In the absence of a violent slap assault at the 2023 Oscars, audiences focused on the red-carpet massacre — where Hugh Grant eviscerated model Ashley Graham during a vapid pre-show interview.
Some said Grant was rude, snobby or a plain ol’ “a- -hole,” but Graham was equally underwhelming in her repartee.
The model asked Grant — the walking embodiment of English reticence — what was his favorite thing about the Oscars.
“It’s fascinating … It’s vanity fair,” he mustered, making an observation about the frivolity of this annual masturbatory event — a circus, of which he’s a participant.
The reference sailed over Graham’s head like a Brett Maher field goal, completely missing its target.
She thought he was talking about the Vanity Fair magazine afterparty, where A-listers and Justin Bieber in my nana’s crocheted afghan toasted each other with pricey bubbly and fancy fare.
“It’s all about Vanity Fair, where we let loose and have a bit of fun,” she cluelessly responded.
From there, the already painful interview went off a cliff. Grant handed off the microphone and rolled his eyes so vigorously, it likely led to an ocular muscle injury.
It was hard to argue with branding expert and author Aliza Licht, who pointed out that Graham did not do her homework in understanding her audience. The former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl treated the acerbic actor like she would a doe-eyed, couture-clad starlet. And yes, he was cranky.
But he was delightfully authentic, too.
The painful exchange was also illustrative of something worse: the lack of intellectual curiosity in our popular culture.
The term “vanity fair” dates back to John Bunyan’s 1678 book, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” And of course, there’s “Vanity Fair,” the classic 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. If you want the visual Cliff Notes, Netflix adapted it into a series in 2018.
It should stand that an advanced degree not be a requirement to host a red carpet. But the whole episode made me wonder — do our supposed arbiters of taste or culture read literature, history or anything beyond the “Yas, Kween!” handbook anymore?
Apparently not. Once the bedrock of secondary and higher education, the humanities are disappearing.
Two weeks ago, the New Yorker published a fascinating piece entitled “The End of the English Major,” chronicling how the number of humanity majors is sinking like a stone at American universities — by 17% in the last decade, to be exact. Now in vogue are tech, business and science — majors that will wield a better return on a tuition investment.
Beside the obvious financial issue, the piece pointed to a number of factors, including that students dismiss important works as “problematic,” rather than reading and dissecting them in a critical way after the fact. Some believe that only post-colonial works are valid.
Similar articles dating back five years have been sounding the same siren about the pursuit of the humanities.
I’m not particularly erudite. In fact, quite the opposite, I tend toward the lowbrow and am probably more fluent in Jerry Springer than French Enlightenment figures. But I am grateful for my robust liberal arts education that not only comes in handy during “Jeopardy!,” but also in navigating every aspect of my career and social life.
A strong humanities education is foundational, building critical thinking skills and the ability to see the world from a fuller vantage point, instead of the narrow, cynical lens we are presented with today — especially in American society.
And one doesn’t need formal schooling to read formative works or listen to engaging podcasts like Spencer Klavan’s “Young Heretics,” which dives into the classics, to teach us about our world today.
It doesn’t help that many are now more interested in chasing a Ph.D. in TikTok, aspiring to be influencers with very little substance behind their pursuits. Their education comes from whatever slop the algorithm feeds them.
It was tough to watch that interview and not think, even a little, that maybe the Oscars broadcast should be replaced with a Humanities 101 lecture. I think we could all use a refresher.