By Lenaia Powell
Awards Season is upon us, a time where families crowd around their TVs to see their favorite actors, movies, and shows gain recognition. The Golden Globes have already passed, leaving movies and shows such as Lady Bird, Coco, and Big Little Lies as winners, as well as actors such as Gary Oldman, James Franco, and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few. However, some people were more disappointed with who didn’t win than glad about who did. Other popular award shows that have yet to occur this year are the Grammys, Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys. The nominees haven’t been posted yet, but the public certainly has their hopes set on their personal favorites.
People everywhere are incredibly opinionated and defensive about the shows they like, but typically, they’re the same shows or movies that everyone else is watching at the time. I, too, am guilty of this, particularly with Stranger Things, as everyone is (hence the title). Plenty of people are a little upset about the fact that none of the actors, or the show, took home an award. Even so, there are many more works of entertainment that got the award they deserved that should be talked about.
Two students, in particular, Jordan Jenkins and Jamari Saint Cyr, members of The Blue and White staff, have always had a knack for analyzing more serious movies that differ from what the current teenage population is watching. Neither of them, however, are particularly obsessed with awards shows.
“I don’t really enjoy too many awards shows… Okay this one’s relevant to movie awards shows, I’ve started seeing more movies, and so I guess I’m interested in like… I watched the Golden Globes and I liked that, and I’m probably gonna watch the Oscars, and then I have my favorite actors, but I don’t have any award shows that I love and always have to see,” says Jordan.
“I particularly enjoy movie-centric award shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes, and occasionally the Grammys, but I haven’t watched the Grammys in years,” Jamari said.
Both of them expressed how they prefer a less simplistic form of entertainment, setting themselves apart from others their age.
“I usually focus a lot on in-depth insight into movies, where the majority of [people] my age just see a movie and ‘oh I enjoyed it’ and kind of like move on, in a way, but I kind of have grown to have a wider eye for the little details in films that I watch,” said Jamari.
Interestingly enough, Jordan said something along the exact same lines.
“I can’t watch dumb movies. No no no no no no. I can watch dumb movies, but it’s very hard for me to watch movies and not be nit-picky, I’m a very nit-picky person, and so it’s like I’ll find things to dislike, especially… I can’t watch a lot of mainstream movies that are kinda like streamlined and don’t have very complex characters or plots. I just tear through because it’s like there’s nothing here. I kind of need some… I like to think I like things that are more in-depth, I don’t know.”
However, talent and quality are not all that determines who gets to take home a trophy. Unfortunately, companies and celebs- who make plenty of bank- can tip the odds in their favor with a few Benjamins to warm up to the members of HFPA. Obviously, bribing is a questionable practice, but in the entertainment industry, money is all anyone really cares about.
“Oh, that’s a thing? I guess I’m not surprised by it because Hollywood’s been sketchy for years now,” says Jamari, bringing light to how nothing in the entertainment industry is unexpected anymore.
“I mean, yeah, it’s kind of predictable. I don’t have any like emotional attachment to awards shows so I don’t really care. But if they’re doing that to beat out movies that I really enjoy, or with Timothee Chalamet, you know what, back up, you’ve crossed a line,” Jordan stated.
But no matter how unfair these awards shows seem, the majority of people will continue to cherish them and hope that the show they’ve been binging just might win an award.