"Emma Watson has won the MTV Movie and TV award for best big-screen actor - the first gender-neutral prize the ceremony has given out."

Accepting the award, she said: "To me, it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes, and that doesn't need to be separated into two different categories."

Of course, we don't need awards at all. But maybe the show-biz industry does. Would it do better if it drove gender differentiation out of the self-promotion we've been conned into watching all these years? 

You know, I had to do research to figure out if Emma Watson is the main Emma. Isn't there another Emma? Yeah, the Emma that won the Best Actress Oscar was Emma Stone. I'm really just not caring about movies anymore. Sorry. Awards going one way or the other or carrying old-fashioned or new-fashioned ideology aren't going to nudge me into the crowd of little people out there in the dark.

"Feminism, feminism … gender wage gap … why oh why am I not taken seriously … feminism … oh, and here are my tits!"

Said Emma Watson, as imagined by some tweeter the Washington Post deemed worthy of quoting. The tweeter was reacting to a photograph of Watson wearing some clothing that bared not her breasts but her central chestal area and midriff. At the link, other anti-Watson tweets are quoted. Also, Watson's response, which is so utterly banal you should be able to guess the first 6 words verbatim:

"Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing.... I’m confused. Most people are confused. No, I’m just always just quietly stunned."

Parts of that are not banal. I like "Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with." And the banal part is actually good. It's just so good we shouldn't have to keep saying it. I blame the haters for the banality.

As for the business about how confusing it all is. Here's where Emma and other members of The Confused could begin some productive thinking. But maybe if she worked past the confusion — and dared to talk about it — she'd find herself holding a stick to beat other women with. And that's why people stay confused.

By choice.

Emma Watson has a problem with English guys and American guys.

"English guys are very well put together.... They dress really well and they are very well mannered. But they are also very restrained. Usually in the whole courting situation, I‘m used to being first of all, ignored for the first two months of the ritual. And then maybe they'll acknowledge my presence."

American guys are "like, 'I like you. You're great. Let's go on a date. Let's do it.' I'm like, 'I'm sorry, what just happened?' This is like a huge culture shock for me. They're very like open and very straight-forward—but they wear flip-flops and I don't know if I like that."

And I'm like, wow, poor Emma Watson. 

And now is it more or less likely that you believe in God?

Let's look at arch-atheist Richard Dawkins and charming young actress Emma Watson, side by side:

[Image removed because it was screwing around with some browsers. You can still find it over at Unreality.]

Reassess your belief in God.
	It's more likely that there's a God.
	Less likely.
	My faith is ironclad. It remains the same no matter what.
	I respond to evidence, and this isn't.
pollcode.com free polls

ADDED: What is the extent of the Photoshopping? An emailer hints:



The odd thing is, I look like Bjork! Thanks for making me reflect upon my unelfinness.

"We will be Live-Tweetin' the game and possibly stalking Emma Watson, so keep your eyes peeled for that, too!"

The actress/Brown student is stalked by Harvard students.

A succession of tweets posted on the [Harvard] Voice's Twitter account during the game followed, including, "Let's go Hermione! Lolz," a reference to Watson's character in "Harry Potter." It went on, "In enemy territory. Lookin for a certain witch," and, "WATSON FOUND. i repeat WATSON FOUND....

The Voice eventually attached an editor's note to its post of Watson's photo, saying, "There seems to be much ado about nothing over this photo and liveblog. Understand that these live tweets were made to be intentionally outrageous and overblown."

The Harvard students are almost surely not great artists, nor are they — I don't think — religionists, and yet they too feel a sense of privilege that lifts them up above the common people to whom the rules apply. It is the privilege that comes from being so much cleverer than the ordinary person. Clever with a famous stamp of cleverness — and good fortune — on you.