Is it time to take America’s awards shows out behind the shed?
We live to fight another day…
We have survived once again my friends. The onslaught of inflated ego’s and elevated importance has passed and those of us who have made it through one more year must feel relieved to be among the living.
While the memories of those we lost will forever haunt our dreams and sting our hearts we must remember that the only way we can survive the next awards season is to stay united and unafraid.
Okay…so maybe that was a little melodramatic, but as the best of the thespians will tell you, sometimes a little flair and ironic exaggeration is just what the academy ordered.
Awards shows are on the decline, viewership of the Academy Awards was up this year by 60% from last year, but it was still the second-worst in ratings history. The Grammy’s were only up by 1% from last years historic low. The Tony’s, Billboard Music Awards and Golden Globes are all in the same slowly sinking boat.
So why is this? Like most things, it’s not any one point that is driving the nail into the coffin of these once must-watch affairs. The declining popularity of broadcast television, the internet, alternative forms of entertainment, youtube commentary and political controversy all have had their part in this ever-evolving saga.
Why watch several hours of an awards show when you can catch the sound bites on social media or engage in a countless number of other entertainment activities that you now have at your fingertips, something Grandma and Grandpa didn’t have in 1983. Back then these awards shows were a window into an elite world of glamor and fame, a chance to gaze upon those who make the entertainment that you consumed.
In the modern age that veil has been lifted, the glamor has been stripped away and we now are inundated with details, grotesque as they may be, of celebrity life. The mystery and mystique have been replaced with a sense of averageness and commonality that just doesn’t excite people the way it once did.
It’s similar to the way the advent of television demystified the American Presidency. Now there was the President, on your television screen in a way that made him seem less mighty than before. This has had the effect of giving people the impression that anyone can do that job, they can’t.
The constant inundation of news, gossip, pictures, and general information about celebrities has brought low what was once high. It has replaced our glimpse of a life more glamorous than our own with a more realistic perspective, celebrities are just people. They have bad hair days, they aren’t as perfect as their professional persona suggests, and yes even they have bad breath.
So why take time out of my evening to watch people receive awards for things when nearly every day my news feed is filled with their lives? I really can’t think of a reason.
-Austin Cross
