Tuskan Times April 2014 | Page 11

Randene Rants:

The Oscars

By Jamie Randene

Since 1929, Oscars have been given out to those who have reached excellence in the film industry and, since 1953, the ceremonies have been televised. Millions of people across the world anticipate the awards and winners. Trust me, it’s not as great as the media depicts it. There are many things I dislike about the Oscars; the reason it’s famous, the point of the award ceremony, and the acceptance speeches.

First of all, The Academy Awards is known as an annual award ceremony for actors, directors and others on their accomplishments in film for the previous year. It was a rather intimate and if I’m not mistaken, “humble”, show until the human population found this gathering intriguing. From the time it first aired on television, till now, actors have shown up to the event flaunting millions of dollars’ worth of designer gowns, tuxedos, and jewels. We have created monsters from this ceremony, which at one point didn’t involve us. The whole reason The Oscars are famous is because we find ourselves invested in their irrelevant accomplishments. Why do we care if someone we don’t know wins a little man with their name on it?

If you think about it, the point of the ceremony is that we award individuals for their skill in manipulation. Actors deceive us into thinking they’re someone else by playing dress up and we believe that they deserve a golden man. Not to mention, the jealousy, anguish, and despair we put the losing contestants in. We practically tell them that they’re worthy of a golden man. Think about all those poor stars who couldn’t present their “unwritten” acceptance speech. Actually, maybe written acceptance speeches are better than unwritten ones? No, they’re all pretty much equivalent.

One defining moment in an actor’s acting career is when they accept an award on live television, well , actually, any recorded award show. It’s their time to thank those who got them to that stage and trophy. It’s similar to school, but on a public level. At the end of the year every student thanks their teachers for leading them in a class they never really paid attention to, only to get brownie points for the next year. You see, one teacher tells the other about a “grateful” student and the word spreads like a wildfire. This is the same scenario just with actors in front of the world. They use the publicizing to get “brownie points” by conquering the world’s hearts, or in other words sucking up to the public. With this said, I would like to thank Matthew McConaughey and his 2014 Oscar acceptance speech. Not only did he prove that my theory might be correct, but also that actors most likely prepare their speeches. It seemed like he knew exactly what to say and thanked all the clichés for example, the other contestants who had notable performances, the director and etcetera. What annoyed me the most was how he tried to put his words in an inspirational light. He noted the three things he needs: something to look up to, God, look forward to, his family, and someone to chase, his hero which is him in ten years. I can’t decide what bothered me the most, the fact his speech didn’t really sound genuine or that he called himself his hero though he added that he will never be his hero because he’s always ten years late.

The many many aspects I hate about the Oscars: the reason it’s famous, the point of the award ceremony, and the acceptance speeches, are rather understandable.