Open Forum Friday: Award Shows… What Are They Good For?
With the Oscars coming up this Sunday, I thought this would be a good time to introduce a new weekly feature on Space Junk called Open Forum Friday. Every weekend we will post a topic or question for debate, with the hopes of fostering a little more reader participation. This week I am not asking for your Oscar predictions, but rather, your thoughts on award shows in general. Do they serve any worthwhile purpose? Should the average person even care? I won’t get into the vague issue of whether or not we can objectively measure “art”, but I do think it’s good to recognize people for their achievements and hard work. The problem with these awards is that they alter people’s perceptions of what is good, and what they should be working towards. Let’s face it, there are only certain kinds of movies that generally win Oscars. Is it fair that someone who is extremely skilled at making horror movies or comedies will never have a shot at winning an Oscar? To make matters worse, the actual televised event is usually long, boring, and self-indulgent. Sure actors have some unique talents but maybe we should all be paying more attention to Nobel Prize winners instead. What do you think? Are award shows just harmless fun or rather a scourge to any creative industry?
Comments (5)
I don’t like the award shows mostly because I have tv shows I watch on Sundays and they air repeats when award shows are on.
I don’t think award ahows can be taken too seriously. Whenever an older actor/actress is nominated, and you know that this person isn’t going to be making many more movies, that is the year they happen to finally win the award.
Posted by Alicia on March 3rd, 2006I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a movie just because it won a lot of awards or made a lot of money in its opening weekend. But I definitely know people who do base what they see at the theatre on this criteria. What is your biggest influence to go see a movie? The number of Oscar nominations or the box office ranking?
i dont hate award shows like others do. you can poke fun at the Oscars and the types of movies they pick or snubbing or this or that, but whats really annoying is the pre-show and post-show fashion shit with Joan Rivers.
if I had 10 free ‘kills’, Joan Rivers would be on the list. what a horrible horrible person.
Posted by Goon on March 3rd, 2006Awards shows are rarely reflective of the public’s interest.Rarely do quality actors or films get proper recognition unless they are considered worthy or close to industry big shots?
Its like with music awards. Album of the Year? Based on what, sales or flavour of the month?
Its all bullshit in the big picture of what qualifies as actually worthy though subjection of industry standards.
Posted by Bassmasta-Baychuk on March 3rd, 2006I agree with you guys, I mean, for the most part these award shows don’t bother me personally and if you don’t take them seriously they are kind of fun/funny. But as Alicia pointed out, my concern is that the average person may not realize just how arbitrary these awards really are. A lot of people are highly influenced by them, and they motivate a lot of actors and directors in their career choices too.
Posted by Sean on March 3rd, 2006they should really only have a couple of award shows instead of one every other week. when it comes to the Oscars you already know who is going to win from the previous shows.
Posted by Chopper on March 3rd, 2006i agree with Alicia on the whole older actor audiomatically getting the oscar when his career is coming to an end.
i use to love the Oscars and i would watch the 10 hours of red carpet and then the 14 hour show and then the next day watch the coverage, but now i could care less about it.
die Oscar die!
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