Awards Shows: Are There Too Many?

[sablebrush52]

Way too much of what they churn out is contrived and agenda-driven.

Entertainment is a business, and occasionally an art. It produces what the audience buys. Stop consuming crap and they will stop producing crap.
Support more thoughtful and creative entertainment and that's what the suits will offer.
And that's the biggest problem. The audience doesn't really support risk taking, so there won't be risk taking. By and large, people like middle brow predictable crap.

 

[brian64]

^ I agree for the most part...because the masses in general certainly seem to have an insatiable appetite for crap of every type and flavor. This does not however negate the rather obvious fact that there is an intentional agenda inserted into much of the "product" being put out in recent years...which is a separate issue from the general low brow nature of things.
Certainly there have always been agenda issues involved in entertainment of every kind, but IMO not to the extent or the crass nature of it that we see now.
But I also think a big part of the problem in relation to "feature films" is that theater attendance can't be anywhere near the levels it used to be due to the digital age (this is an assumption on my part because I don't know what the actual numbers are...but I for one rarely go to a theater anymore) and most people have what amounts to a mini theater in their home these days with big screen TV and stereo sound.
I often think of how it was before VCR's made their appearance. The only time you got to see a feature film outside of a movie theater was on network television...all edited to pieces and full of commercials...and probably years after its theater release. In those days I never dreamed I'd be able to watch movies at home the way I can now.
There are a lot of good movies on DVD that were made over the last few decades that were unsuccessful in theaters...or in some cases were never in theaters at all. The theater audiences these days especially love the junk...or so it seems.
But to get back to the OP, nothing has been as politicized and agenda-driven in more recent years than the award shows, and the awards themselves...IMO.

 

[sablebrush52]

This does not however negate the rather obvious fact that there is an intentional agenda inserted into much of the "product" being put out in recent years...which is a separate issue from the general low brow nature of things.

There's been that facet since the beginning of the film biz, and frankly, it was much more crude, crass, and obvious than it is now. In a way, that was better because it was so much easier to spot. Films reflect their times whether intentional or not, and they can offer some very startling windows to cultural biases.
Awards shows have definitely become more politicized and less fun, with actors pretending to be pundits rather than just thanking their peers and the other people who helped along the way, and I haven't watched them in years, but what hasn't become more politicized? Everything is subject to people pushing their agendas. BFD. People generally bitch not because there's an agenda, but because the agenda being presented is different from theirs. It's not OK for your fairy tale version of reality to be different from my fairy tale version of reality, so I'm going to bitch about you getting a platform to present your fairy tale version of reality.

 

[brian64]

Those are fair points Sable, but I still think it's worse now...but that's just my opinion. I can see your argument as well.
I would only add that my perspective on this is not a "left vs right" one. I could easily cite examples of what would be generally perceived as right-wing propaganda being pushed by Hollywood in recent years as well...but I won't go down that rabbit hole here of course.
I'll just say that from my perspective the left/right are not really in opposition, but part of the same overall agenda.
Now I've probably already said too much.