[UPDATE:  2/11/20:  The Oscars telecast saw the lowest ratings ever.  People are weary of virtue-signaling and political messaging in popular entertainment venues.  Yawn.]

 

It bears noting that actresses who play Judy Garland have a habit of winning all the awards; BOTH actresses who played her in the 2001 miniseries starring Judy Davis won Emmys for the different phases of Garland’s life, and last night Renee Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Garland in the 2019 motion picture "Judy", released fifty years after Garland's death (in the year Ms. Zellweger was born).  And she gave one of the classiest Oscar speeches we have seen in a long time.  It was simple and ungussied, just about the right length, and reverent.  Her posture alone, one YouTuber commented, deserved the Oscar.  And it's true: she was regal.

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In a time of #me too, Judy Garland is THE tragic Hollywood story:  the legendary meteoric talent consumed by the industry that created her.  Zellweger didn’t try to imitate this hyper-mercurial artist in her portrayal of Judy Garland; who could?  Rather, she found a humanity inside herself that was very Judy-like, and she simply serviced the story.  It’s why the performance is so effective in a kind of so-so movie.  SHE is sensational.  And she walked away with all the awards this season for the effort. 

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Zellweger's category was given the last acting place of the evening, an honored spot and a reversal, in fact, from Oscar tradition which held the lead actor category last before the best picture awards.  Zellweger’s category was promoted in position this year.  

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I saw a moment when Zellweger ascended the steps and she paused momentarily (almost glitch-like, instantaneous) to remind herself to take her time (she's been on this stage as a winner before, of course, and she has said it was all a blur), and she eased her cadence and gave a warm, humble, and gracious speech -- with an intentional focus on Judy Garland's legacy and cultural meaning.

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But what is her meaning?  Judy Garland long ago left the realm of ordinary mortals; her legacy is in a whole other stratosphere of creative influence because of her imprint on the minds of the world's children through "The Wizard of Oz."  Judy Garland is an uber-iconic part of the American and worldwide cultural experience.  Her wistful “Over the Rainbow” persona has imprinted the imaginations of EIGHTY decades of children worldwide.  Before the digital era, the annual television broadcast of "The Wizard of Oz" was an anticipated family event.  The imprinting is incredibly deep (and this movie plays a significant role in government mind control programs, as well, but that's another story).  This movie helped inspire the imaginations of the Boomer generation, then the GenXers, then the Millennials and the GenZers.  All the powers running the world today were imprinted somehow as children by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" -- ESPECIALLY the Boomers and GenXers.   Judy Garland matters because she is a foundational creative influence on human consciousness in the last hundred years with a significantly visible cultural presence still, chiefly because of the impact of that single film.

 

Garland was a giant in her industry, roundly regarded among her peers as probably the finest overall performer of twentieth century popular music -- a raconteur and chanteuse, a legend in her own time, and a unique cultural icon because of "The Wizard of Oz" and those yearly "event" telecasts for forty years which elevated the movie to an almost institutionalized status.  It made Garland immortal, above the typical movie star.  She was a superb artist and her MGM movies are incredible, especially those mid-to-late forties technicolor pictures once she had become a rarified 3-strip-technicolor MGM superstar.  She was incandescent, and fuuuuuny.  Very beautiful, too.  Really exceptional movie actress.  And that voice.  I mean, listen to these pipes:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S735ogAE4BQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2ml9LgbpzM

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I was very pleased to hear Zellweger's acknowledgment of Garland's  “unique exceptionalism” in her speech, her generosity of spirit, and her ability to inspire inclusivity across cultures and generations.

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Zellweger very gracefully provided a rite of passage for Garland, here, stripping off the stigma of the cult of tragedy which has shadowed her legacy since her death and anointing her into the archetypal pantheon as a hero among symbols of human unity. 

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She spoke to Garland directly in her final acceptance:  "Miss Garland, you are certainly among the heroes who unite and define us, and this is certainly for you." 

 

[People always forget that Garland DID win an Academy Award; a special juvenile Oscar in a category no longer extant for "The Wizard of Oz".  She was given a miniature Oscar.  But it WAS an Oscar.]

 

This is metaphysics, folks.  Renee Zellweger just lifted an entity of tragedy off of Judy Garland's legacy.  She shifted a timeline.  A big one.  It's funny that, as of this writing, that lead video with Zellweger accepting the Oscar has a title that says JUDY accepts the Oscar for "Judy".   We'll see if they change the video title.

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What was interesting, for me, was watching the awareness and impeccable execution with which Renee Zellweger went about doing what she intended to.  She was a Queen of grace in a sea of plastic predators.  That is divine feminine power, folks.

 

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MORE

 

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JUDY GARLAND PhD PROGRAM

If you dare.

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JUDY GARLAND CINEMA

Enjoy!

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