The Academy, He Said

I don't think any of the recipients of the recent "Oscars" will agree with me, but I have to put my oar in the water on this issue. I don't care who wins the Oscars, because it is my personal belief that the awards, no matter what they say or do is just one other typically American attempt to find out who is Number One. The Academy and a lot of the winners will tell you that the honor of the award comes from the votes from their peers, which is true. The Academy will point to the tradition, glamour and the unparalleled success of the television broadcast of the awards. People care about who winds the major awards. But let's look at the process and the results.

Nominations and selection of the winners is carried out by a vote by the members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Only members may vote and many are restricted to their area of expertise, such as sound, lighting or photography. The major awards, acting, direction, script writing and music, are the ones that create all of the buzz, office pools and headlines. So what's wrong with this you say?

The process has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with making more money for the limited number of films involved in the process. and there in is the basis of my boycott of the awards. There is no way to pick the best film, best actor, best film or any other category. It is a matter of publicity, arm turning and emotional issues that lead to selections, that while they have merit, leave other worthy candidates in the pale.

I always paraphrase George C Scott when he said that if they want to pick the best performance they should have all comers play the same role and than pick the one they felt did it best. Please, I loved Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren and Alan Arkin in their roles in what I thought were great films, but were they the best? We will never know because so many great performances are buried in films the Academy didn't consider. Rarely does a candidate get nominated from a film that does not have multiple nominations.

I know that the old chestnut about it being an honor to be nominated and winning is just the icing on the cake, but I defy you to name all of the nominees in each major category. No, it's all about number one and that does not advance the craft nor does it do anything to get people to watch more film. What it does is get people to watch the winners.

The television presentation is a ratings success, despite the annual complaints about how long it runs and the concerns of the stars using the occasion to plead their various causes. It's a moving issue of People or Vanity Fair magazine. The program is about who wears what, who comes with who. and who says what witty, quotable thing for the camera. In other words, it's another performance. I wonder if anyone is thinking of giving awards for the best performance at an award show?