When Awards Lose Power

I am truly stunned by the media today.

The stupidity, distance from reality and inconsistencies in thought really throw me off when it comes to the mainstream media outlets. Today I read an article on about the latest ‘smash-hit success movie’, Meet the —-ers. I’m not even going to mention the name because it is vulgar. The article () states:

Some Academy Awards hopefuls had strong weekend showings:

The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as billionaire Howard Hughes, expanded into 1,796 screens and took in $9.4 million for fourth place.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou played in 1,105 theaters with $4.9 million for No. 9.

The Phantom of the Opera wasNo. 10 with $4.2 million on 622 screens.

Now, I have no problem with movies getting a little money here, a little there… but why the heck are these three movies nominated for ?

I use a general rule of them when considering if a movie ought to be even thought of being nominated for an award: I ask some people if they’ve ever heard of the movie. If they have, I might consider nominating it. If not, I won’t even think of nominating a movie for any kind of prestigious award.

My point is this: If an award group nominates (or awards) a movie that few people have heard of, why does that award group expect to be prestigious? Why do they expect us to hail the movies they nominate and give awards to? If we do respect what these ‘obscurity-awards’ declare best, we are fooling ourselves.