The Devil’s Advocate: Oscars, Horror, and Why I Disagree With Most of You
by Marc Patterson
I wasn’t going to say anything, and perhaps I still shouldn’t, but I just LOVE playing the devil’s advocate. Sunday morning I announced that I would NOT be watching the Oscars. For me the Oscars represent a certain level of Hollywood snobbery that I have generally come to detest. I make sure to hear about the good films throughout the year and watch the ones that appeal to me, and ignore the ones that don’t. However, throughout the day I slowly gave in to the peer pressure of my internet cinema geeks. (Special thanks goes out to Cinematical who managed to make the Oscars fun even!). By 7:30 I had a cold Guinness in hand and was fully engaged in the red carpet brouhaha.
I laughed as Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin parodied Paranormal Activity and then came the big announcement. The Oscars were going to pay tribute to horror. Whoa. I think I actually said aloud something to effect of: “Holy shit! The Academy detests horror. What the hell?” I was most definitely interested.
By now everyone knows how that so called “tribute” panned out. Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart hit the stage and the whole of the horrorsphere started rolling their eyes. Even my wife, who generally doesn’t care for horror, exclaimed that “Twilight isn’t horror! What are they doing out there?” Then they opened their mouth. Geeks flamed up once again over their ill researched comment that The Exorcist was the last film to gain the attention of the Academy. C’mon, we all know Silence of the Lambs filled that spot in 1991! But ultimately the big thing that stuck with me was the truth that we already knew: Despite the genre being the largest stream of revenue for studios, horror just doesn’t get the attention of the Academy.
What followed was an ill-edited montage of horror and non-horror films that once again had horror fans shaking their heads in disgust and dismay. But you know what? I couldn’t hear your complaints. My Twitter was turned off, and the cell phone was tucked nicely into bed. My genuine reaction went something along the lines of “Well… that sucked, but you know what? At least they gave us some credit after all these years.” Ultimately I felt the whole thing was a nice gesture. In my mind it was a bit like when you were a teenager and first got turned onto punk rock or hip hop or whatever, and your parents who just couldn’t understand or relate gave it their best go and went out and got you that Green Day or Eminem CD. You looked at it, and being the spoiled little brat you were grunted and turned your nose up at it.
So I have to ask, where’s the respect folks? Sure they failed. But you know what? Reaching across the aisle and dipping their toes into genre terrain is pretty foreign for them. And maybe instead of being a bunch of curmudgeons more people should have nicely done the polite thing and just said “Thanks”. Whatever happened to common courtesy and a more gentlemanly approach? It’s not like our films are generally Oscar material. The big blockbuster horror flicks are at best shallow, vapid films. Having the Academy give an award for something like Final Destination would be like handing a pulitzer prize over to the writers of Batman. Rue Morgue dubbed Trick R’ Treat the best film of 2009. Yeah… that one ought to clean house! C’mon. Let’s be honest… what do we really expect? Yes, a lot of actors got their start in horror, but you know what? Before I became a seasoned marketing professional I spent time hustling on sales floors. Horror, for the most part, is the minor leagues, and there’s nothing wrong with that and there’s nothing to be ashamed of for it. I for one am glad to call it home.
I’m sure at this point you’re all amping up your darts to shoot right back at me for being some sort of off based douchebag, but take this last thought to the bank… I love the genre as much as any of you, but I know my place and with the exception of that rare flick that comes out every few years I don’t feel the Oscars are that place. I don’t want my parents moshing out to punk rock any more than I want the suits of Hollywood playing in my horror sandbox. I’m happy and content to hang with my friends and rock out without that attention or validation. So when the big players make that attempt to relate and do something nice, I’ll just say thanks kindly and move on my way back from whence I came.
