Oscar the Ouch
by David HarsanyiThere are few things more unappealing than the orgy of self-adulation one witnesses during a celebrity awards show.
Yes, the Oscar nominations are here, and America simply can’t afford to stand idly by anymore. Not after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had the audacity to misleadingly claim that Brad Pitt had not only engaged in acting this past year, but that he was among the finest to practice the craft.
Absurdity of such scope is one of the reasons the Oscars continue to lose viewers and hemorrhage influence. Sometimes it seems the academy has a desire to disconnect from the average moviegoer. Last year’s Oscar telecast, accordingly, logged the show’s tiniest audience on record.
There are a number of problems at play. The most talented actors often star in movies that Americans don’t care very much about, while the movies we do care about all too often feature Leonardo DiCaprio. This toxic formula has set our expectations to tragic lows.
In the ’70s, audiences were treated to Oscar-worthy performances by DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson and Hoffman — stars who were regularly involved in artistically meaningful films that could also draw crowds. These days, conversely, there is a movement afoot to convince us that the unsettling dullness of a Jake Gyllenhaal or a Mark Wahlberg is deserving of an Oscar rather than pubic scorn.
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16 Comments
The ONLY pleasant surprise is that “Revolutionary Road” was pretty much shut out of the Oscars. I was almsot certain it would be nominated for every major award, because it reiterates one of Hollywood’s favorite messages: that suburbia is Hell, that children are a curse, and that the lives of ordinary Middle Americans are not worth living.
I don’t expect Hollywood to give awards to blockbusters just because they made a lot of money, but you know what? Even in the Seventies, that time that cinephiles regard as a Golden Age for Hollywood, “Jaws” and “Star Wars” were both nominated for Best Picture. It USED to be understood that a well-crafted piece of entertainment aimed at a mass audience COULD be worthy of honor.
Today, of course, it seems that the Oscars are synonymous with the Indie Spirit awards.
I think that should be public scorn, not pubic.
“Self-adulation? The Oscars, for some reason, are watched by millions upon millions of people. I would simply call that an orgy of “adulation.””
So when was the last time you watched them, Junior? I stopped after “Chicago” year because I discovered that actors are narcissistic and stupid and that most movies nominated I’ve never actually seen.
How many “millions upon millions” of people watch the Oscars again? Put up the numbers, otherwise you could write billions upon billions without any proof.
P.S. You’re kind of a buzzkill, just FYI.
I don’t know Austex99, that may increase ratings dramatically.
So, Mark Wahlberg wasn’t worthy of an Oscar nomination for his hysterical turn in the Departed? While the rest of his movies, save Boogie Nights, has been forgettable, he WAS great in that Scorcese film.
It’s the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (A.M.P.A.S.) it’s nothing special, basically the same S.A.G. members. Just another set of dues to pay.
Would anyone like to see a video of Obama supporting the Iraq war?
http://www.popmodal.com/video/1703/OBAMA-LIES
Di Caprio is a decent actor, but he must have incriminating photographs of some Hollywood mogul(s) hidden way somewhere to get all those rolls he gets. He’s no he-man sex-symbol. Don’t know why he gets the part of a macho man. That’a as implausible as Angelina Joile getting a roll as a cop toting a gun…ooops she did…sorry
Seinfield?
Talk about an annoying one trick pony. If you’ve seen him perform once then you don’t need to see him again, just tape it the first time and watch the replay.
While all the points made about why the Oscars have an ever dwindling audience are correct I would also suggest that it’s also because we’ve lost all respect for actors. People used to dream of being famous and emulating the stars they saw in movies, wanting to be like them. The celebrities have become more and more of a freakshow for people.
Um…foreign countries have ALWAYS made their own films. Read a history of international film and you’d see that.
To Phoenix – January 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
Um…foreign countries have ALWAYS made their own films. Read a history of international film and you’d see that.
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Sure they have, and many great American directors like Scorsese and Altman among others sang their praises citing their crucial influence on their own careers & vision. But Hollywood has been the center of the universe FROM THE BEGINNING, both as a business and an art form.
Since Big Hollywood is devoted in part to the principle that modern day Tinsletown has become a bastian of calcified liberal elitism, care to comment on either the validity of my observations or if insolating and ostracizing anyone or anything remotely conservative just might have helped the de-evolutionary slide?
No one is stopping anyone from making “conservative” entertainment. Nothing. Pool your resources, make your film. You clowns sure like to talk “free market” a lot, so put your money where your mouth is.
Who’s going to watch the Oscars anyway?
Um, sorry, but who cares?
I guess this is a good a place as any to say this:
I saw Gran Torino last night and it is one of the worst movies evah … layer after layer, level upon level … the worst.
Bravo, excellent article.
Oscars, smoscars… haven’t watched that cesspool in years. Sooner, rather than later, when it becomes apparent that they’ve robbed Paul to pay Peter producing this meth-induced drivel, it too will go the way of every dime a dozen actor craving a meaningful existence. Money, money, honey!!!!
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