World of Pageantry

Because they suck.

I won't be watching the Oscars, naturally. I just can't take them seriously. Overlooking Citizen Kane. Overlooking Alfred Hitchcock. No nomination for Jimmy Stewart for Vertigo? No nomination for Paul Giamatti for Sideways? Rocky over All the President's Men, Network, AND Taxi Driver? Seriously? Kramer vs. Kramer over Apocalypse Now? Ordinary People over Raging Bull? Out of Africa over The Color Purple? Driving Miss Daisy over Glory? Dances With Wolves over Goodfellas? Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction AND The Shawshank Redemption? The English Patient over Fargo? Gladiator over Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon AND Traffic?

The straw that broke the camel's back was a couple years ago, when Crash (one of the worst movie's I've ever seen: trite, manipulative, forced, preachy and predictable) won over Brokeback Mountain (or, really, any other movie that came out that year).

The Academy has never been interested in its primary claim: that it is analyzing artistic merit. Instead, it has always focused on box office receipts and magazine covers; it's the "People" magazine of legitimate film analysis, which may be, ironically, why "People" is the media outlet that gives the Oscars the most coverage.

How anyone can take the Oscars at all seriously is beyond me.

Overall, this year did not have too many movies that appealled to me enough to get me into the theater. I do not think that I would choose to see many of the films in the "major" categories.

My most recent example is the "Best Song" category from last year. The song from "An Inconveniet Truth"? HUH? There were NO songs better than that last year?

For several years now, I have thought of the Academy Awards as nothing but an elitist, artsy fartsy, non-relevant holdover from a bygone era of great filmmaking.

I have never taken the Oscars for anything other than what they are ... a bunch of pompous hot-air bag hollyweirdos who think they know it all and "plot to rule the world!!" The 300 was one of the best films I've seen in a long time and it didn't even get the nod for Cinematography? Or special effects? Or costuming? Or music? Oh pluuuuuueeeeeaaaazzee!
All kidding aside, I surely do not understand nor give a bronco's butt about peoples' obsession with "Oscar fashion", listening to self-gratification speeches, and who is bedding who (or is it whom?). The ONLY movie I will be rooting for this year is Ratatouille, and I don't have to watch a 5 hour TV show to see who won. I almost wish the writer's strike wasn't settled in time ... that's one "miracle" (as one newscaster called it) that could have waited.
Thank goodness I just got a shipment from Easton's to keep me busy instead ... should I read "The Importance of Being Earnest", "Paradise Lost", or "Alice in Wonderland"? hmmmmmmmm ....

I think you'll get a good laugh out of The Importance of Being Earnest. ;p

The Importance of Being Earnest is a good read, but I think I'd opt for Alice in Wonderland first.

How anyone can take the Oscars at all seriously is beyond me.

Lighten up all! The Oscars, just like EVERY awards show, is nothing more than an industry getting together to pat itself on its back. However, this is a multi-billion (trillion?) dollar industry where people are paid exhorbitant amounts of money to do their craft. You may think they are stupid, but there are thousands of middle class folk who work in the industry as well.

As much as people scoff with disdain, no one would be chasing stars around taking their pictures every second if there wasn't a market for them. When you pile them all into a room together for any reason, there's going to be a huge amount of attention paid.

Fashion is another huge industry. Many don't care, but it is another industry that keeps a lot of people in work. Does it benefit humanity? Not particularly, but it puts food on many people's tables.

And you'll always be disappointed by something. Personally, I thought Brokeback was an After-School Special for adults. Who knew being gay in middle America in the 60's and 70's could be so hard? For me, it was when Dead Poets' Society lost to Driving Miss Daisy. Damn old people...

Chapagne wrote:Lighten up all! The Oscars, just like EVERY awards show, is nothing more than an industry getting together to pat itself on its back. However, this is a multi-billion (trillion?) dollar industry where people are paid exhorbitant amounts of money to do their craft. You may think they are stupid, but there are thousands of middle class folk who work in the industry as well.

My objection to the Oscars would not exist if they truly did pay tribute to the craft and give more of an emphasis to artistic and technical achievement instead of popularity.

Chapagne wrote:Fashion is another huge industry. Many don't care, but it is another industry that keeps a lot of people in work. Does it benefit humanity? Not particularly, but it puts food on many people's tables.

