Madam, - It's that time of year when I begin to feel nausea welling up in me as I behold the unedifying spectacle of the media going on its collective knees, kow-towing in a westerly direction towards Hollywood, California. The Oscars!
Sure, there is the lure of the glamour and excitement generated by a competition of any sort and the sweetly cloying, inverted nature of the awards ceremony. It is all fine and well and they are entitled to their jamboree. But do we have to take quite so much notice? We defer to Yankee cultural imperialism at a cost.
Artistic considerations are not paramount in much that emanates from Hollywood. It is formulaic; it makes a fetish of violence; and its financial muscle allows it to dominate world cinema and suck away other nations' independent creativity.
Ireland and Europe need to look homeward more, lest we be culturally emasculated. - Yours, etc.,
SEÁN Ó RIBHARDÁIN,
Hillside,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.