Our first Oscars

Last night I got to share one of my passions with another of my passions. And it was a lovely shock.

I never expected to get past 5 minutes of the red carpet. Instead, my little big man surprised me by:
a) not allowing me to change channels - apparently ABC has more wide shots than E! and so that's better,
b) making predictions - and good ones, too,
c) by expressing a desire to see The King's Speech so long as I can assure him there are no scary bits, and
d) by forcing himself - quite literally, he was doing the forced blink and eye roll to keep his eyes from shutting against his will - to stay awake until the very last moment of the ceremony.

My Undergrad degree is in Film and Sociology. Media analysis has been a passion of mine since high school. I get a total kick out of deconstruction, and let's face it, I don't so much watch movies as read them. I can't help it. It's what I do. The meaning and rhythm jump out at me. The skill levels of the various people involved are evident, and I often pick up on details that most others miss (like the oranges in Godfather). I am trained to see, hear and feel movies. And I've always loved hating the Oscars.

The Oscars have little to do with quality of film-making. In that sense, they are a sham, albeit a very successful one, and have been from the beginning of their days - awards created by studio heads to give themselves kudos, credibility and publicity. The voting is done in such a way that creates bias; some of the very best movies have lost out, and some of the "best" movies are actually pretty unbalanced (Sound of Music, really? Fun, sure, but quality? Really? Don't let me get started on the lighting issues...) But the Oscars are so fun to watch and critique. I am usually interested in and pleased with the technical wins, and not as much by the more showy ones which are usually so very predictable.

Last night my son surprised me. He couldn't say why he wanted to watch the ceremony, or what was interesting to him about it. He certainly didn't know any of the movies other than Toy Story 3, but he predicted that The King's Speech would win. He was definitely not interested in the fashion aspect - "Stop talking about the dresses!  I don't want to hear about the dresses. Or the hair." - and he didn't understand why the jokes were funny. He didn't even catch the F-bomb. But he was hooked.

I'm really hoping that this unexpected late night of ours means that my child is finally opening up to this world which I find so fascinating and exhilarating (and often disappointing, as was much of last night's ceremony - I am rather indignant over the way the winners of the Governor's Awards were treated). Maybe this is the start of something new we can share, as he grows older.

But I doubt we will ever be able to dish on the dresses.