The Saturn Awards–Like Oscars, But For Movies People Watch.
So I’m still pointing and laughing at the Oscars, which are well on their way to becoming culturally irrelevant, when I got more deeply interested in a viable replacement.
It’s called the Saturn Awards, and it’s the Oscars, except these are issued by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films.
Now that right there suggests very, very good news. The groundwork is already in place for something to take over for the hidebound Academy of Motion Pictures. Concerned about relevancy? Check out this list for “Best Horror Film”:
| 30 DAYS OF NIGHT |
| 1408 |
| GHOST RIDER |
| GRINDHOUSE |
| THE MIST |
| SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET |
Now, match that up against the Best Film category in the Oscars:
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Okay, granted…I don’t know what Ghost Rider’s doing there, but still…aside from that , that’s a wildly more popular list than the Oscars can generate. And it’s like that all across the board.
So if this is any indication, I’m going to say that soon, there will be no Oscar. This, and similar concepts, will replace it.
And good riddance.
But while there’s still Oscars, you can still get the Oscar movie trivia on Kwanzoo.
Save This or Tell Your Friends!
Popularity: 4% [?]
Those are some pretty bold statements, especially given that Juno alone grossed more than any of the films on the Saturn list.
I think there’ll always be a demand for a massive glitzy awards show, so the Oscars are here to stay. They do make some attempt to stay relevant, as Juno’s place in the nominees proves.
Liz–if it weren’t for Juno the Oscars would have COMPLETE irrelevance instead of the waning relevance it has now. Without Juno on the list you’d be hard pressed to name a second film doing anywhere near that well commercially. Besides, if you look at the complete Saturn nominee listings, you’ll find that several films kick Juno’s ass in terms of box office take. In fact, Saturn nominees comprise the entirety of the top five films at the box office for 2007, whilst Juno is a pale sixteenth. My statements are always bold. For they are often accurate.
At $61,336,965, No Country for Old Men has done better than all the Saturn films you named except The Mist. Granted, the Oscar nominees were little weird this year, but they’re not pulled completely out of nowhere, or out of some top secret Hollywood elitist hat.
In any case, the Oscars are meant to honor achievements in filmmaking, not achievements in making boatloads of money. Since when did “popular” coincide with “good” on a regular basis? Sweeney Todd got largely positive reviews, and most critics liked The Mist, but the rest of them are pretty “meh.” What, exactly, does Saturn have over the Oscars, other than a perceived value based on a subjective relevance?
Ah, but that’s the key point. You’re right that popular and good seldom coincide. But the problem is, to exclude the popular to such a degree that the Oscars are is removing it from cultural relevance. Culture is more than a handful of movies a bunch of self-congratulatory, self-appointed “guardians of high art” cherry-picked. There is an entire segment of film that is clearly being ignored, and as such, an entire segment of people–indeed, of CULTURE–that is being ignored right along side it. That is why the Oscars are losing cultural relevance: read it another way and they are NO LONGER RELEVANT TO CULTURE. If you ignore it long enough, it in turn will ignore you. Don’t believe it? Bear in mind that this was one of the worst rated Oscar telecasts on record. This is a sure sign that the CULTURE is tuning out. And thus, unless the Oscars become relevant by including those films that are currently being ignored, they in turn will be ignored.
The Academy is the opposite of self-appointed; members are appointed by other members. And lest we forget, almost the whole group is made up of filmmakers. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to judge the merits of a film.
Other awards - like Saturn, or the People’s Choice, exist to fill that “relevance” gap. But I’m not following the leap of logic that leads to the Oscars disappearing altogether. They honor achievements in filmmaking, while other awards honor popularity with the masses. Can’t they coexist? You’re basically saying that the NY Times Bestseller List makes all book awards irrelevant. They deal in different markets.
I think the ratings this year might have more to do with all the strike turmoil than anything else. Yes, the world of film is changing, but I still think it’s too bold to predict the death of the Oscars even within the next few decades.