Oscar Season

At work a couple of people were talking about the recent Grammy awards.

This is the time of year where I feel the least attachment to the entertainment industry. It's just hard to support an enterprise so self-indulgent that they actually will broadcast themselves giving each other awards. I've ranted about this before. Why would I want to listen to musicians sing songs they did not write, and then accept "Best Song" awards as if they deserve credit? Watching a good movie is more understandable, but why would I want to watch those same actors accept awards for their skill at acting?

If the field of engineering did the same thing, we'd be considered wildly egomaniacal. Can you imagine a primetime television program every two weeks where engineers gave each other awards? "Tonight on CBS, the Fifteenth Annual Bridgey Awards! Hosted by Dean Kamen" and then Dean Kamen comes on and does some song and dance where he mentions buildings and devices that have been built throughout the year, and his song and dance includes the five ten "Project of the Year" finalists. When engineers (who were basically working with designs drawn up by an architect, and actually did none of the building labor, that was all contracted, and actually had their underlings do most of the site visit work) get up on stage, having won "Project Manager of the Year" awards, they thank their families, God, and of course, all the people who got them where they are: "I want to thank my wife, God, and Bob Marlin, P.E., Jack Ruby, P.E., Ellen Page, P.E., LEED AP, ...the list would be absurd, and not one person watching at home would recognize any names. The winners would get little gold plated suspension bridges as their trophies.
But then again, the engineering industry doesn't depend on self-exposure for its livelihood. Hollywood must shove itself down our throats at every opportunity. Actors, musicians, and various cast must constantly get their faces out there, lest they be forgotten. The best way to do this is to act in movies, have concerts, release albums, star in commercials...but in order to increase that even further, they hold award shows for themselves at every opportunity. What other group of individuals has so many awards programs that recycle the same work? The Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Academy Awards, and The Golden Globes all shown on prime-time television all overlap awards for the same people for the same activities.

Notice, when you watch the Oscars, that many big name actors in the audience will get 2 second camera shots while someone else talks up on stage. "Oh look," the person at home watching the show thinks, "there's Ben Stiller enjoying Hugh Jackman's joke. I wonder if he has/had a movie coming out?" The answer is almost certainly yes. If you don't think agents/studios are forking over big money to get their stars in front of your face, you are hopelessly naive.

And why, the casual bystander might ask, "why have they increased "Best Picture" to ten nominees from the usual five? The simplest solution (which tends to be the right one) is so that later this year when the DVD's come out, instead of 4 there will be 9 DVD's that can say "nominated for Best Picture" on the case, and instead of 5 movie casts able to brag that they were in a movie nominated for Best Picture, now you will have 10. If you think the reason they increased the number of nominees is that more movies have a chance to win, you are hopelessly naive. The same number of movies will win; one per year.

Hollywood, it seems, depends on the audience to be hopelessly naive.


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