HeidiTown Rant: Oh how Hollywood loves Hollywood

Hollywood Sign

Now that the Golden Globe nominees have been announced, I am inspired to blog about my disappointment in this year’s movie award season. I’ve never been a fan of the Golden Globes. I feel it’s the dumb kid brother to the more grown up and classy Academy Awards.

That being said, this year the Academy has decided to dumb down too. They’ve decided to amend the Best Picture category to include ten nominees instead of the standard five. Yes, ten. That’s 1-0. Ridiculous? Most definitely. Most years it is hard to find five movies good enough to qualify for the category.

So why is Hollywood doing this? Well, they do like to pat themselves on the back, just look at how many awards shows exist. There are the two most famous, the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, but then there Sundance, Cannes, the Independent Spirit Awards, the MTV Movie Awards, and a plethora of film festivals throughout the country. I know of no other industry who gives themselves such a vast array of parties and award ceremonies.

I believe there are two main reasons the Academy decided to expand the Best Picture category. First, they want to boost the ratings. If people hear that their favorite movie has been nominated they will be more likely to watch the Oscars to see if their favorite wins. So no doubt, with ten nominees, the Academy will be able to reach a much larger audience of potential viewers.

Secondly, the movie industry wants to make more money. Many of us will go a film if it has been nominated for Best Picture. My husband and I are fairly religious about doing this, and we usually manage to see all the Best Picture nominees in the theater. Now we go to a lot of movies, so getting to five specific films isn’t terribly difficult, but ten is going to be much harder. We have decided we aren’t even going to try.

So take that, you arrogant members of the Academy! We aren’t falling for your tricks.

6 Comments


  1. Just for that, I’m not going to see a movie in the theater until Christmas vacation. Take that, Academy!

    Actually, I think the last movie I saw in the theaters was “Earth” on Earth Day, which was in April….because, uh, I’m taking a stand against the man (or because we have Blockbuster Online).

    But I do make a point to see all the Harry Potter movies in the theaters! 🙂 And I really do want to see AVATAR over Christmas vacay because there’s something exciting about giant blue creatures, y’know?

    I hope it wasn’t nominated for anything…then I would have to not see it so I can protest against the Academy.

    DOWN WITH THE ACADEMY, YOU SMARMY, PAT YOUR OWN BACK-ING, SWAG BAGGERS!

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  2. Ah, you’re just pissed because you didn’t get invited.
    I used to LOVE watching them all when I had actually seen any of the movies. Now I just cattily judge everyone’s outfits. The Globes are fun because they get to drink so speeches are very unpredictable.

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  3. Suz, you make an excellent point. Alcohol infused acceptance speeches are highly entertaining. I usually half-watch the Golden Globes, mostly to see what they are wearing. I’m an Academy Awards addict and won’t miss it this year, despite my rant!
    Amy, thanks for your support! LOL!

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  4. I’m still addicted too. We should have an Oscar party! My friend and I used to have a bet every year on who would win what. I usually won, even when I hadn’t seen anything mainly cuz I’m a gossip and internet whore. I ‘hear’ enough buzz to make educated guesses:-)

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  5. Let’s totally do it! And instead of betting on winners, let’s make it a drinking game! Game on. 🙂

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  6. It’s a date. But I’m telling you now, if Robert is a presenter again you’re not allowed to speak during his moment. At all. I will need total silence to concentrate on The Precious.

    Reply

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