The term “awards season” still continues to confuse people who only have a passing knowledge of the industry, i.e. the average moviegoer.
The film industry has a period of weeks, now months, where they take a look at the previous year’s films and decide which ones are superior.
During this time there are two major awards in the public consciousness. Those awards are known as The Golden Globe, and the Academy Award of Merit, better known as an Oscar.
a one-sided competition
The Golden Globe is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization of journalists who report on the goings-on in the U.S film industry.
The association’s first awards ceremony was held in late January of 1944 at the studios of 20th Century Fox.
The Oscars are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an organization made up of motion picture professionals.
It was officially founded in 1927, and the first awards ceremony was held on May 16th, 1929.
There are multiple accounts as to how the Oscar got its name, but it has since been narrowed down to two popular accounts.
The first comes from the actress, Bette Davis, who was also the Academy’s first female president. One biography states that the award was named for her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson.
The other, more popular account comes from a casual remark made by the Academy’s executive secretary, Margaret Herrick. She commented that the statuette resembled her “Uncle Oscar,” which was a nickname for her cousin, Oscar Pierce. In 1939, the name was officially adopted by the Academy.
The two awards have always been in a one-sided competition, as the Oscar seems to carry a sense of prestige to it that The Golden Globe strives for.
Allegations of bribery tend to plague The Golden Globe each year, and the regular movie-going audience sees the Academy of Motion Picture’s choice in nominations as something superficial.
the mark of a good film
Throughout my last couple of reviews, you have seen me gripe about films that are released during award season specifically for awards season.
Sunday, the Golden Globes were handed out, and the Academy Awards are a little over a month away.
It is the opinion of this reporter that the mark of a good film is not how many awards it has won, but how it stands the test of time.
When it all comes down to it, it’s the film that can be watched 20 years after its debut and still be entertaining to a modern audience.
Next time on The Weekly Reel, we’ll take a look at movies that are based on popular books and their impact on the fandom.
