Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Fans line up outside the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles waiting for stars to walk the red carpet at the 2009 Oscars Awards Ceremony. The Oscars have gotten worse to watch as years have gone by.

The beginning of the year is a time for renewal, rejuvenation and watching the same four awards shows that take over the entertainment industry every year. The Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tony awards are the four biggest awards shows that almost everyone in Hollywood strives to get their work into. While receiving these awards is the top achievement in any performer’s life, watching the ridiculous, extravagant shows has become boring and unnecessary.

Extravagance

With every passing year, these award shows get more extravagant and excessive. The gifts are excessive, the jewelry worn is worth millions of dollars and all of it is for show. Celebrities, actors and musicians go all out to look good, and get rewarded for it. In recent years, there have been specific themes of these awards shows, such as the #MeToo pins and wearing all black in solidarity. But while these stars are appearing to support these causes, many of them aren’t doing anything to further the cause. It all looks good on the screen, but the support isn’t there when they aren’t receiving a prestigious award. Everything that is televised during these shows is just to show how expensive and extravagant the lives of the rich and famous are, instead of focusing on the actual award winners and why this movie, show or song deserves recognition.

Exclusivity

We’ve seen it happen with the Oscars last year, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated actors and movies that were made or starred predominately white people. One of the reasons this happens is that good low-budget films don’t have the funds to ensure their films get in front of academy members. Producers that have an infinite amount of funds can guarantee that their films will be seen by as many academy members as possible, therefore allowing them to have more possible votes than smaller independent films. If there was more fairness in the Academy’s choices of films, there wouldn’t be as much exclusivity with who wins.

Spoilers

With social media becoming more important in recent years, there are so many spoilers online before the shows even air. This year, the Grammy Awards Twitter account released Grammy winners before the show even started. A lot of the spoilers were for lesser known awards, but that doesn’t mean their special day doesn’t deserve the respect that other award winners get. Most people already wait to see the list of winners at the end of an award show, but spoiling it before it even airs is ridiculous.

People work their entire lives to strive for these awards. They spend countless hours trying to perfect their work so they can even be nominated for awards. These people deserve to have their work displayed and awarded accordingly. There doesn’t need to be a huge circus-sized event for them to be awarded. If award shows got back to the basics, or even restructured, they would be more enjoyable for the awardees and the general public.