The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary– Apr 27, 2021; Day 47

We hope that these editorial articles are helping you in your exam preparation. This series of  Editorials’ Difficult Words will help you to understand the editorials of The Hindu in a better way. Today we have come up with the explanation of difficult words/phrases of the below editorial. Have a look and update your word power & general awareness.

A stream of awards: On Oscars 2021

Oscars this year saw many firsts, and also a fair amount of continuity and predictability

After last year’s Oscar sweep by Parasite, there were those who peddled (promote (an idea or view) persistently or widely) the myth that lightning will not strike the same place twice. It kind of did in the 93rd Academy Awards, when the Best Supporting Actress award went to South Korean Youn Yuh-jung, for her role as granny Soon-ja in the heart-warming Minari, beating off (to succeed in winning or gaining something from an opponent) competition from Glenn Close’s mad-haired Mamaw in Hillbilly Elegy. Anthony Hopkins winning his second Best Actor Oscar (he first won for The Silence of the Lambs) for The Father was disappointing, even if deserving. The sentimental favourite was the late Chadwick Boseman, who turned in an incendiary (tending to excite) performance as the mercurial ((of a person) subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind) trumpeter (a person who plays a trumpet), Levee Green, in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. As expected, Nomadland won big with Best Picture, Best Director for Chloé Zhao and Best Actress (Frances McDormand). It is a historic win for Zhao as she is only the second woman to win the award and the first woman of colour to do so. While elegiac (​expressing sad feelings, especially about the past or people who have died) in its beauty, Nomadland should have looked at privilege. Only a white person can feel safe enough to drop off the grid (not using any of the services, such as bank accounts, public utilities, etc, that allow a person’s activities to be monitored by the authorities). Wandering white people, even if they are hulking (large, heavy, or clumsy) ex-military policemen, are enlightened and definitely not lost, while a homeless black person will always be looked at with suspicion.

In this year of pandemics and lockdowns, the old rules of movies playing for a certain amount of time in theatres to be considered for the awards was relaxed. Movies directly released on streaming platforms made the cut (to be among the players allowed to continue playing). David Fincher’s Mank got 10 nominations and won two — for cinematography and production design. Other favourites such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Sound of Metal, Pieces of a Woman, Hillbilly Elegy, One Night in Miami and The Trial of the Chicago 7 were also streamed. One gem of a film was Two Distant Strangers, which won for Best Live Action Short. The film effectively marries two burning issues — violence against black Americans by white policemen and being caught in a time loop (in books and films, a situation in which a period of time is repeated, sometimes several times, so that the characters have to live through a series of events again). Black graphic designer, Carter James, just wants to get back to his dog and he is shot every time by a white policeman, Merk. The film brings alive memories of police brutality at home as well. Every time Carter wakes up after being shot, to live the day again, it is a reminder of the year of blursdays that passed by. One should, however, be thankful for blursdays — if one cannot distinguish one day from the next, it means nothing hideous happened to make the day stand out. That, in these days of shock and dread is definitely something to be grateful for.

Hope you got to know some new words/phrases which will definitely be useful in the English section of upcoming competitive exams. Wishing you all the best for your preparation!

Want to improve your vocabulary further? Download the Lists of Word-Meanings of Previous Months here.