Abstract

Films

The producers of the Academy Awards ceremony like to boast that a billion people watch their broadcast and another 5 billion do not. Out of respect for this majority, the author has held back in the past from discussing the Oscar nominations, apart from an occasional reminder about how the awards were launched. Artistic quality has since then come and gone, sometimes remarked upon by the academy voters but very often not-a truth that is surely recognized even by the recalcitrant, self-anesthetized billion. Most people today admit they watch the Oscars only to marvel at the tackiness of the women's outfits and chortle at author Bruce Vilanch's script-or perhaps it's the other way around. No matter-best hardly figures into the experience, even for movie-goers too lazy to search out the better.