Term Paper on "Oscars Traditionally, the Oscars Have Been Seen"

Term Paper 4 pages (1340 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Oscars

Traditionally, the Oscars have been seen as the awards show to watch. Receiving an Oscar used to mean that the actor, director, etc., was at the top of his or her form and that there was no one better. However, there have been concerns of late that some of what the Oscars provide is simply a show - Hollywood glitz and glamour, but no actual test of talent and work that has gone into a project. Some of this undoubtedly comes from four different areas of the Oscars - the host, the clothes, the freebies, and what happens behind the scenes. All four of them will be discussed here in an effort to show that the Oscars have strayed far away from what they used to be, which was a wholesome if somewhat glamorous show, and into the realm of 'reality TV.'

The Host

The host for the Oscars this year was Chris Rock, a frequently R- and X-rated comedian (Harwood, 2005). Shortly before he was asked to host the production, Rock stated comments such as the fact that Jennifer Lopez's behind was so large that she would need an extra limousine for it, and that the Oscars were only a fashion show (Harwood, 2005; Chris, 2005). While the comment about Lopez may have been offensive, the idea of the Oscars as being nothing more than a fashion show may ring truer than many individuals that are associated with it would like. However, Rock still agreed to host the Oscars, even after all of the derogatory comments that he made about them.

Previous hosts such as Billy Crystal were very family-oriented in most of the material that they presented, and many of the jokes that they used were somewhat tired, not on the cutting edge of what is appropriate or not, such as the jokes that Rock uses in most of the stand-up material he works with (Harwood, 2005). The idea of getting Chris Rock to host the Oscars came from the idea that most people were getting tired of seeing the same old thing and that the ratings for the show were beginning to slip. It was hoped that something fresh and new, such as Rock, would allow for a boost to the ratings and therefore put the Oscar show back on its feet once again.

The joke largely ended up being on the executives at the network, however, because many of the public statements that Rock made about the Oscars before the show were very rude and not in favor of the 'glad-handing' that the show often indicates (Harwood, 2005). Another issue significant to note about Rock was that, although he generally kept his language clean during the Oscars, he still managed to offend many people, and those people may not watch the Oscars again, which could hurt its sagging ratings even more (Garron, 2005). Despite this, though, Chris Rock is not really the largest issue when it comes to the Oscars. The biggest issue, at least for the media, may be the clothes.

The Clothes

It has been said that 'clothes make the man.' Whether this is true is not a subject for debate here, but the stars of the past often spent thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on the clothing that they wore for the Oscars. Today, however, stars tell a designer that, if the designer pays enough money to the star, the star will wear the designer's clothes, and mention the designer, at the Oscars when they are interviewed on the red carpet (King, 2005). Many of these Hollywood women actually auction themselves off to the point that the highest bidding designer will see their clothing go down the red carpet and hear their name mentioned when the star is asked where she got that lovely gown, etc. (King, 2005).

The clothes are only second in glitz and glamour to the Oscar decorations themselves, which are designed by Roy and Dorothy Christopher, who have worked production design on the Oscars 13… READ MORE

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