I still can’t get over it.I’ve stated many times before that I really enjoy awards shows. I do not watch for the fashions. I watch because I enjoy seeing celebrities being themselves, I enjoy glimpsing behind-the-scenes looks at the entertainment industry, I enjoy seeing some of my favorites get recognized. I like watching awards shows. Another thing I like is JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. And these two interests of mine were poised to coincide last Sunday, during CBS’s airing of The People’s Choice Awards.
However, they missed by a mile.
It wasn’t till late in the evening I found out Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring would not win an award — because it wasn’t even nominated. According to “The People”, our favorite films of 2001 are The Fast and the Furious, Pearl Harbor, and Shrek. I know 2001 wasn’t the best year for movies, but Lord God there had to be better examlpes of the art form than those! I can understand it if the category was best DVD demonstration discs to show off your new THX-approved home theater system — but to call these titles favorites? It’s too difficult for me to muster up any kind of emotional attachment to them. They are movies not only made on computer, but as cold and sterile as a computer. And so I say: Who are these People and how can they be stopped?
Part of the blame I suppose can be placed on the Gallup organization. The rules for The People\’s Choice Awards state that the pollsters do not prompt or suggest titles when they phone their unsuspecting and media-illiterate quarry. So instead of taking an objective view of titles released this year, the poor dupe has to name off the first movie that comes into his or her head. Just because the title is memorable does make it a favorite. It’s more likely to be notorious. Along that same line, it’s interesting how these three titles have had big DVD releases. I can imagine the poor sod on the phone naming off Pearl Harbor not because they somehow liked it but because it was on the front of last weekend’s Best Buy circular.
Then again, I suppose I have to admit it’s just as possible those three films really are people’s favorites. Even people with enough mental capacity to recognize the ringing of a phone and how to respond to it. It’s just that this thought depresses me. Since I too am part of the “people”, I really hoped we all had better taste than that. But, once again, The People’s Choice Awards says otherwise.
