Any time a new set of award nominees are named there’s always discussion about who was chosen, who WASN’T chosen, why they were chosen, who should have been chosen. The discussion can get quite heated at times. It doesn’t matter if it’s for some award or a Hall of Fame (the names for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are a case in point. People are still arguing about ABBA’s inclusion. The 2011 inductees will be Dr. John, The Alice Cooper Band, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love, and Tom Waits. I’ve got no real problem with any of them. You may commence your discussion of their relative merits)
What got me thinking about this was the announcement of the Golden Globe Awards. The Golden Globes have been around since 1944 and are awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Originally they were movie only, then added TV in the ‘50s. They also recognize one person for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment with the Cecil B. DeMille Award. The original purpose of the awards was to butter up Hollywood to give the foreign press better access to the industry. Today the awards result in a lot money that goes to charity and scholarships.
What grabbed me about this years awards was in the category of Comedy or Musical. Not surprised to see “Burlesque” and “The Kids Are All Right”. A musical and a comedy. The rest of the slate is a little confusing. We have “Alice in Wonderland”, “RED” and “The Tourist”. If Tourist is a comedy someone needs to tell Sony Entertainment this because their trailers stink. I see no sign of any comic elements in the advertisements either. I saw Alice and the same reaction there. Ummm, comedy? Musical? No. It was an OK movie that I enjoyed but I would never consider it a comedy. I also saw RED and can say it was very funny. But again I’m not sure I’d call it a comedy. An action movie with a strong comic inclination sure but...
Was the comedy field so thin this year that they felt like they had to really reach for nominees? Or did they just feel like they needed to throw someone a bone? The other theory is that these are place holders to fill out a field so that you can push the award toward one particular favorite.
So when you see all the hoopla about “Golden Globe” nominations in all the advertising over the next couple months just remember. These are suck up awards.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010
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