Feedback: What the Oscars should learn from the Grammys

The Oscars should learn from the Grammys

Regarding “Grammy Awards: An ode to joy” by August Brown, April 4: I was entertained, amazed, moved to tears and, thankfully, not shocked or disgusted watching and listening to the Grammy Awards.

The show respectfully honored all genres of musical achievement but, more important, it demonstrated how music can literally find and touch people during their most vulnerable times. Jon Batiste expressed this sentiment beautifully.

Movies can accomplish the same thing. I know they have for me. Hopefully, the Oscars can learn something from the Grammys about how to convey this notion.

Denice Avila
Camarillo

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It is so fitting that Olivia Rodrigo won best new artist at the Grammys [by Mikael Wood, April 3]. Teenage girls have always helped develop the contours of pop music, just as we shape fashion and set trends.

Rodrigo’s personal journey and honest exploration of vulnerability and insecurity resonates deeply with today’s youth. In her song “Drivers License,” you can feel her disappointment and anguish — how life was not how she had planned and hoped.

During the pandemic, today’s teens have transitioned in and out of school, from independence to no freedom and back again. Teenage girls are not just concerned with boys and breakups — we are coming of age during an unprecedented time of solitude and confusion. We are a generation of “digital natives” born into a world of technology, where social media can compound feelings of isolation and depression and can lead to mental health challenges.

Rodrigo’s album “Sour” is empowering and inspires young girls to be independent and unapologetically themselves.

Ella Jaffe
New York

The letter writer is in 11th grade at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City.

May the best movie win

I didn’t need half a page of Justin Chang’s analysis [“The Oscars: Chaos in Hollywood,” March 28] telling me why “CODA,” which he doesn’t consider “even remotely one of the year’s best movies,” won best picture over “The Power of the Dog,” which he defends as the superior film.

“CODA” has a good story, well told. It made me experience the full range of human emotions and I cared about the characters.

“The Power of the Dog” was a thin story, boringly told. And while I sympathized with the characters, I really didn’t give a hoot about what happened to them in the end. It’s that simple.

Tim Paine
Burbank

‘Morning Joe,’ all morning

The article by Stephen Battaglio [“Extra cup of ‘Morning Joe,’” April 3] seems almost bewildered by the fact that shows like “Morning Joe” trail their opposites on the Fox News channel. Both sides of the political networks exaggerate their condemnations of the other side. This hyperbole can be seen nightly when Fox News continues to blast the left for its supposed COVID tyranny or CNN’s frightened views on the Jan. 6 insurrection, which they have described as worse than 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.

Mark Walker
Yorba Linda

Another offensive comic

The “Argyle Sweater” comic on April 4 was offensive in a number of ways. An obviously white exterminator gets rid of a pest, and in the trap are the remains of an obviously Mexican mouse indicated by a sombrero next to the trap.

The comic indirectly references the remains as Speedy González, who was too slow to escape the trap.

According to a 1981 L.A. Times story, ABC banned this “stereotypical image” from its airways and Cartoon Network did the same in the ‘90s.

Shame on Scott Hilburn for thinking this insensitive attempt at humor is acceptable and shame on your editors for allowing you to resurrect a cartoon character that was previously banned for what should be obvious reasons.

I read your paper every week and I know you can do better than this.

Alcario Esquivel
Garden Grove

Movies and politics

Words are powerful. The layouts and headlines with Justin Chang’s review of the movie “Ahed’s Knee” [“Withering look at modern Israel,” April 1] used incendiary words to catch the eye of the reader.

On Page 1 of the entertainment section, the headline read “Withering look at modern Israel,” and on Page 2, where the article continued, “ ‘Ahed’s Knee’ indicts modern Israeli society.”

Was the purpose of this review an analysis of a film or to make a political statement about Israel based on the work of one angry filmmaker?

Aviva S. Monosson
Los Angeles

Lessons from Ben and Ann

With the encouraging reviews of “Ann” at the Pasadena Playhouse [“‘Ann’ takes her final bow” by Charles McNulty, March 24, “‘Ann’ shows a better Texas,” by Mary McNamara, April 4] and “Benjamin Franklin” on PBS [“Burns sheds light on key kite flier” by Robert Lloyd, April 4], perhaps we can glean inspiration about our nation’s future from the wisdom that has long been part and parcel of the American citizenry.

Ben Miles
Huntington Beach