joker). Probably so Netflix makes more money.

Absolutely Netflix wants more money. And if you wanted to see it in the theater you could have- you opted not to. Or you could pay a basic short subscription, which probably is about the price of a trip to that theater and the tickets and all.

Part of the to-do was the short release. Used to be 90 days for theaters to get their big bite, then on to DVD and now there's streaming. Then it's down to about 60 days. Companies like Netflix are now pushing for 30-45 days. With this movie, the couple major cinemas weren't happy Netflix wanted a rather short release... end result was cinemas went with very limited release, and Nexflix went even more quick to the streaming release to start getting there share there. So the movie was indeed in theaters long enough to qualify for the Oscar nom.

And gonna hazard a guess that Stephen is OK with Netflix movies and the online companies trend- his Gerald's Game and 1922 are supposed to have done well. Not Netflix, but his new version of The Stand is going to be on a similar kind of site- CBS Access.The new Dark Tower is likely going to Amazon Prime. He's equally OK with the big cinema, with Dr. Sleep and IT being recent pics.