“The average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” says Anton Ego, the food critic, in the final moments of the Disney-Pixar animated film “Ratatouille.”
Criticism can be valuable, but only as far as you know the biases of the critic, when the Oscars snub animated films or give the award to whatever Pixar film their kid dragged them to.
“Ratatouille” would go on to win Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards (the Oscars), an award that many in the industry have criticized over the years.
“In a perfect world, animation would freely compete with every other kind of film for Best Picture,“ said Kevin Koch, the president of the Hollywood Animation Guild, to the Los Angeles Times in 2003, a year after the introduction of the award.
Animation is something to be sequestered off into its own little corner, not a contender for best picture.
Much of the grievances leveled at the Oscars’ unspoken bias can also be leveled at the Grammys as well.
In the earlier years, The Grammys were quite dedicated to rewarding artistry above all else.
According to “Award Ceremony as an Arbiter of Commerce and Canon in the Popular Music Industry.” an article by Mary M Watson and N. Anand published in Popular Music 2006, during the first few years, the ballots were sent out with the Grammy’s credo.
“We shall judge a record on the basis of sheer artistry, and artistry alone. A record shall, in the opinion of the Academy, attain the highest degree of excellence or it shall not receive an award. Sales and mass popularity are the yardsticks of the record business [but] they are not the yardsticks of this Academy.” it read.
Paradoxically the Grammys did use mass popularity as a yardstick, not for who could win, but for who wouldn’t.
For the first few years following its inception, the Grammys stood against the rising popularity of rock and roll music.
“‘NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) founder Paul Weston lamented what he saw as a lowering of musical standards brought about by rock musicians: ‘When music got in the hands of American teenagers, quality went down the tubes,’” read the article by Watson
Once again we see the idea of bias, polluting what would otherwise be valuable criticism. Although it was never stated as succinctly as this, even when the bias against rock disappeared, it was replaced by one for hip-hop & rap.
Even when the Grammys did acknowledge hip-hop in 1989, it was among the awards that weren’t televised, leading to many of the nominated musicians not attending out of protest.
“It was a slap in the face, so we chose to boycott. You go to school for 12 years and they give you your diploma, then they deny you that walk down the aisle,” said Will Smith at the time to Entertainment Tonight.
Prestige is not a measure of quality but merely of recognition. One may be indicative of the other but they are far from inseparable and when the prestige comes from institutions with a very spotty track record of bias, it can become easy to view these awards as something altogether meaningless.
When we let these awards dominate the discussion of what’s the best we are bound to have worthwhile things fall through the cracks.
These institutions serve a purpose, they celebrate the achievements of an industry. But they will never be able to highlight everything worthwhile in a year, let alone every year. So it falls on you, the average media consumer, to scream to the high heavens about how great your favorite movie, show or song is.
The appreciation of media is not a monopoly, it’s something we can all do for the small price of nothing.