I guess it comes down to what some people would call incredible and what some would call flat out ridiculous. To be honest I don’t think I could rightfully fault Ryan Gosling for missing the Oscars in 2015 so that he could go to Disneyland with Guillermo Del Toro. In fact I would say that their trip had to be the best option to get away from the Oscars at that point. And if either of them had won something? Meh, mail it to them, they were off having fun. What’s really astounding about this is that anyone would think that the two of them were actually snubbing the Oscars ceremony in favor of pursuing their own wants, since in reality the Oscars are kind of a joke really.
Oooh, did I go a little too far? No, probably not. In fact I don’t think I went far enough simply because a lot of people would echo that sentiment. Saying the Oscars are rigged is a bit petulant and claiming that it’s all a giant popularity contest is seen as a childish answer more often than not, but the truth is that it’s whomever seems to be the most popular at that given moment, even if they’ve done little to nothing to earn the distinction of being awarded above another person. Anyone remember what it was like in high school when a person ran for student office, or a particular award? It almost always came down to who was considered the most popular and was most deserving of the attention.
It’s great when people win that have worked hard and produced something that people really enjoy, but when someone puts forth a piece of work that is accepted and rewarded only because of an agenda or because it’s deemed fair then the system starts to break down a little. The Oscars aren’t supposed to be completely fair in terms of who is the better performer or who helps create the best movie effects. If you’re the best then it means you worked harder, longer, and much more heart being put into your work than anyone else. It doesn’t mean that you get to make a statement by being granted an award you didn’t earn (cough, cough, Hurt Locker, cough). If we were to give awards to those that toiled and toiled and somehow didn’t come up with a film good enough to be deemed a winner then the meaning of the Oscars would begin to diminish and it would become little more than another achievement to put on a resume.
Whoops, I forgot that we already reached that point.
There are many that decide to close their eyes and give faith to a busted system that allows films to win when they’re nowhere near the best and only gets the awards right about a third of the time, and that’s fine. They want to go on without admitting that something is broken and needs fixing because otherwise it would wreck the status quo. I get it. You preserve something that doesn’t work largely because you don’t know anything else and wouldn’t want to have to start over with a system that is now out of your control and understanding. So let’s keep the broken system and just hope for the best, right?
Gosling and Del Toro definitely made the right choice of venue that year.
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