Spring Break
Oscars disappointing once again
Aditi Dubey & Ali Qari
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Think of the Academy Awards. What comes to your mind? Well-made films? Breathtaking scripts? Amazing performances?
Not even close, right?
That is pretty much all of us, in a nutshell. We love the Academy Awards - or the Oscars, as we more indulgently call them. But it's the glitz, the glamour and the partying that catch our attention. What we love the most, though - why we really watch the Oscars - is the chance to see all our favorite silver-screen stars' faces when their emotions are running at their highest. We get to share their successes and indulge in their defeats.
Both the awards and the award ceremony have undergone a huge culture shift since their inception in 1929. In that inaugural year, the Oscars were a quiet affair. Winners of the first Academy Awards ceremony were announced three months beforehand, and only about 250 people attended the event. There was no secret or suspense. By the next year's ceremony, though, word of the event spread and the modern-day media feeding frenzy surrounding the awards was born.
So almost since its beginning, Americans - and now a reported one billion people around the world - have been in a long love affair with the Oscars. Or at least the E! channel tells we are. E!'s coverage, however, tells us what we're really in love with. It's not art or the hardworking members of Hollywood. It's what they're wearing, or more importantly not wearing, and which hot bachelor or bachelorette is taking the other to the after-party. You know it when they tell you that this is so-and-so and they're wearing so-and-so's creation in the same sentence. Rapt audiences compare these dresses with great acuity and hand out judgments with greater glee; it would, of course, make their day if two people turned up in the same dress.
So, why did I watch the Oscars this year? Oh, I was rooting for Al Gore. He really should have been the president of United States. I was also watching because all my colleagues at work would be talking about it the next day. I didn't want to feel left out. Plus, it is always fun to watch when they zoom in on faces of the losers, right after the winner has been announced. That's the best part.
Not even close, right?
That is pretty much all of us, in a nutshell. We love the Academy Awards - or the Oscars, as we more indulgently call them. But it's the glitz, the glamour and the partying that catch our attention. What we love the most, though - why we really watch the Oscars - is the chance to see all our favorite silver-screen stars' faces when their emotions are running at their highest. We get to share their successes and indulge in their defeats.
Both the awards and the award ceremony have undergone a huge culture shift since their inception in 1929. In that inaugural year, the Oscars were a quiet affair. Winners of the first Academy Awards ceremony were announced three months beforehand, and only about 250 people attended the event. There was no secret or suspense. By the next year's ceremony, though, word of the event spread and the modern-day media feeding frenzy surrounding the awards was born.
So almost since its beginning, Americans - and now a reported one billion people around the world - have been in a long love affair with the Oscars. Or at least the E! channel tells we are. E!'s coverage, however, tells us what we're really in love with. It's not art or the hardworking members of Hollywood. It's what they're wearing, or more importantly not wearing, and which hot bachelor or bachelorette is taking the other to the after-party. You know it when they tell you that this is so-and-so and they're wearing so-and-so's creation in the same sentence. Rapt audiences compare these dresses with great acuity and hand out judgments with greater glee; it would, of course, make their day if two people turned up in the same dress.
So, why did I watch the Oscars this year? Oh, I was rooting for Al Gore. He really should have been the president of United States. I was also watching because all my colleagues at work would be talking about it the next day. I didn't want to feel left out. Plus, it is always fun to watch when they zoom in on faces of the losers, right after the winner has been announced. That's the best part.
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