Film award shows like the Oscars and the Golden Globes have been around for a long time, but if your favorite movie of the year doesn’t get the award you think it deserves, or even get nominated, does it demean it in your eyes? It shouldn’t, because they don’t really mean much. Awards have never truly affected how films are remembered, a lot of the time they just end up generating controversy amongst audiences with differing opinions on the movies. Sure, if you bring over No Country For Old Men to a friends house, you can go on and on about how it won best picture, but that won’t change whether they liked the film or not. I’ll admit, I get caught up in the Golden Globes and the Oscars every year, because I do find it interesting to see what is deemed worthy of the awards, and it’s nice to see individuals involved with great films getting credit for the work that they’ve done. But does a film not getting something like the revered best picture award change how it’s remembered?
It may be a shock to anyone who looks back at it now, but in 1941, the now legendary Citizen Kane was not the winner of best picture, it lost to How Green Was My Valley. The classic that’s constantly referenced to and even deemed the best movie of all time by some, is the one that’s remembered, not the academy award winner. Even today, I find it hard to believe that for the general public of movie-goers, who don’t enjoy a There Will Be Blood type of film over an Avatar will remember a lot of these award winning films in 20 years. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the “Oscar” film is not going to be remembered by the general public, or that the big blockbusters most definitely will be, it just depends on who you ask.
Truth be told, award shows are there for entertainment, and nothing more. The films that will be remembered are the ones that people personally enjoy, and regardless of whether it won best screenplay, or best director, there are people out there that will remember them for the enjoyment they get when they watch them. Although many would like to think they exist so that old top hat wearing men with monocles can tell everyone what films are superior to all others that year, film awards shows like the Oscars are there so that whoever is involved with the film can be given credit and appreciation for their hard work, like any awards show does. For the viewers, it’s for sheer entertainment, not a prophetic showing of what will and must be cherished forever by everyone.
Just because Slumdog Millionaire won best picture in 2009, doesn’t mean that it will necessarily be more liked or memorable than Inglorious Basterds. Just because How Green Was My Valley beat Citizen Kane for Best Picture, doesn’t mean it stood the test of time and became more memorable than it. In the end, it might always be a little of both, when deciding whether the Academy Awards have an impact on what’s considered great film. There will always be films that win that won’t stand the test of time, and vice versa. Enjoy the awards shows for what they are in the meantime, entertainment, and praise for the hard work that’s put into these movies.
Comments