And the Award Goes to...

      

                          

Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone managed to bring a little humour and even an edge of satire into the announcements of the nominations for this years Oscars. An event usually marked by it's complacency, apathy and significant levels of disinterest from all, with the exception of the nominees. The most notable aspects of the presentation was the reference to several of the actor nominations and those people 'who had won before' and that it was nice to see some variation in the nominations.

With the ceremonies themselves being even closer together this year than before, the general relevance of them to the overall public influence has dropped even further. My favourite films of the past few years; Inception, The Dark Night Rises, Drive, Toy Story 3 and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy have either been snubbed, received minimal nominations and most significantly have all missed out on the coveted Best Director or Best Picture.  Toy Story 3 did win Best Animated feature, but only after completing the final chapter of one of the best movie trilogies of all time. Alongside Chris Nolan's  Batman films.

Based largely on anecdotal evidence, but also on what I've seen on sale in shops for a long-time since release, it seems that beyond the initial hype that draws people in, the films which actually go onto win the awards aren't held in that high regard for much time after. Or rather, even if these films are held in high regard, it's only alongside those which were 'snubbed' at the time of nominations.

Aside from Colin Paterson who has a encyclopedic knowledge of awards, who won what and how often. I don't know that people actually know or indeed care about which films are previous winners. Films which are often cited as long-living classics (i.e. Citizen Kane) were in fact 'neglected' or indeed 'snubbed' by the awards at the time of release.

Ultimately, they all just blend into one great melange of self-indulgence, brown-nosing and irrelevance. As Ricky Gervais' repeat performances at the Golden Globes demonstrates. It's only uncomfortable, because it's so close to the truth. Nobody really understands how the Oscars voting system works, nor do people really have any interest. Unless you're this man:

                                             

(It's Harvey Weinstein, he'll be on the internet somewhere)