..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

March 20, 2003

The Art Of Oscar In Wartime

by Sun Tzu
annotated by David Poland
___________________________________

Chapter X of Sun Tzu's The Art of War may offer some insight into just why Oscar should wait to fight another day. Hollywood is "the army." The dread and respect that comes from the start of a war is "the enemy." Gil Cates and Frank Pierson are "the generals."

Sometimes an army is exposed to calamities, not arising from natural causes, but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: flight; insubordination; collapse; ruin; disorganization; rout.

Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times it size, the result will be flight of the former.

If things get too bad, actors will bail in high numbers.

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination.

When the actors are more important than the Academy itself...

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers are too weak, the result is collapse.

When the Academy soldiers on without really considering the emotions out here...

When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander in chief can tell whether or not he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.

When Hollywood leaders start talking about showing up and making "statements"...

When the general is weak and without authority: when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned the officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly, haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

When everyone is sitting around, waiting for a decisive decision...

When a general, unable to estimate and enemy's strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful on, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be a rout.

When the show just goes on... maybe events overpower it... or not...

These are the six ways of courting defeat - neglect to estimate the enemy's strength; want of authority; defective training; unjustifiable anger; nonobservance of discipline; failure to use picked men - all of which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.

Five days into a war, no one can know what's coming; stars will do as they please; the field has changed so no one knows quite how they should act; plots to make statements have begun; Oscar has no one out front, other than organizers, leading the way towards a good outcome...

The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers, and distances, constitutes the test of a great general. He who knows these things, and in fighting puts his knowledge into practice, will win his battles. He who knows them not, nor practices them, will surely be defeated.

Sun Tzu
Around 500 BC