A lot of people ask me how I feel about the Academy Awards. I used to tell people how much I hated the over-produced, phoney ceremony because of it's ability to dumb-down nominated films with pretentious monologues given by high-strung, ADD-ridden comics and the like.
Let's be honest. I still feel this way.
That being said, I've always appreciated the mass-appeal the Oscars have on our movie-going society, and how it affects absolutely everyone I know in some way, shape or form.
If there's one thing I find more interesting than the Oscars themselves, it's the buzz that fills the air around Oscar season. Like politics, sports and "Octo-mom," it seems most free-thinking individuals have an opinion concerning the entertainment value and viability of this particular awards show.
There are some people who back the Oscars vehemently, arguing they help promote and ultimately support all the hard work individuals put into bringing a film from paper to screen. And then there are those who either "don't care" about the Oscars, or hate them outright. Many of the Oscar-haters I know argue the show little more than the visual representation of a pseudo-trashy gossip magazine: 20 minutes of newsworthy information peppered on top of hours of mindless celebrity interviews, commentary on clothing and conjecture on who's dating who. To be honest, they're not all that far from wrong.
But here's the catch.
The secret is, we ALL love the Oscars, whether we'd like to admit it or not.
No other awards show galvanizes opinion quite like the Oscars. I can't remember the last time I heard a heated discussion about, say, the Day-time Emmys. Furthermore, no other show gets the kind of coverage the Oscars do.
I scanned the four major Canadian dailies yesterday. Not only did all four report on the winners, but they all posted extensive coverage on several "feel-good" winner stories (the win of the Japanese documentary "Departures" was especially poignant). Also included online were those prerequisite photo galleries that accompany every Oscars ceremony, including but not limited to the venerable "best and worst dressed" galleries. Many of the outlets also posted up-to-the-minute blog rolls and "live chats" to chronicle and comment on every second-by-second development, although I'm not entirely sure what they thought was going to happen. Perhaps a broken heel on the red carpet. "Heel Gate."Follow these links and see how extensive each outlet's coverage was.
- Globe and Mail (CTVGlobeMedia)
- Toronto Star (TorStar)
- Toronto Sun (Sun Media)
- National Post (CanWest)
How many international arts events are covered as extensively as the Oscars each year? How many of these events generate buzz six-months before showtime, and sporadically throughout the year (how many times to you hear someone say "that film's going to win an Oscar")?
My point in looking at this coverage is that it suggests something about the close-knit relationship our society has with film in general and the Hollywood star system in particular, as typified by the Oscars.
We love the star system, whether we want to believe we do or not. We love to comment on who's dating who, who's wearing what, and who's going to win. Perhaps more importantly, we love to comment on why we hate the star system, the celebrity gossip and an awards show that is biased and full of pomp, despite the fact that most of us have no say in the voting process whatsoever. Talking about why one hates gossip isn't all that different from gossiping about why one hates gossip, is it?
I like the Oscars. I'll watch if they're on, but I'm never terribly upset if I miss them. I watched the last half of this year's program and was, for the most part, impressed. I enjoyed their decision to have past winners come on stage and talk about those films/actors up for nomination. Even if the whole process was a touch contrived, it still shifted of the awards on creating a dialogue about a film/performance as an artistic work, and not as the backdrop to celebrity gossip, although it's not like the camera didn't cut between Jennifer Aniston and Brangelina every four minutes...lets be real here. It's not exactly the Nobel Prize ceremonies.
But still, let's not forget, the Oscars aren't really about us anyway. I'm sure the nominees don't care in the slightest whether Jim the banker hated the awards ceremony. All they care about is winning the gold statue. They say they care about being nominated, but I'm sure they cry themselves to sleep at night...possibly with shampoo bottles like Kate Winslet used to do. Who knows.
The rest of the western world, though, cares. Even those who are blasé show a fleeting interest at who won the major categories still care in a way.
Yes the Oscars can be weak, but complaining about them is even weaker.
While reading the Toronto Sun's coverage, I found a comment left by "Bryan" that says
"Pretty bad when the National news is an hour late because of overpaid actors worshipping themselves. Who won? Who cares?"
My answer: You do pal.
(Photo courtesy of Reuters)
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