When I was growing up, Oscar night was always a big evening in the Leber household. For a long time, the awards were held in late March and usually coincided with Spring Break (and in 1993, coincided with my 13th birthday), so staying up late on Sunday night was never a big problem.
We're a movie-loving family, so we'd happily gather with friends and food to watch what is unquestionably an annual spectacle. The combined value of the jewelry draped over the appendages of overindulged, underfed actresses could feed multiple third world countries for generations. For the red carpet portion, Joan Rivers has nothing on me, my mother, my sister and whatever other women may be at the table (actually, Dad does okay too).
In terms of the awards themselves, I may not agree with the outcome, but I like the dialogue that can be sparked with other film lovers. I'm curious to see films that received multiple nominations. I want to know what is making people talk. That doesn't mean it's good. I'll decide that for myself.
Sure, awards are completely and utterly subjective. The nominees are being chosen by a jury of their peers, and frankly, while Keira Knightley looks great in those Coco Mademoiselle ads, I'm not sure how much attention she's paying to the finer points of "The Hurt Locker." In fact, how do I know the members of the Academy are actually watching these films? Or not just voting for their friends? I don't. Not at all. In fact, I'm almost certain they aren't. And they are.
But recognizing that, I'm able to take the Oscars with a grain of salt and just enjoy them. In my family, we'd print up ballots, place bets on the winners, and relish the opportunity to yell at the TV screen at moments of triumph or disbelief. I gawked at Adrien Brody sticking his tongue down Halle Berry's throat, nearly spit out my vegetable lo mein hearing James Cameron proclaim to be king of the world, teared up a little when Scorcese finally won for Best Director, and cheered when Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for playing a foul-mouthed Brooklynite.
Also, I'm pretty sure my father still owes me a dollar from when Hilary Swank beat out Annette Bening for Best Actress.
- Holly Leber
I don't have the same history of familial interest in awards shows as Holly, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to defend their worth.
My main beef with entertainment medium awards shows - whether for film, TV, music or video games - is that it's preposterous for inherently subjective content to be slapped with a "best" or "worst" label.
The wonderful thing about entertainment is that everyone reacts to it differently. That's because movies (or books, games, songs, etc.) are designed with a particular audience in mind.
If you were to ask a five year old which was the better film, "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" or "Brokeback Mountain," it would be a no-contest, just as it would be if you put the same question to New York Times film critic A.O. Scott.
While I generally agree that the films nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globes are indeed fine films, I'm usually equally baffled by the films that are passed over. That doesn't mean movies I personally thought were brilliant, like "(500) Days of Summer" or "The Great Debators," were inherently "better" than "District 9" or "The Blind Side," but I liked them better. Other people might disagree (clearly the Academy would fall into that category), but that doesn't change how I reacted to them.
As Holly suggested, these awards shows are great as a catalyst for conversation around the water cooler. I think the inherent danger is when people begin to interpret them as a definitive, inarguable statement of fact. When that happens, there's a very real risk of people passing over movies they might fall in love with in favor of an "Academy Award" nominee, which they might very well hate.
I'm wary of anything that encourages people to forget, even unintentionally, that entertainment is fundamentally a subjective experience. That doesn't mean I won't have fun seeing if my personal favorites win out on March 7, but my grain of salt is going to be a pretty big one.
- Casey Phillips