It’s that time of year again: time to gather around the TV with friends on a wintry Sunday afternoon and root for our favorites, all while consuming way too much junk food. I am, of course, referring to the Academy Awards. What other annual, overly-hyped televised event could possibly be on the horizon? As far as I’m concerned, it’s all about Oscar season, folks. And, naturally, I assume that you must be as excited as I am.
What’s that you say? Watching the Academy Awards isn’t exactly a yearly tradition in your household? You don’t see the point of spending four hours viewing talented but grossly overpaid celebrities compete for top honors in a mostly arbitrary contest? You’d rather not listen to the commentators’ endless critique of every little, inconsequential detail? And you’re sick of all these stars celebrating and patting each other on the back for simply doing their jobs?
To which I reply … wow, you make some pretty good points. But, then, why do you watch the Super Bowl? Don’t each of your objections regarding the Oscars also apply to the Big Game? Both telecasts feature people who earn millions of dollars doing jobs that don’t produce one iota of practical benefit to humanity. Both cultural events are rife with pomp, glamour and tradition that are ultimately meaningless. Even the outcome of both contests doesn’t really amount to much. Five years from now, most folks will have difficulty remembering who went home with either the Super Bowl ring or the Best Picture statuette. And, at the end of the day, both events really just exist to sell advertising time; the only difference is whether the ads are for the F-350 or the Prius.
So, now that we’ve had our imaginary argument and we’re still friends, I’d like to recommend that you tune-in to the Academy Awards this year. And here are a few reasons why I think you should do so.
First of all, believe it or not, the Oscars are still kind of culturally relevant. There’s no denying that movies inform our society in a dynamic way. As humans, we’ve always been suckers for a good story. Throughout the ages, narratives have instructed, entertained, captivated and inspired us. This may be one of the reasons that the greatest Teacher who ever lived so frequently employed stories or parables in His teaching. At any rate, stories are important to us. And in our hyper-visual society, the cinema is one of the most significant venues where these stories are told. (To be more accurate, these days it’s the cinema, or your iPad, or your X-Box, or your Netflix queue, or your AppleTV…) Through whatever medium we watch them, movies continue to tell us a lot about who we are as humans, not to mention who we wish we could be.
So movies are (relatively) important. And every February, the Academy Awards roll around and tell us which movies are the most important. But why on earth should we take their word for it? Well, for one thing, the awards are voted on by people who have actually worked in the film industry. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is made up of around 6,000 individuals who’ve attained a certain level of expertise creating motion pictures. We’re talking about cinematographers, set designers, make-up artists, film editors, producers -- in a word, professionals. Presumably, they know their craft and they know when it’s done with excellence. That’s why winning an Oscar means more than winning an MTV Movie Award (which is voted on by viewers) or even winning a Golden Globe (which is voted on by a handful of journalists).
On a side note, this is another reason why I recommend watching the Academy Awards: it’s the only awards show that represents the opinions of a diverse field of professionals. It’s not a bunch of pre-teens voting (like Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards). Less reliable still, it’s not just a gaggle of actors voting (like the SAG Awards). These days, awards season in Hollywood stretches from January to June, and there are a slew of telecasts competing for your viewership. The nice thing about watching the Oscars is that you can just skip all the rest. Catch the one awards show that actually counts and then get on with the myriad of more important things in life.
So, we’ve established that the Oscars are kinda, sorta relevant and that the Academy kinda, sorta knows what it’s talking about. Then why, you ask, haven’t I heard of ninety percent of the films that they nominate? Why don’t they honor popular movies that people actually go see? Why are their selections always so artsy-fartsy?
Once more, my response is, good point. But, please, let’s not start arguing again. I’d just like to point out that there hasn’t always been such a disconnect between what the Academy honors and what most Americans enjoy. Since the late 1920s, when the Academy first started handing out some form of “Best Picture” award, the top Oscar has often gone to movies that were both critically and commercially successful. Films like Gone with the Wind, The Sound of Music, Rocky and Forrest Gump were huge hits with both casual movie-goers and Academy voters alike. In recent years, however, the Best Picture winners all seem to be movies that a much smaller percentage of the population has actually seen. Truth be told, it’s been a decade since a genuine blockbuster was named Best Picture. 2003 was the last time that the highest grossing film of the year -- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King -- was also the highest honored.
So, what are we to make of this? Has the American movie-going public lost its taste for complex storytelling and excellence in the cinematic arts? Have we become so accustomed to watching explosions light up the screen every six minutes that we’ve stupidly confused spectacle with substance? When you consider the over-reliance on computer generated effects and the overabundance of comic book movies that have marked the past fifteen years, this becomes a very real possibility. (And this is coming from a guy who enjoys a good comic book. Crappy CGI, not so much.)
Or does the fault lie with the Academy members? Has their mission to honor and preserve high art actually resulted in an elitism that views commercial success with contempt? In their admiration for innovation and their disdain for tired formulas have they somehow lost touch with the narratives that speak to us most? Or are they just a bunch of flaming liberals who are completely out of step with America’s heartland?
These are all excellent questions. And, fortunately, I don’t have to answer any of them. Seeing as this is my blog, I’m just going to tell you what I think. And I think it’s actually a good thing that the Academy nominates movies that most people haven’t seen. Personally, I look forward to the announcement of the Oscar nominations each January because it supplies me with a list of quality films to go check out. Although often obscure, these are generally well-crafted, well-told stories that a league of professional storytellers are recommending to the public. And honestly, the reason most of us probably missed these movies in the first place is because we were all in line waiting to see Captain America Meets Captain Kirk In Middle-Earth On The Quest For The Revenge Of The All-Spark 2. (Having just made up that title, I have to confess that I’d probably pay to see that movie … as long as J.J. Abrams directed it.) The point is, the Academy Awards provide me with an opportunity to add a few gourmet dishes to my otherwise steady diet of junk food cinema. And I appreciate that.
So, why not watch some of the Best Picture nominees this year? Why not check out some of the most highly regarded performances or the most creative screenplays? I think you’ll be glad you did. You can find a complete list of the nominees here… http://oscar.go.com/
The 85th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 4:00 PM Pacific on Sunday, February 24th. Oh, and speaking of flaming liberals, Seth MacFarlane will be hosting. Hmm. On second thought, if you’re easily offended, maybe you should just disregard the last 1,500 words. This may not be the best year to start watching the Oscars after all!
Oh, and by the way, go Niners!
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