Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Academy Awards: Who Really Should Win?

Once again the time has come for the Academy Awards to be handed out to this years “best” films and performances. Without a doubt, the Oscars are the best-known and most watched awards ceremony within the entertainment industry. Each year millions of viewers tune in to watch their favorite celebrities dress up walk the red carpet. In recent years, the pre-show coverage has been beefed up, spawning hour-long shows devoted to what the celebrities are wearing, and where the biggest after party will be. With all the glitz and glamour, is the original idea behind the Academy Awards being lost? Are the films and performers receiving accolades really deserving of them? Have the Academy Awards become so influenced by large production companies that the “best” man, is no longer winning? Furthermore, are the awards being used as a marketing tool to increase the ticket sales of certain films?
During the first Academy Awards Ceremony, held in May of 1929, the winners were announced well ahead of time The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Rather than an unbearably long broadcast hosted by a congenial celebrity, the ceremony was a simple luncheon in which the trophies were handed out by the President of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences, and the speeches were short and concise. In 1953, the awards were first broadcast nation wide, and since that time categories have been added and coverage increased. Last years awards ceremony lasted nearly four hours and handed out awards for twenty five different categories. While this may seem like enough, there is also a private ceremony in which Oscar’s are given for technical achievements in filmmaking. Additionally the academy retains the right to present, “…the regular annual awards conferred by vote of the membership, [and] the Board of Governors is empowered to vote Scientific and Technical Awards, Honorary Awards, Special Achievement Awards and other honors. Among these is the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a bronze bust of the legendary producer, which is given to ‘a creative producer who has been responsible for a consistently high quality of motion picture production’” .

When is enough, enough? How much praise does one really need in order to feel validated? Or are there perhaps other motivations behind all these awards ceremonies? Art is such a subjective topic as it is, so how exactly can one film out of all the films produced in a year, be singled out as the best? In short, why are the Oscars such a sought after award?

Martin Scorsese is one of the most famous and talented film directors of our time, having created such classics as Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Color of Money, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, and most recently The Departed. While he is widely regarded as one of the greatest director’s of all time and though many of his films have become classics, he has yet to win an academy award. If the awards are meant to merit those who create interesting and meaningful pieces of art, why are those who are so deserving snubbed?

While the original meaning behind the Academy Awards was to bring attention to those who were so deserving, their meaning has since changed. In today’s society films that are nominated for academy awards see immediate financial benefit. Often movies that are still out in theatres will see increased ticket sales, and films that are out on video or available for purchase will see increased profit. Occasionally production companies will re-release movies back into theatres to gain ticket sales, or they will increase the number of screens the film is being shown on. Take for instance the film Million Dollar Baby, after being nominated and winning best picture at the 2005 Oscars, its ticket sales saw an increase from 1.66 million to 12.3 million, the weekend after the nominations. Some studies suggest that an Oscar nomination can generate up to 11 million dollars in ticket sales CNNMoney. With such financial motivations it’s easy to understand why studios promote their films with such vigor.

This year’s nominees are no exception. Dream Girl’s, the film adaptation of the Broadway Musical has seen increased ticket sales since its Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well as Babel. Martin Scorsese will once again be vying for best director, consequently his film The Departed has been re-released across the nation in order to gain more revenue.

So do the Academy Awards maintain the prestige with which they were intended, or have they sold out?

The answer varies with the viewer. Many of the films nominated are worth seeing. They are by no means bad, but to place a label on them as the best isn’t accurate either. What the majority of people forget is that the entertainment business is still a business, and profit is the bottom line to every business. Without the revenue gained from tickets sales new films can’t be made. While many new filmmakers are creating obscure cutting edge films that receive nearly no notice, they are only able to do so because of the funding from larger studios. Funding generated from the profits of the more mainstream. In conclusion, while the Academy Awards have become more of a marketing tool than an awards show, the films nominated aren’t necessarily unworthy.