The hits keep on coming. The aftermath of the Gervais hosting of this year’s Golden Globes has been across the board condemnation of his style and approach that anyone with a sense of humor and self-confidence found extremely amusing. It you can’t laugh at yourself, why should we care to watch you slap your own back? A constant stream of at-a-boys can really get a little stale, can’t it?
Earlier today, I expressed my dislike for awards shows in general. This year, the Globes found themselves in a quandary when THE TOURIST was nominated for several awards. Once again, as it had been in the past, the integrity of the entire affair was called into question. Was it a transparently artificial and commercial show that should be stripped of its non-profit status, or was the nomination of THE TOURIST, clearly not a film on anyone’s award radar, just a fluke, an accident, the product of a weird category that froze out TRUE GRIT?
Now that it is obvious that those responsible for the organizing of the evening have seen fit to throw Gervais under the bus (condemnation calls are being trumpeted ever louder), one thing is perfectly clear: The Golden Globes is all about sucking up to celebrities! And it is that cult of celebrity that is returning lower and lower television ratings for such events. It’s cool to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie siting the crowd, sure, but if they are merely the props for an a show devoid of edgy content, what does it matter that they are even there? Gervais made the stars’ presence matter–watch De Niro’s response to the jokes about Hugh Hefner, it was terrific!
Courting celebrities to attend awards shows is the way of things. And the fact is that money drives nominations and films made far away from Hollywood find themselves on the outside looking in regardless whether the quality of such productions warrants award consideration. Case in point last year: THAT EVENING SUN. Hal Holbrook delivered quite possibly the best performance of his life and easily one of the top performances of 2010 and, yet, nothing–not one nomination either by the Globes or the Oscars.
Good for you Ricky! Make us laugh, even if you make them cry.
