Hurray! Some people won arbitrary metal statues, said a few words, and walked offstage to get drunk later! The 88th Oscars have just wrapped up, and they are still missing the point of what award shows should be.
An award means absolutely nothing ESPECIALLY to your 55 million-count audience if there is no discussion on what brought along the choice for the award. Additionally, the vast majority of that audience has likely not seen the films in question. Without discussion, awards are essentially meaningless, as there is no information on why a certain film or actor performed better than others. That amount is currently nil. Walk onstage, speak, leave, repeat.
Now, an example of what a good award show looks like. I watch a fellow on YouTube named John Bain, aka TotalBiscuit, and each year he holds the “Arbitrary Video Game Awards”. The man recognizes that his awards mean nothing in the end, as they are just an individual opinion of his. However, each award and nominee is addressed in the video and before the winner is announced, the viewer understands why each game was nominated and each receives its well-deserved recognition. In addition, categories are more interesting than “best X” or “most impressive Y”. These are prestigious awards, not yearbook superlatives.
In addition, providing well thought-out discussion on why each winner actually won encourages further discussion. In our digital world, anyone can get in front of a camera or write a post on Facebook and say what their favorite films of the past year were. Explanations from such a prestigious event as the Oscars would allow people to say “no, it did not win an Oscar, but I thought this film was better for these reasons”. Encouraging discussion gives your awards meaning, and makes people talk about your awards show for more than five minutes before moving on with their lives.
So, yes. Before watching the Oscars or another awards show, think for yourself and share with the world what you thought was the best of the year. Rather than posting a list or taking four hours to reveal said list, use that time and take some effort to explain why each winner got the recognition that they did over the other nominees.
PS: Can we talk about nominees for a second? There were so many good movies released in 2015 and the Oscars only mentioned a small amount of them. This is yet another reason why these awards shows need to properly explain why each nominee was nominated for an award.
PPS: Star Wars deserved those sound and visual design award much more than Mad Max. I don't care who you are. X-Wings and TIE Fighters beat out cars in the desert any day
PPPS: Kingsman still deserves best picture
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