Are the Oscars finally over?

The Turtle  March 8 2010 06:54:42 PM

Are they over?

Can I finally go online without feeling vaguely uneasy because I pretty much don't care about who wore what on the red carpet (unless they're hot and wearing something short and low-cut, which pretty much aces out Jeff Bridges)?

Is it safe to go back on television?

I guess this is one facet of my general disinterest in mainstream media except as a source of amusement.  There was a time I was actually curious about the Oscars, but that time was many, many years ago, back when the list of nominees was a fairly small article on the second page of the Entertainment section of the newspaper, not a huge-ass feature on the front page, let alone worth two hours' worth of gab on various "news" television shows.  This was back when "Oscar Week" was "Oscar Night."  Mentally, I'm trying to figure out when that time actually was, and I'm thinking that Jimmy Carter was still in the White House.

Let me ask something:  does anyone legitimately believe that the Best Picture Oscar really represents the "best" movie of the year?  And what, exactly, does "best" really mean?

I'll tell you what:  jack shit.

What do you like?  What did you actually see?  And what did that film or those films mean to you?  Oscar or not, a film that means something to you, affects you, makes you think or feel something, is a winner regardless of what the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science voter pool thought.  And if a film doesn't speak to you, then a gold statuette isn't going to magically change that.  

Worse yet is the sideshow that is Oscar Week.  Come on, since when did what someone wore to the awards show mean a damn?  Or is it just another opportunity for people to flap their lips about people they don't know and rarely if ever talk to, based on whether they wore this designer or that designer, or whether this-or-that was garish or dowdy or cut wrong or just plain goofy.  Does anyone do the same when it comes to the attendees at the Stockholm ceremonies where they award the Nobel Prizes?  Was there a self-appointed fashion critic on the sidewalk outside the Army/McCarthy hearings?  How about your high school graduation... did the school paper do a ten-page spread about what the graduates were wearing (or not) under their sweaty synthetic graduation gowns out on that football field?

Arguably, any of these three events, or many others, "mean more" than the Academy Awards.  But Hollywood loves throwing themselves parties, because it just reinforces the impression that there are far, far too many people in the world who are famous-for-being-famous, and (as I well know) opens them up as convenient snark targets.

In some ways, the smartest people were the Cablevision subscribers who, when ABC cut off their access to the beginning of the telecast, said, "oh, well," and went and watched something else.
Comments Disabled