The Academy Awards are an artifact of the studio system. They were created not just as a party that the motion picture industry threw for itself but to promote motion pictures. The studios controlled the format, what the actors wore, what they said, and, to a large degree, who won. Unpopular, controversial, or unknown motion pictures or performers rarely if ever won. By the time the old studio system collapsed a half century ago, the Academy Awards had become a business of their own.
I predict that this year’s ceremony will be a surreal combination of posturing, pandering, patronization, and enormously self-absorbed and will be widely unwatched, like the Olympics possibly the least-watched ceremony in years. I also predict that, unlike the Academy Awards of the great days of Hollywood in which It Happened On Night, Gone With the Wind, or Casablanca—all movies that continue to be watched and enjoyed today—were honored, this year’s winners will be ephemeral and largely forgotten in a few years.
It’s high time that, also like the Olympics, the Academy Awards ceremony go the way of the old studio system that gave birth to it.
I also predict that my wife will object strongly to this post.
Fortunately, my wife doesn’t care about the Academy Awards.
Couldn’t care less about this or any “award” show actually.
I used to watch the ceremony for the fashions. Attractive women dressed beautifully. What’s not to like? Nowadays it’s too many attractive women wearing ugly unflattering outfits.
While I’m on the subject I’ve been told that I’m more attentive to women’s fashions and makeup than any other straight guy in the world. Men picking out their wives’ clothing isn’t all that unusual. Men picking out their mother-in-laws’ clothing is a lot more exceptional.