# Elia Kazan Honorary Oscar **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 28, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598 "2020-07-28T13:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kswiss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@kswiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kswiss)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/1 "2020-07-28T13:45:46Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3YziNNCZeNs/hqdefault.jpg "Elia Kazan receiving an Honorary Oscar®") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YziNNCZeNs) Rather mixed results from the audience, some gave a standing ovation, some sat down and politely clapped. Some sat down and looked disapprovingly at the event. He did “name names” to the House on UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC). So what do with these old-timers that might have great artistically, but have questionable political/racial histories? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/2 "2020-07-28T13:52:43Z")
Death … I mean re-education camps! AmIright? CMC ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/3 "2020-07-28T14:18:10Z")
> [@kswiss](#): > > So what do with these old-timers that might have great artistically, but have questionable political/racial histories? Why is there something that has to be done? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/4 "2020-07-28T16:30:31Z")
There is nothing we can do but hail his great work and denounce his bad decisions made during the years of the Hollywood blacklist. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/5 "2020-07-28T16:32:35Z")
First de Havilland, and now Kazan. Could we just fast forward this discussion to Polanski, where it always ends up? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/6 "2020-07-28T16:42:08Z")
For starters, they should never invite Elia Kazan to the Oscars again. And that goes double for Fatty Arbuckle. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/7 "2020-07-28T16:48:25Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Could we just fast forward this discussion to Polanski, where it always ends up? Drugging and raping thirteen year old girls has never been OK; so no, he doesn’t get a pass. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/8 "2020-07-28T18:19:11Z")
Why should we denounce someone who told the truth about communists? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/9 "2020-07-28T18:21:18Z")
It is not that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/10 "2020-07-28T18:26:37Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > First de Havilland, and now Kazan. Could we just fast forward this discussion to Polanski, where it always ends up? Really? I assumed this discussion would end up somewhere in the vicinity of Columbus and Robert E. Lee. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/11 "2020-07-28T19:33:52Z")
Well, some of it was truth and some made up, we will never know the extent Hollywood was infiltrated by Commies. Certainly it was more than people think today, but not as much as was alleged. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/12 "2020-07-28T20:31:32Z")
I have no argument with HUAC or the FBI investigating Soviet agents working within the government. But I don’t see any reason why they needed to investigate communists working in Hollywood. As far as I know, there’s no reason why a communist filmmaker can’t make a movie which advocates for his political ideology. Just as there’s no reason why a filmmaker who’s a socialist or a liberal or a conservative or a libertarian can’t do the same. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/13 "2020-07-28T20:36:37Z")
> [@kswiss](#): > > He did “name names” to the House on UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC). Yes, but the names he named were already known, so he didn’t really harm anyone. Several of the people he named told him to name them - why should his career be ruined, too? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/14 "2020-07-28T21:14:58Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Why should we denounce someone who told the truth about communists? Because the entire concept of the US government going after people for their political views is wrong, and anti-American. Granted, I wasn’t around then. But that has always been my understanding of the objection to the HUAC. It was witch hunt for wrongthink that was approved by the government due to fears from the Cold War, and assuming “believing communism was better than capitalism” meant “Russian operative.” ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/15 "2020-07-28T21:27:43Z")
> [@kswiss](#): > > So what do with these old-timers that might have great artistically, but have questionable political/racial histories? What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/16 "2020-07-28T21:45:48Z")
Today, the cancel culture is blacklisting more people, for less reason, than the studio executives ever did. People are frighteningly ignorant of the histories of their own political movements. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/17 "2020-07-28T21:57:04Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Today, the cancel culture is blacklisting more people, for less reason, than the studio executives ever did. You’re right. Colin Kaepernick, for instance, was blacklisted by the NFL for taking a knee. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/18 "2020-07-28T22:12:43Z")
This seems very similar to your thread on Olivia de Havilland. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/19 "2020-07-28T22:16:22Z")
I, for one, am opposed to setting aside any more public parkland for statues of Elia Kazan triumphantly riding a horse. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598/20 "2020-07-28T22:20:19Z")
> [@kswiss](#): > > So what do with these old-timers that might have great artistically, but have questionable political/racial histories? What would you want done to him? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elia-kazan-honorary-oscar/916598.md?page=2)