AWN - “AWARDS”
I was reading about the Motion Picture Academy extending the number of Best Film nominations from 5 to 10. What a great idea!
I love award shows, doesn’t everyone? What could be better than to watch as those wildly flabbergasted winners rush up to accept their awards while the nominees that didn’t win (there are no losers in award shows) smile for the cameras and applaud those that came away with the prize. I guess it could be said that some of the best acting of the year takes place at these events.
We Americans do love winners and we love to see all that emotion and angst as the presenters read off the nominees and then after that gut wrenching pause, call out the winner. And we are involved, we can feel either vindicated or betrayed by the voters, depending on whether our favorite won or was not recognized. We can laugh and thrust our hands in the air and feel the elation of victory, or we can shout our displeasure and shake our heads wondering how this miscarriage of voting justice could possibly have happened. ‘Surely this is bogus!’ we cry out as the so wrong winner grabs the golden award object and mugs to the camera.
And it seems that we are getting more into our award shows every year. What about this year’s MTV awards? Wow, what a show! I mean you couldn’t write a script any more entertaining than that could you? And then you have The Grammys, The ESPYS, The Golden Globes, The People’s Choice Awards (still?) , The SAG Awards, The County Music Awards, Soul Train Awards, Hip Hop Awards, Juno Awards, Billboard Video Awards and my favorite, of course The Emmys, and so many, many more… My goodness they really are the gift that just keeps giving…
Now when I was a youngster we were going through hard times (award show wise) as we only really had the Academy Awards and The (Ugggh) Tony Awards and The Emmys on TV. We had to wait all year for the Oscars and that was about it for me because I never thought much of the Emmys (no production value) and Ugggh, The Tony Award’s – way, way too much singing and dancing for a kid.
But now it’s like we’ve all died and went to Award Show Heaven… Awards are flying here and there all over the place and the drama has never been higher. People are getting and giving awards at a fever pitch and I think it’s just great. In fact I want to suggest that we in the Animation Industry get with the times and start our own events and I don’t mean those slow paced. ASIFA Annie Awards or the Euro CARTOON soirees, no I mean a bunch of high octane, no hold’s bared audience involved free-for-alls – call them the TOONIES.
Here’s the plan, every month we have our award show and it will be shown by all the big networks on a rotating basis, one month it will be on NICK, next month Cartoon Network, next month The CN, next on Disney… you get the idea.
The idea is to shamelessly promote our products and ourselves so we can get on level footing with everyone else. I don’t want to see this Kayne West guy grabbing the microphone from some gal, I want to see a Disney exec sucker punch a Warner Brothers guy and proclaim to the viewers, as he steps over the guy’s limp body, that their new Spiderman guy can kick Batman’s butt up and down the street. Now that’s what the American audience wants to see. We need to get down, get raw and embarrass the hell out of ourselves like the rest of these guys do.
I think I’m on the right track here and would welcome any fresh ideas. Just remember, there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. You CANNOT overdo this, really you can’t. The public has spoken. The public refuses to be offended by mindless crap, odious commercial promotion or the shameful twisting of something that once wonderful, no longer serves art and creativity but now answers only to its master, the almighty buck! So let’s get with it Animation guys and gals, time’s a wasting…