Hollywood award shows are like church talent shows - the skits and jokes aren't really funny, but it's fun to look at the pretty girls, and you're all on the same team.
I don't know if I have ever watched the Oscars or any such Hollywood award show. I must have seen one. The only church talent show I attended was when I was visiting my brother & his family. Their neighbors' church was putting on a production of The Sound of Music. It was very well done. Of the adult singers, I would say that 80% had voices I would judge to be professional quality- to my ear they had good voices. The enthusiasm of the child performers added magic to the show.
I remember watching the awards shows when I was little, and enjoying them. I think the attraction was the glamour. Beautiful, famous people, wearing gorgeous clothes, in a luxurious setting. Movie stars were objects of aspiration—not realistic aspiration, but they were part of the dream world that was "the movies". The stars were the point at which the dream world touched the real world, so they came trailing the clouds of that world. They were human beings, but even their sins and affairs and misbehaviors seemed larger than life. The winners would make some short, gracious speech of thanks, maybe tell a funny or touching story from the making of a picture. It was fun. At its best it was spellbinding.
Now, well... the glamour is mostly gone. The magic was fragile, and actors are no longer larger than life and their misbehavior is no longer awe-inspiring; it's just stupid and annoying. I think we're all more aware that the difference between a "great, legendary star" and an excellent actor making ten grand a year is mostly luck. Some of the dresses are still gorgeous, others are way too twee and self-conscious, others are frankly ugly, and some people you wonder whether they were drunk when they got dressed.
And really, who wants to be hectored by famous, wealthy, privileged people scolding the proles for being deplorable? The experience is about the farthest thing from being lifted up by magic that I can imagine.
I think I saw one, maybe two Oscars shows back in my teens. They seemed a little tedious, with lots of commercials and drawn-out attempts to bring a little tension into the "who's gonna get the statue?" Movie clips without context weren't that interesting--maybe if I'd seen the movies it would have seemed different, but $$ was limited. I had trouble with names even back then, and connecting the actor(ess) with the character in the movies I _had_ seen wasn't automatic.
A few years before there'd been some highly political acceptance speeches, and maybe they were trying to keep things light that year.
I notice that when such contests are announced, I tend to vaguely hope those movies I've seen are the ones that win. Maybe this is a hope that my choices will be validated: I spent my money on movie X instead of Y, and the pros agree X was better.
Honestly, when I watch at all, it's to see the gowns.
ReplyDeleteThe Redditor seems correct. However, these shows are not my kind of circus, and RB,B&B has struck their tents and gone away for good.
ReplyDeleteAt least at Baraboo.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I have ever watched the Oscars or any such Hollywood award show. I must have seen one. The only church talent show I attended was when I was visiting my brother & his family. Their neighbors' church was putting on a production of The Sound of Music. It was very well done. Of the adult singers, I would say that 80% had voices I would judge to be professional quality- to my ear they had good voices. The enthusiasm of the child performers added magic to the show.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching the awards shows when I was little, and enjoying them. I think the attraction was the glamour. Beautiful, famous people, wearing gorgeous clothes, in a luxurious setting. Movie stars were objects of aspiration—not realistic aspiration, but they were part of the dream world that was "the movies". The stars were the point at which the dream world touched the real world, so they came trailing the clouds of that world. They were human beings, but even their sins and affairs and misbehaviors seemed larger than life. The winners would make some short, gracious speech of thanks, maybe tell a funny or touching story from the making of a picture. It was fun. At its best it was spellbinding.
ReplyDeleteNow, well... the glamour is mostly gone. The magic was fragile, and actors are no longer larger than life and their misbehavior is no longer awe-inspiring; it's just stupid and annoying. I think we're all more aware that the difference between a "great, legendary star" and an excellent actor making ten grand a year is mostly luck. Some of the dresses are still gorgeous, others are way too twee and self-conscious, others are frankly ugly, and some people you wonder whether they were drunk when they got dressed.
And really, who wants to be hectored by famous, wealthy, privileged people scolding the proles for being deplorable? The experience is about the farthest thing from being lifted up by magic that I can imagine.
I think I saw one, maybe two Oscars shows back in my teens. They seemed a little tedious, with lots of commercials and drawn-out attempts to bring a little tension into the "who's gonna get the statue?" Movie clips without context weren't that interesting--maybe if I'd seen the movies it would have seemed different, but $$ was limited. I had trouble with names even back then, and connecting the actor(ess) with the character in the movies I _had_ seen wasn't automatic.
ReplyDeleteA few years before there'd been some highly political acceptance speeches, and maybe they were trying to keep things light that year.
I notice that when such contests are announced, I tend to vaguely hope those movies I've seen are the ones that win. Maybe this is a hope that my choices will be validated: I spent my money on movie X instead of Y, and the pros agree X was better.