And the Losers Are...
Put on your galoshes, it's BS season again. Or what is better known in Hollywood as "Awards Season." This is the time of year when the most pampered and fortunate among us -- namely overrated, overpaid actors, producers and directors -- pat themselves on the back for being handsome, rich and privileged. This, as nameless, faceless bodies known as "The Academy" or "The Hollywood Foreign Press" pronounce them as "the best" this or that, in one ridiculous category after another.
Worst of all is that these "Best of All" awards aren't necessarily presented to the most deserving performances or films (after all, art shouldn't be a competition anyway, should it?), but rather to the performers or films who put the most money and aggressive campaigns behind their candidate. Yep, just like American political campaigns, these awards are BOUGHT. Period. They are purchased outright by production companies that court the votes of academy members through any means necessary -- free gifts, screener copies delivered to their homes, straight out bribery. Whatever it takes. Of course, half the academy members don't even watch the films, they just vote for their friends. Other awards are a foregone conclusion: anybody who plays a holocaust survivor or a mentally challenged person wins. Or if the actor happens to be on their death bed or dead, they win. Don't believe me? Care to vote against Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor this year?
These win-at-all-cost producers also sway public opinion through inundating us with TV commercials and newspaper ads touting how great their films are. If you read the trade magazines, they'll even proudly announce how much their per-screen averages were too. For these companies, winning these awards isn't about upholding what is "best" in the art and science of motion pictures. Don't let them lie to you. It's about what everything is always about in Hollywood -- MONEY. Making it, flashing it, and using it to make more bad movies, reinforce more ideals that you probably disagree with, and finance more candidates for president who you may or may not agree with. They couldn't care less about you or what you think, unless you happen to be an academy member. Otherwise you are just another ticket buyer contributing to their bottom line. So shut up, buy your ticket, make the rich richer and keep your opinion to yourself. It won't matter anyway. The die has been cast and the winners this year are the same winners who win every year -- Hollywood execs and their cohorts. And the losers are the same too -- all the rest of us.
So please think about your insignificance when you watch the next awards ceremony. Or better yet, when you watch another fake production that will unfold next week -- the inauguration -- which is the result of another popularity contest bought by the tastemakers and gliterati in our society. "And the award for Best Actor goes to... Barack Obama as the President of the United States!"
The next time you see one of these idiot actors caught in self-congratulatory splendor, thanking themselves or their parasitic agent for making them even more famous, take a moment to think about those among us who can't pay our bills, can't keep our homes or feed our kids. Then think about how important it is to you or to anybody else that Brad Pitt receives another golden statue to place on his mantle.
add to del.icio.us
add to digg
add to yahoo
related at technorati
share on facebook
Check our most impactful articles and see how popular these opinions are with you.
Will others follow in your footsteps? Share your thoughts and ideas for changing the world.
Did you at least appreciate the Golden Globes going to Mickey Rourke (Best Actor - The Wrestler) and Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture)?
It's true, once in a great while, there are some surprises -like Mickey Rourke and Slumdog. But really the only ones who are surprised are us-the public. Because behind every "surprise win" is a giant machine calculating "the comeback", or the "feel good indie film" of the year(a film that is considered an indie because it was produced by Fox Searchlight)
Acting is a tough gig until you have one of those golden "IDOLS" Thats why I became a writer, now thats easy LOL ;)
Never the less thats some food for thought and some funny ass $h!t!!!!
When Charles is right, charles is right. Slumdog wasn't a big surprise for those of us in the industry, since they paid a hefty price tag for sending out screeners and scripts to those who would read them.
Slumdog probably paid more for their golden globes than the other films combined. So much for the feel-good indie love fest.
If you want to talk about a good indie, what about Frozen River??? That's right they didn't have a budget - they were too indie even for the indie crowd.
Besides Danny Boyle is the Director from Trainspotting for god's sake, it's not like this guy is a rookie.
bottom line is if you have the money you win. isnt that life? the more money you have the more girlfriends you have. the healthier you live, the better you eat, the safer car you drive. the probability of you living longer is greater with money. lets face it people, money isnt everything, its the only thing. this is coming from a disgruntled ex- wall st. employee. HPZ
I couldn't agree more. A couple of years ago I received notification that I'd just been nominated for Best Musician at the 2007 Bear Music Awards in Nashville. I was surprised and delighted because I hadn't even known that people had been voting for me. Then I started getting mail from members of some of the musicians' clubs to which I belong trying to solicit me for votes and to get my friends to vote for them and I remember thinking that, if I have to launch some kind of campaign to win in my category, or even just to get nominated as some were doing, any victory would feel somewhat hollow under the circumstances. A colleague told me that I need to throw my ego out the window and campaign for the award since, A, I'm already nominated, and, B, it's not about any warm and fuzzy feelings (even though it involves bears) but about politics and the status required to move ahead in an already highly competitive business. Good point but my sizable ego won the tussle and I did nothing. I didn't win but, to be fair, the competition was pretty formidable. Also, every year I get solicited by my fellow gay musicians to vote for their nominations for the annual OutMusic Awards. Sorry but I still can't bring myself to beg people for my own votes. Now the principles upon which the Academy Awards are predicated are similar except that theirs are pumped up on steroids.
Having said all that, should my name ever be called as Best Actor, I will approach the podium, overwhelmed by joy, gush my thanks to the Academy, then prattle on about what a distinguished honor it is to receive such a great award.
God, what a pathetic hypocrite I am!
Great post. I am totally against the BS that goes on in Hollywood. When is someone going to be recognized for putting an actual thought into a production. I am tired of seeing the high budget films get noticed, although Heath Ledger did play an amazing Joker. He blew Nicholson out of the water, but never-the-less, someone needs to write a movie based off of a new idea and not just re-write some old garbage (ie: every movie which has come out in the last 5 years [literally]). I mean come on, I can only watch so many bad movies in one decade. It is only a matter of time before someone decides to remake a classic like Casablanca and destroy it by casting Cedric 'The Entertainer' as Rick. I'm done with Hollywood.
old news... I lost my faith in the Oscar when it went to Anna Paquin.
And don’t forget to add: whoever plays a homosexual. Don't forget that one. That's an automatic Oscar, too.
And why must we have at least ONE WWII / holocaust-themed movie every year? EVERY YEAR. When will we see films about OTHER holocausts that saw groups of people tortured and slaughtered in genocidal campaigns? Do they matter? I know the victims were "goyim", but maybe they deserve a little attention too. Maybe?
We know that the word "holocaust" cannot, under any circumstances, be used in relation to these or any other mass murders because Abe Foxman and his cohorts have trademarked the word, but even so, doesn't Hollywood care?
Does anyone care about those 7 million Ukranians who died in the holocaust under Josef Stalin? Are they worth a fingernail? How about the Cambodian holocaust under Pol Pot? 2 million dead. Or what about the holocaust in Bosnia in which 200,000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered under Slobodan Milosevic? Shall I continue?
When will Spielberg (or anyone in Hollywood) make a film about the horrors of the present day holocaust against the Palestinians under the Jewish occupation of the Holy Land?
Not in our lifetime. Hooray for Hollywood…
The classic screenplay "CHINATOWN" by Robert Townsend would never have been made if it came to Hollywood now. Great films, "CASABLANCA", "ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST", also would never have been made by a studio today. It's the business of megabucks, stockholders, and corporations that could care less about art, and true entertainment. This country has dumbed down to a level of total idiocracy!