Nominees for the movie industry Oscar awards were announced the other day. I took brief notice, the radio report ended, and I went on with my day. I have never been impressed with the Oscars, but probably not for the usual reasons.
Some people are wrapped up in the Oscars. They have a favorite movie, or a preferred actor/actress/director that they feel makes the finest films in the world, films or roles deserving of permanent positions in the firmament. So-and-so really captures the heart of a character, a writer or composer nails the story, or a cinematographer sets the perfect mood. All this may be true. But.
We get Oscar winners ever year. For 2022, there is guaranteed to be a Best Movie, a Best Actor, a Best Producer, a Best Foley Actor, and so on, even if there is really nothing outstanding in those fields. Oh, but surely there is a Best Actor, just look at the performance by <insert name here>! And, yes, some individual will have the best performance doing some aspect of a move in 2022, but does that person deserve to be remembered? Quick - who won Best Director in 2000? Maybe you know that one, so do you remember the plot of the Best Movie in 1997? I have no idea, and those are relatively recent. If I were to go back to the 1950s, how many Oscar winners could you remember? According to oscars.org, Sam Mendes for American Beauty, The English Patient, and the 1950s were the days of Brando, Bogart, Kelly, Dandridge, Wyman, and others. I have seen neither American Beauty nor The English Patient, or, if I have seen them, I do not recall them in any way. This is not to say that they are bad movies or bad actors, but that the bulk of the Oscar movies are not memorable, therefore they do not really deserve awards.
If the Oscars were to hold to the vision of the Academy of Motion Pictures, there would be a None Of The Above choice and it would win on a routine basis. Those years when no particular movie was better than average would have None designated as the winner of the Best Movie or No One designated as Best Supporting Actor. If this were done, I might believe that the Oscars were memorable, but as long as the Academy keeps giving awards to unmemorable practitioners of the motion picture arts, I will have a hard time remembering (or caring) who wins what Oscar. For me, the Oscars, like most of these organized and annual award ceremonies, are often Participation Ribbons, forgotten when the new season starts.
To compensate for my negative message, I will leave you, dear Reader, with a picture of a cat.
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