Ross: Living the dream, and the lesson, after the Oscars

It was a strange sensation watching the Oscars this year. Not just because there was no host, but because the event itself seemed to collide with the message among some of the films being honored.

RELATED: In upset, Green Book wins
RELATED: How the Academy Awards’ preferential voting works

I don’t mind hearing actors in tuxes and sequins giving uplifting speeches about following your dreams. Or that if you have a talent and something to say, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be up on that stage someday, accepting an award. That’s all great.

But then I think of the messages in the films they made. Like Bohemian Rhapsody: a young talented guy with something to say – ends up losing his friends and despite his genius, or maybe because of it, sinking into debauchery, and dying young.

I think of The Wife, which is about a writer who, out of the blue, gets a call that he’s won the Nobel Prize for literature! And what happens to him? I won’t give it away, but there’s a reason Glenn Close got a nomination for best actress as the all-too-loyal wife.

And then of course A Star is Born. I didn’t just watch the Lady Gaga version. I watched the earlier versions too – they ended the same way.  The fading performer never seems to learn from the pre-quels. He rises to the top, but comes to the same sad end.

So as I’m watching the Oscars, I’m seeing all these people at the height of their careers, and I’m wondering if they will heed the warnings from their own movies.

By the way, I would’ve voted for Glenn Close. But now I think maybe she’s lucky she didn’t win.

Follow @http://www.twitter.com/thedaveross