OSCARS TOO SERIOUS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD

I watched this year's 81st Academy Awards show and I fully enjoyed the entertaining theatrical performances, big name celebrity presenters and laughs along the way. Noticeably, a lot of thought went into the production and the feeling you got was one of cherished tradition for the art form we all know and love called movie making. We are all fans of the classics, and each year the show provides a pleasant interweaving by bridging the old with the new to understand the history of what we see pass along the silver screen year in and year out.

This year had some new twists and inventive moments when past winners came up as a group to present the awards to new recipients, giving the feeling of intimacy that we haven’t seen much of in years past. We saw funny moments from Hugh Jackman in his numbers and Ben Stiller poking fun at Joaquin Phoenix. Also, a great Pineapple Express Oscar film short from Judd Apatow suggested what we already know - the Oscars need to change tradition and open up a best comedy award category. A production filled with laughs and yet no award for humor?

Jerry Lewis was awarded a humanitarian Oscar. Eddie Murphy, who starred in a remake of “The Nutty Professor”, presented the award. It was terrific to see the greatest comedians of the last two generations on the same stage together, but the irony is that not a single Oscar is held between the two of them. Their own art form is not even allowed a category in the show itself.

We watch celebrities, some funnier than others, splash bits of humor throughout the broadcast but the category is somehow not intelligent enough for the Academy to recognize. How is comic genius not awarded? In this day and age shouldn't we celebrate the talent it takes to make people laugh? Aren't the funny things we experience just as important as the serious? The sad fact is that they give out awards for documentaries, film shorts and foreign films and yet comedy isn't considered a reputable genre? Hopefully, the new president of the Academy will change this mistaken philosophy because sometimes traditions need to change and adapt or else we risk losing focus on the bigger picture.

I leave you with this question. When we go to a party, who is it that we want to be around? Do we want to be near the serious poet or deep thinking dweeb sipping his sad red wine and pondering the essence of his own existentialism? Or do we want to be around those individuals who make us laugh until our sides hurt? The answer is simple. Our society lavishes so much praise over Shakespeare’s brilliant tragic works, but it is the simple fact that he wrote many comedies that makes him a genius. You cannot have one without the other and with that being said we should allow the great comedies that grace our screens the chance to be noticed and applauded.