In the final week’s run-up to this year’s birthday party for Uncle Oscar, i.e. the 97th Academy Awards, there have been surprises, rumors, and scandals. In other words, the movie and awards business as usual. Each batch of pre-Oscar awards (SAG, BAFTA, Critics Circle) has led journalists to conclude that this movie or that movie is definitely gonna win because of some quasi-statistical calculation. Some of the nominations have been controversial. “The Brutalist” was slammed for using a little bit of AI-based technology. The “front-runner” for Best Actress made numerous racist and Islamophobic statements on social media a few years ago, so now has quasi-apologized, though what this has to do with her performance may seem head-scratching.
Personally, what I find most head-scratching is that movies which premiere in one theater for one day at the end of December can somehow be considered better than any other movie that is seen by the rest of us all year long. It seems like cheating. But then artistic contests have a history of cheating, campaigning, and judging biases. Patriotism, popular sentiment, and politics influence the voting. It’s not just in the movies. Classical art and classical music have also had their own versions of campaigns and contests. Let’s go back a few centuries and take a look.
Continue reading “Campaigning for the Arts & the Oscars”
It was Uncle Oscar’s birthday, and like going to that family dinner, you love it and dread it simultaneously. You love Aunt Sadie’s meatballs, but her inappropriate comments make you cringe. Your cousin corners you about some business venture or cause that bores you to tears or requires a donation. It will go on too long with too much bland food, and you know you’re going to fight with your spouse on the drive there and on the way home. And yet you’d never miss it.