As I am writing this, a galaxy of stars (like that) are assembled at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. They are watching the annual self- congratulatory ceremony that the entertainment industry throws for itself, otherwise known as the Oscars. As you can probably tell by both this post title and these first few lines, this may all get alittle negative.
Now before I begin, I want to make clear that I have been a fan of films and filmmaking since I was 10 years old. The often magical quality that films possess when projected on a large screen is what drew me in and is what continues to do so even now. Films have that amazing power. They have the power to transport you to imaginary worlds or provide you insights into our own. They move you and sometimes strike a nerve as they speak to something you have experienced in your own life. Films have power to express important ideas, make us laugh, lift our spirits, and make us dream. They can be unifiying as much as they can be devisive. I love film and always will, she is my true love.
However, I no longer see the value in the Oscars. It is all an extravagant show full of self-congratulatory and self-aggrandizing, vanity, superficiality, tragically empty and truly unimportant. The results of it don't matter to anyone but those in the industry. The dresses worn by the starlets get more press than the nominated films and eventual winners. In short, it just seems to have lost its value and is now more inappropriate than ever.
At a time when millions of Americans have lost their jobs and are at risk of losing their homes, it just seems in poor taste to put together an award show in which rich celebrities congratualte themselves for the valuable role they play in society. Now before you say it- Yes, there are those technical people behind the camera who are awarded Oscars as well. I understand that. But here's the thing: Firefighters are valuable, Teachers are valuable, Cops are valuable, but none of these groups of people have award ceremonies congratulating themselves for their role in society. What gives Hollywood the right to do so?
There was an interesting moment in Oscar history in February 2002. The Holly wood community started to question the appropriateness of having the Oscars so soon after the September 11th attacks. They asked the right questions then and they handled it all with class. But unfortunately within a few years they went right back to their old ways and no longer questioned when they were being inappropriate. That is truly a shame in my opinion .
Am I advocating they get rid of the Oscars? Yes. And this is why:
1) No one remembers who won or who was nominated.
Ok, let's conduct a little experience shall we? Let's take ten people off the street. To be fair, we will comprise this group of individuals representative of this country, as best we can of course. So there will be let's say 5 women and 5 men. They will vary in age from 18-70 and will each be of a different nationality.
We have now established that this group is a fair cross-section representative of this country. Now we will ask them four questions: 1) Name the winners of the last 5 Super Bowls? Name any team that has played in a Super Bowl over the past five years? Now I use football as a default here, but you could probably substitute baseball or basketball here as well. After we have asked the first two questions and have written down the responses, we will then ask the next two: 3)Name the winners of Best Picture over the last five years? 4) Name any picture nominated for best picture over that same time period?
Most of these ten people will be able to name a few of the Super Bowl winners over the past 5 years. They will also do fairly well in naming some of the teams who have played for a Super Bowl. However, I doubt many will be able to name one Best Picture winner and fewer still will be able to even name a film nominated over that time period.
What this proves is that while films are important to our society and our culture, which film is deemed the best in any given year is not. Most people, if you ask them, will say they don't really care about Best Picture and it doesn't affect which film they choose to see. Now I will stop myself there as I leading right into my next point, which is:
2) Winning Best Picture doesn't truly bolster a film, both in attention and in revenue.
Now some may argue that The Hurt Locker benefited greatly from its best picture win. I would say that is fair, but that that film is the exception to the rule.
Let's again face the hard facts here and admit that John Q Moviegoer doesn't really care if a film won best picture. Sure the critics do, the industry folks do, even the online entertainment bloggers do. But the average moviegoer does not. They will listen to their mechanic's advice on a film before the Academy's.
The truth is that if a film is good and has a strong story, it will find an audience. I believe there is an audience for every film. Not every film can be a blockbuster and that is perfectly ok.
Will more people go see The Artist if it wins best picture? Maybe. But will not winning one hurt The Descendents or any of the other films on the list? No. The truth is an Academy Award does not guarantee a film will be more profitable or that it will magically draw more people to it.
No, win or lose a film will succeed or fail on the strength of its story alone. As I said, a good film will find an audience, Academy be damned.
3) The Oscars celebrate our culture of excess and our obsessions with materalism.
Let's again be honest with ourselves here and admit that we as a society in America vault wealth and materal things above all else. We borrow ourselves into poverty in order to obtain what society deems acceptable and a sign of success. This is usually a big house, luxury car, jewelry, designer clothes, etc.
As mentioned above, what is one of the main things discussed after the Oscars are through- the clothes. Specifically what the starlets were wearing on the red carpet.
It just seems wrong to idolize celebrities and obsess over what they are wearing. Again, why do we choose to give importance to all the wrong things in this country? What dress Natalie Portman was wearing on the red carpet will not matter a week from now.
I know, it is all a distraction from our lives. But why do we need it? Why can't we learn to work to make our lives better rather than hide from them? I know I am getting off subject and perverting this article into something else entirely. Let me digress a bit here.
Look, I know some of you who will read this watched the Oscars tonight. Many of you probably went online and looked at the dresses and jewelry wore this evening. That is all fine.
I just feel the Oscars no longer carry any weight. They are boring, bloated, and utter devoid of life. They are DOA.
As a true film fan and lover of filmmaking, I ask the Academy to consider stop televising the Oscars and in time stop handing them out altogether. I would ask them to evaluate why it is that are still having this outdated awards show each year. Is it just due to tradition alone? Or rather is there just too much profit in televising this particular awards show?
We may never know. But the truth is this awards show has past its prime. It needs to be gracefully put away to die peacefully. It is no longer needed, it is no longer entertaining, and it is simply no longer relevant.
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