Oscars and The Obligatory Self-Congratulation
February 27th 2007 05:01
What's wrong with self-congratulation for godsakes? That's the word that's routinely thrown in with the Oscars. It's the time when big bad Hollywood gathers for an orgy of self-congratulation and you can detect a deprecatory undertone to it as if self were something not worth congratulating.
This year's Oscars were billed as the global Oscars. About time. It took close to two decades after globalization was pumped into cultural arteries of the world for the Oscars to become global. But the New York Times dispproves in an article titled "Old Line Hollywood takes back the night." And here was how the obligatory word got introduced :
See here, it's the big studios doing self-congratulation. As against the indies and globals. Talking about the directors award, the article throws in another obligatory saw: establishment.
Probably the irony was lost on New York Times, itself a big bad establishment of old line mainstream media barely hanging on in the age of internet and blogging.
I had always thought self-congratulation was the word liberals used to dismiss this archtype celebration of decadent capitalism but look here what National Review has to say about it:
Dang, that self-congratulation again and this time from the conservative antithesis of NYT. The author depicts a grim and graphic portrayal of that self-congratulation in another larger article:
What self-congratulation ! If only Hollywood got rid of it and got serious, it would have come up with another kind of results, one that would make his cosnervative soul happy. Like this:
To each his own.
Isn't it time to recognise that these people want their own kind of show to happen otherwise it's all self-congratulation? Which probably it is.
This year's Oscars were billed as the global Oscars. About time. It took close to two decades after globalization was pumped into cultural arteries of the world for the Oscars to become global. But the New York Times dispproves in an article titled "Old Line Hollywood takes back the night." And here was how the obligatory word got introduced :
Last year the industry was a bystander at its own party and was probably left to wonder how an event conceived for studio self-congratulation had been kidnapped by a bunch of people who couldn’t get a good table at Ivy if their lives depended on it.
See here, it's the big studios doing self-congratulation. As against the indies and globals. Talking about the directors award, the article throws in another obligatory saw: establishment.
It was less poignant than telling that these four men, Mr. Scorsese included, were onstage together, having become what they once assailed. They are the establishment, and they are not ready to cede the field to a moshed-up world of indies and global filmmakers.
Probably the irony was lost on New York Times, itself a big bad establishment of old line mainstream media barely hanging on in the age of internet and blogging.
I had always thought self-congratulation was the word liberals used to dismiss this archtype celebration of decadent capitalism but look here what National Review has to say about it:
Ellen DeGeneres’s opening monologue was, even by the watery standards of Oscar intro monologues, pretty weak. By making the theme “celebrating you” (as in celebrating the nominees), she pretty much openly admitted what I suggested in my article Friday—that the Oscars are little more than an opportunity for Hollywood’s power set to engage in a round of luxurious, public self-congratulation.
Dang, that self-congratulation again and this time from the conservative antithesis of NYT. The author depicts a grim and graphic portrayal of that self-congratulation in another larger article:
On Sunday night, Hollywood will roll out the red carpet and rev up their limousines for the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The four-hour long nationally televised ceremony gives us what is perhaps Tinseltown’s most honest depiction of itself — by which I mean the most glitzy, ditzy, and shamelessly shallow. At their core, the Oscars are a way for the movie industry to publicly congratulate itself for its brilliance and generosity — for really, who needs attention more than movie stars?
Thus, each and every year they lavish themselves with a night of $40,000 gift bags, super-stretch Humvees, and dresses that cost more than your home. They fill a stage with theme-park quality set-pieces and find a host who’ll tell corny jokes that flatter the industry’s top players into thinking they have a sense of humor about themselves. They trot out starlets barely old enough to have graduated from college wearing enough jewels to pay off the national debt. It’s as if someone gave a high-school dance committee a Trump-sized fortune, a network TV deal, and a massively inflated sense of self-importance and said, “Go all out!”
Thus, each and every year they lavish themselves with a night of $40,000 gift bags, super-stretch Humvees, and dresses that cost more than your home. They fill a stage with theme-park quality set-pieces and find a host who’ll tell corny jokes that flatter the industry’s top players into thinking they have a sense of humor about themselves. They trot out starlets barely old enough to have graduated from college wearing enough jewels to pay off the national debt. It’s as if someone gave a high-school dance committee a Trump-sized fortune, a network TV deal, and a massively inflated sense of self-importance and said, “Go all out!”
What self-congratulation ! If only Hollywood got rid of it and got serious, it would have come up with another kind of results, one that would make his cosnervative soul happy. Like this:
That’s why American Film Renaissance (AFR) intends to provide some balance. The group “was created to spearhead a revival of timeless American values in film and to serve as a forum for voices and ideas often marginalized or denigrated by the contemporary artistic community,” and today it releases its own movie poll. Not surprisingly, the results are somewhat different from both the critical mainstream and the awards-season standbys.
The Pursuit of Happyness, a serious but uplifting drama based on a true story about a down-on-his-luck salesman (Will Smith) who becomes a stock broker, took the top spot in two categories: Best Movie and Best Hero. Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration, placed first in the Best Documentary category, and the raucous comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan was voted Best Time at the Movies.
The Pursuit of Happyness, a serious but uplifting drama based on a true story about a down-on-his-luck salesman (Will Smith) who becomes a stock broker, took the top spot in two categories: Best Movie and Best Hero. Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration, placed first in the Best Documentary category, and the raucous comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan was voted Best Time at the Movies.
To each his own.
Isn't it time to recognise that these people want their own kind of show to happen otherwise it's all self-congratulation? Which probably it is.
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