’Still, if he keeps producing work of this standard, and maybe keeps at least some of his clothes on next time so the male voters don’t get an inferiority complex, he should take home the prize in the near future.’ [SOURCE]
By now everyone has heard about Michael Fassbender NOT getting an Oscar nomination for his superb work in SHAME. And of course as par for the course there is a lot of dialogue as to why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would do such a stupid thing. However, this is an annual fiasco…they are always overlooking good work for more mundane and lightweight fare. Not to slight pass winners but the facts are there have been plenty of people who should have at least been nominated and were not.
Part of the uphill climb for Fassy was the story matter of SHAME. Sex addiction. Not just any type of addiction but sexual. This will involve some form of nudity and sexual conduct…in a country such as America this can only lead to either giggles or side eyes or eyes bulging out from the risqué material being put forth. The character of Brandon is a tortured soul but the deeds he is doing to reflect his soul’s malaise are sexual…again this can only bring about either giggles, side eyes or eyes bulging with shock.
The fact that Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender did not play coy with the physiology of the story is to be commended. Plenty of American films show any and all of the female body but the moment the male body is shown its all long shots and penis socks to blur the image of the male sex organ.
In the past few weeks as the sound and fury over SHAME kept growing, one of the things that kept popping up [no pun intended] about the movie was the sight of Fassbender’s penis…or the size of it. Then George Clooney, the Chairman of Hollywood’s Elite, decided to stand on stage at the Golden Globes and mention seeing Fassbender’s penis in SHAME, that’s when I thought the chances of Fassy being nominated where weaning. Penis envy may be a Freudian psychoanalysis concept attributed to the female psyche but let’s be honest one of the reasons so many R-rated movies show females totally naked but shroud the male body is due to men and their penis egos.
Which brings me back to the quote found at the top of my essay: ‘so the male voters don’t get an inferiority complex’ — what a fucking joke…so true but what a joke nonetheless. It’s not that Fassbender is the first actor to show it all…Harvey Keitel in THE PIANO and Ewan McGregor in many films…but this year the spotlight is on Fassbender and his penis.
In the years to come when movies fade into pale memories…only sustained by the power of repeat viewings or the actor’s charisma, Fassbender’s performance in SHAME will stand as example of a fine performance that was wrongfully overlooked by the AMPAS. And that oversight will be mores the pity to the whole concept of acknowledging fine cinematic work by Hollywood aka The Oscars.