Everyone’s A Winnah!
If you get the feeling that nary a week passes without someone receiving some kind of award at some prestigious awards show, you may be right. In the old days, if someone got nominated for an Oscar for acting, it was sold as a big deal. The red carpets, the hairdos, the dresses and the heartfelt acceptance speeches all contributed to a sense of prestige and dignity to the Oscar ceremony. Corporations took note of all the commercial possibilities surrounding this event and essentially cloned it with more and more august award shows. In addition to the venerable Oscars, we now we have:
The American Music Awards
The Country Music Awards
The Emmy Awards (daytime)
The Emmy Awards (primetime)
The Grammy Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards
The People’s Choice Awards
The Tony Awards
The Golden Globe Awards
The SAG Awards
The Comedy Awards
The AVN Awards
and now the Woodie Awards
Well this is all great, especially the last one. All awards are prestigious and recognize excellence somehow in their field of entertainment. For the record, the AVN awards are given out for excellence in the adult film business. The Woodie awards is to my knowledge, not related. I suggest that these shows all originate in the minds of people in the formal wear rental business, but also people renting red carpets, hairstylists and of course the Tabloid publishers. Not to mention those employed in the business of writing original acceptance speeches. A very rough math calculation of at least 14 award shows multiplied by 20 to 30 winners/speeches per show yields enough work to keep a cottage industry of speechwriters going.
Apart from the very important social significance of these prestigious awards, the ongoing symbioitic dynamic of narcissism /voyeurism that exists in the entertainment world is amply on display. There never seems to be enough adulation for entertainers but there also appears to be infinite demand by fans. Imagine being fortunate enough to entertain people for a living, get paid gazillions of dollars to do so, have international fame and then to get an award supporting your greatness! It’s amazing anyone goes to school at all to become doctors or scientists.
Years from now, as the accomplishments of entertainers are under review by future generations, comparisons will be made as to the greatness of each personality, in what else, a lifetime achievement award show. Many people will have accomplished many goals in their field and some may even be talented enough to score awards in different disciplines. When all is said and done however, your career is incomplete if you haven’t been fortunate enough to get a Woodie.