(Left to right) Arianna Rizzo, Sunny Davis, Griffin Alix, Sarah Angeloni, Sarah Vinci, Veronica Wood, and Mason Martin attend an Oscars viewing party. Photo courtesy of Veronica Wood.
With controversial winners, breathtaking performances and excessively long run-times, awards season has come and gone. Among some of the most prestigious and anticipated award shows are the Oscars, the Grammys and the Golden Globes, all of which aired within the last two months.
But just how popular are award shows actually in the eyes of students across the University of Rhode Island’s campus? For some, there does not seem to be a point.
“I don’t watch a ton of movies in the first place,” said sophomore Dan Groeneveld. “When I do, I don’t watch the award shows because why would I watch a movie I already paid for win something.”
A general consensus around the University of Rhode Island seems to be that the shows run too long, and most people opt to read recaps via social media.
“I just get the highlights on Twitter honestly,” said junior Ashley Proto. “I don’t really have my own opinions on that stuff so seeing how people react on social media lets me form my own opinions.”
One opinion that dominated Twitter on the night of the Oscars was the award for best picture going to “Green Book,” directed by Peter Farrelly. Many people on the site considered “Green Book” to be problematic in the sense that it injects harmful stereotypes and overlooks the severity of racism at the time. Many believed that “BlacKkKlansman,” directed by Spike Lee, should have won the category as it dealt with racism in a more accurate way and was also directed by a black filmmaker.
“I feel like the Oscars always screw up somehow,” said sophomore Trey Kassed.
Other students feel as though the Oscars and other award shows do not represent the movies that they are actually interested in. Junior Arden Bastia notes that the only movie nominated that she would have watched is “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Students feel as though they would like to make their own judgements when watching movies.
“I feel like it’s a bunch of people telling me what to watch,” said freshman Evan Burke.
Typically, movies that are popular among college students are not nominees for award shows. Action and Superhero movies tend to dominate the box-office, but do not get a lot of recognition from the Academy or the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; the exception being “Black Panther,” directed by Ryan Coogler.
Even if students had seen some of the nominated movies or songs, some do not watch unless an actor or singer they are interested in is present. “I literally only watched the Grammys for Kacey Musgraves,” said Bastia. Similarly, another student junior Andrew Guilmaim says the last time he watched an award show was years ago. “It was only to see Taylor Swift’s new music video.”
Although many students at URI tend to have an apathetic view towards award shows, some watch anyways if it corresponds to their major.
“I liked the Oscars,” said junior Veronica Wood. “I watched because I got to go to a viewing party in Providence since I am a film major. It was fun, but I didn’t watch any of the movies.”