THE OSCAR BUZZ….zzzzzzzz

And the Oscar goes too..........

By Shaun Stanert

I am only human and as a human, not an enlightened Buddha, I am just full of opinions.

In fact, I am a Piñata of opinions. All one need do is tap me hard enough and those opinions burst forth falling to the floor waiting to be picked up by anyone interested.

I know my opinions likely annoy some, but being a mere human, a human aspiring to be enlightened, yet one whom most certainly has not arrived, I cannot seem to muzzle myself.

On my mind, is the vast amount of attention focused on a relatively frivolous production like the Oscars.. Thus, to belabor the Oscar buzz a bit longer albeit with a different spin, I really have to say..............WHO CARES!

I am sincerely hoping that among the many who obviously seem to care, their reason for caring is heavily influenced by the money factor. That seems preferable to being exclusively fueled by nothing more than an insatiable inquisitiveness for the insignificant that is so all consuming it shunts aside all other issues occupying their minds.

In that sense, The Academy awards are a marketing tool and perhaps, yes, a sham.

It is apparent from a marketing perspective that the Oscars generate epic incomes for a lot of businesses, as well as the movie industry.

The businesses involved harvest heaps of priceless passive advertising in every model of the mass media and they earn admirable profits as a byproduct of the attention drawn to the Oscar extravaganza. There are the dressmakers, the designers, the advertisers, the caterers, the printers, the..... You get the picture.

The well-oiled Oscar production evidently keeps the machinery of the entire industry rolling gainfully along.

In fact, critics claim that because Studios lobby heavily for their films to be considered, a complaint is that nominations and awards may be largely a result of this lobbying rather than quality.

In addition Academy members are not required to watch all films nominated in a category, with exceptions being the Best Documentary and Best Foreign language titles, before being allowed to vote, leading to claims that voting is often politicized by campaigning or personal connections within the Hollywood community, according to Wikipedia

I am all for marketing. I like to earn money, too, nothing wrong with that. The Oscar ceremony creates jobs and that is always a good thing for the economy. Nevertheless, earning profits is not my complaint, and neither is the desire to be curious. I certainly have a passing interest in knowing, who won what award.

My complaint is that the focus on the Oscars is so ubiquitous for a quite a few days before and after the event that it dominates the news and in a way that seems to be an inevitable magnet for massive amounts of pointless sniping done solely for sniping’s sake.

Moreover, the Oscar buzz seems to mandate interest, rather than request it. The endless coverage seems to command that we all focus on something that does not really affect the lives of many people in a significant or life-changing way.

So what if a handful of people at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a committee of comprised of academy people that most other people never met or heard of, vote that a movie is best picture. So what if they vote that a handful of actors are heads above the others. What does that mean in the real world to the majority of its inhabitants?

Of course, the nominees care. Who doesn't like acknowledgment for a job well done? Who does not like to win? Craving recognition and needing to win both seem to be deeply ingrained aspects of our human nature.

Still, with all the things needing attention in America like the war, the environment, extreme weather, the confused confusing patchwork fiasco we label the modern medical system in our supposedly innovative country. Why, why, oh why are we focusing so on the clothing the actors wear or their hairstyles?

Wouldn't it be better if the USA, as a world leader and Hollywood with all its influence used their collective clout to lead by guiding global focus to something more productive?

I like pretty cloths, too, and pretty people, pretty things, or pretty scenery. They all make my pupils reflexively dilate in appreciation, and I realize beauty sells.

Nevertheless, marketing aside, the thing that seems to blemish Oscar-buzz the most is the scathing personal critiques. That seems to be the most flagrant dubious attention-getting scam.

Moreover, people who could do well to focus a critical eye on themselves before deigning to cast aspersions on others often level the critiques.

For example, the morning after the Oscars, while brushing my teeth, I walked past the Plasma and heard a best-dressed critic lambasting a most likely momentarily unsuspecting actress for wearing a dress that in the critic's opinion had just "too much going on." She hoarsely whined something about the neckline, the tightness, the cut, the flared hemline the frou frou at the bottom, and on, and on.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was shockingly eager to see that dress after hearing her suspenseful scolding diatribe. I quickly silenced my electric toothbrush, trading its annoying buzz for Hollywood's prying buzz, and stood barefoot, foaming toothpaste, transfixed by expectant curiosity.

When I caught a glimpse of the offending dress, however, it was not nearly as bad as the critic claimed it to be. It wasn’t my taste, but it was far from awful.

It was, not something I would choose to buy or wear, but it also was not the type of dress that would capture my attention, stopping me in mid sentence prompting me to stare in disbelief. It was just.........well.....a dress.

It was indicative of the wearer's style, not mine. Isn't that the way most people choose clothing? They dress in clothing that appeals to them, that strikes a visceral emotional chord by its design, color, or the way the material feels against their skin.

I always think that it is the differences and diversity of life that give life its spice.

If we all had the same taste in clothing, we may as well all simply wear uniforms.

Why bother with personal style at all? We may as well buy the same furniture, too, and, live in the same cookie-cutter houses, and drive the exact same car, in the exact same color. Why stop there? Why not have plastic surgery to ensure that we all look the same?

Why can't we enjoy the differences without sniping about them?

While listening to the critic critiquing the dress, the thing that stood out most in my mind was not the dress in question, nor the actress who wore it. I can't even remember the name of the actress or her face; I was too fixated on her dress. The thing I recall most vividly now, is the critic's voice.

She had a crusty accent evocative of a laborer rather than the elocution expected of someone tapped to give scathing on-air critiques about other peoples' ill-advised habits, clothing choices and general style. I cannot get her incongruently unrefined voice out of my mind.

Yes, I am being judgmental. However, I would not be judging if the critic had simply neutrally mentioned that the actress chose a dress that reflected her personal flare, and left it there.

When I was growing up, and muddling through high school, I was hoping we humans would leave all those silly concerns about who wears the toniest clothing and who has the trendiest hairstyle, behind in those musty high-school hallways.

In fact, my elders promised, as we all matured, our focus would change to issues that are more important. Their implication was that the socially awkward moments experienced in school would no longer plague us because as productive wise adults our minds would be more preoccupied with intellectual humanitarian, altruistic pursuits.

However, based on the Oscar buzz, it seems to me that the social setting of the world at large is no different from the social setting of our high school days.

If we do not focus on the important issues, the ones that need some honing because they seem to have gone awry, how will we change things for the better?

Perhaps the Oscars are simply a distraction, a way to procrastinate, and a way to take our minds off all the troubling things going on in our own country and worldwide.

I know I am being judgmental and being judgmental is unenlightened, but if someone doesn't mention it, nothing will ever change.



Link to awards page:
http://www.oscars.org/79academyawards/nomswins.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awards