No, not really. "High" fashion benefits an incredibly select and privileged few. I guarantee you that all the dresses you see on the red carpet were assembled by only a few dozen people: many high-end designers will do a lot of the manual labor themselves. "Low" end fashion is performed oversea, to take advantage of cheap foreign labor.

The fashion industry benefits very, very, very few Americans.

Chapagne wrote:Personally, I thought Brokeback was an After-School Special for adults. Who knew being gay in middle America in the 60's and 70's could be so hard?

Um, the gays sure did.

award shows like the oscars and the grammys just go to show that mainstream perspectives and ideals have gone NOWHERE in the last decade (at least), yet they still continue to exist. and because they continue to exist, the big-named movie studios and record labels have been handing us highly unoriginal material, repeats of countless acts that came years and years before, with the hope that they too will win a trophy, just like when they played little league! actually when you think about it, the same goes for sports. people judge a team by how many superbowl rings they have, even when those specific teams might not have done anything successful for the last decade.

how about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? it didn't get nominated just because jim carey was the star. and in order to win best actor/actress you have to impersonate a(n) (in)famous dead person, doesn't matter how well you do it because you'll still win.

just watch, it won't be long until lindsay lohan and hillary duff (or someone exactly like them) start winning EACH of these awards, just because they'll still be mainstream icons. it definitely says something about the people of this country.

Chapagne wrote:
Personally, I thought Brokeback was an After-School Special for adults. Who knew being gay in middle America in the 60's and 70's could be so hard?

Um, the gays sure did.

That was sarcasm, by the way. I got the film, the movie just didn't move me at all.

Nreuest wrote:how about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? it didn't get nominated just because jim carey was the star.

Jim Carrey did not impress me as a dramatic actor until that film (The Man in the Moon and The Truman Show still had a hefty dose of comedy). But yeah, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were both great. Good reference, Nreuest: Eternal Sunshine... was a brilliant film.

After watching, I also remembered it's kind of fun watching "average" people have one of the biggest moments of their lives. Their reactions are usually more fun than the big stars'.

how about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? it didn't get nominated just because jim carey was the star.

Yes, an excellent film, but did you look at what did get nominated that year?
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
* Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

Which one of these films didn't deserve a nomination?

No, not really. "High" fashion benefits an incredibly select and privileged few.

It doesn't trickle down? It's not like we're all wearing the same thing. How many stores that sell clothing are in your area? Everyone who works in the retail clothing business is a part of that world as well. You don't have to be a designer, work for one or be a model to get something out of the obsession with following the trends set by the elites.

Chapagne wrote:

how about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? it didn't get nominated just because jim carey was the star.

Yes, an excellent film, but did you look at what did get nominated that year?
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
* Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

Which one of these films didn't deserve a nomination?

The Aviator or Finding Neverland. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was better than both of them.

But you're right, it was a tough year. Eternal Sunshine would have had quite a task beating out Million Dollar Baby or Sideways.

Chapagne wrote:

No, not really. "High" fashion benefits an incredibly select and privileged few.

It doesn't trickle down? It's not like we're all wearing the same thing. How many stores that sell clothing are in your area? Everyone who works in the retail clothing business is a part of that world as well. You don't have to be a designer, work for one or be a model to get something out of the obsession with following the trends set by the elites.

It doesn't trickle down. The "trends" you see on the runway and red carpet only "trickle down" to places like Michael Kors, Christian Dior or Giorgio Armani. They trickle down to designer clothing stores like the ones on Rodeo Drive. They do not trickle down to chain stores like Macy's, JC Penney, or Target (one potential exception: Nieman Marcus tries to carry a lot of high-end fashion).

The luxury fashion industry and the mass production fashion industry are two very, very separate cultures that affect/benefit very, very separate sets of people.

I only date the girls with 'gator boots and pimped out Gucci suits.

The Aceman wrote:I only date the girls with 'gator boots and pimped out Gucci suits.

Was a day when I sported those ...

I watched it?

What kind of critique am i getting for this now? haha. It wasn't that horrible, I thought of it as alright, some dumb things in there but just alright. Like every Oscar really haha. I just liked who got some awards like the Bourne Ultimatum haha. I just couldn't believe Enchanted didn't win the song title haha. They had a 60% of getting it and they lost to another song that was probably even worse than what they had haha but whatever. Overall alright, not good and certainly not great but wasn't horrible. My little synopsis haha.

I dragged my dad into watching it and my mom haha. What a teenager can make their parents watch nowadays haha. (Topic starter much?)