It's not like I went out of my way to avoid watching the Academy Awards last night, it's just that I don't care anymore.
And I very much doubt I'm alone on this. If the Writer's Guild strike had continued, and the ceremony itself hadn't happened, would anybody have cared? Anybody outside of Hollywood, that is?
The awards themselves have no meaning, as pretty much everyone acknowledges. In past years, the ritual itself was enough, the chance to see Hollywood's finest parading around on the home screen, a bit of big-time glamour in our own living rooms. That's all gone now, partly because there are almost no real movie stars anymore (George Clooney would qualify, if he wasn't such a publicity whore and if any of his movies actually did well at the box office), and partly because...again, who cares? Movies are merely one more entertainment option in a world already overloaded with choices, and celebrities fascinate the public only when they're in some sort of state of permanent collapse.
As for this year's ceremony, well, I didn't watch it. I had been pulling for Brad Bird to actually get the screenplay award for Ratatouille, but he lost to Juno's Diablo Cody, though her moment has surely passed. It was nice to see Joel and Ethan Coen win (though I'd have given their awards to Paul Thomas Anderson), but I wonder if receiving such a pure Hollywood award will rob them of some hipster cred.
Oh, and Transformers, August Rush and Norbit all received nominations. It's all about quality, you see.
