Wednesday, March 13, 2024
The Oscars Were Glorious. But There's a Storm Brewing
TIME: The weeks and months leading up to the Oscars—including the campaigning, the chatter of prognosticators, the rushing to catch up with every nominated picture—are usually a jubilant time. But the storm clouds hovering over this most recent season, which culminated in Sunday night’s efficient and entertaining Oscars broadcast, are about to break, and Hollywood knows it. As viewers, we’re just bystanders, right? Consumers who wait for the “content” to happen. But that line of thinking is also a colossal part of the problem. It’s long past time for all of us to ask for more—even if we’re not quite sure what more is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
We are definitely in an age of being inundated by content. I agree that it’s both saddening and frustrating that the process of conceptualizing new movies and TV shows has become so distanced from the artistry side of it, and instead is fully focused pouring as much money into it as possible in the hopes of succeeding big at the box office. I’d rather watch a lower budget movie that really has something to say and is exploring a new and interesting idea than another billion dollar Marvel movie that isn’t doing much at all. The formulas and patterns that we have fallen into are dangerous, and it’s making it harder for individual and new artists to shine. And yes, there’s the whole streaming trap––while it’s convenient, and some great things have come out if it, there’s probably far more poor quality things being churned out, and the raising of prices and variety of services makes it ridiculously expensive to be able to watch everything you want to watch at home (and then not even actually own it).
This article was interesting because it is commentary on how big blockbusters are kind of taking over the box office, and therefore award shows in general. “audiences will step out of their comfort zones—in other words, their living rooms—if you give them something original, ambitious and dazzling to watch, instead of just another IP entry.” This statement was thought provoking, as it was a true testament to the industry and how original stories, not just remakes, truly do make an impact on audiences around the world. I have noticed myself actually enjoying movies that may even have a lower budget that big-name blockbusters, but have more heart and sentiment. Even films that did get nominated for Oscars, like The Holdovers, was still a lower budget than these blockbuster films, but was overall a crowd favorite. Truth be told, the quality of films overall I feel has been moving slightly downhill, and I can’t exactly pinpoint a single culprit (it’s money.)
The Oscars is such a wild concept that we as an artistic community has signed on to. I think its crazy that out of an entire year we try to determine best, and I think acknowledgement is important but as I get older. Award shows and seasons get more frustrating and it seems more of a PR stunt the older I get. And I think wat this article is getting at, the idea that the industry is being encouraged by the people who control the money are just pushing for profit. And I think there is truth to that, I think it is pretty evident that there is so much production expectations in modern movies, and how much profit those productions will make. I think its also evident in who wins at a lot of these shows. Its often the highest grossing movies with massive budgets and famous casts. It just seems to me that these award shows are helping push along the narrative that the stories and productions that are worth being praised and rewarded are these huge productions. But also mentioned in this article it seems the people that attend these shows and win these awards want a puch in the opposite direction. I am curious to see in what direction this industry goes because people want to get paid but also want to make meaningful work.
I have noticed that it seems like there are a lot less large corporations taking risks. There’s endless reboots and sequels and stuff instead of introducing new concepts- too many marvel movies and Ghostbuster franchises to count, and no new instant classics. It would make sense to me if this was done because these reboots, adaptations, and sequels are more economically viable than original content, as there is already somewhat a guaranteed audience base so long as you don’t screw over the fans too poorly. I crave more lower budget, thought-through, original movies and TV shows. Even the Percy Jackson series, which I do think is a stellar adaptation, has moments where I feel like the budget could’ve been spent better. For instance, shooting one of the final fight scenes on location instead of with that weird circular green screen thing would have been so simple, and made me feel so much more immersed in the world of the show
Post a Comment