Close the curtains on these elitist, unjust award shows!

By Bojana Cvijic Contributing Writer Graphics by

Award shows have always been a major event for me.

I can remember wrapping long blankets around my body and using a shampoo bottle as a stand-in for an Oscar statue, hoping one day I’d be on that stage industries, the grandeur illusions of award shows have completely worn off. Award shows suck, and yet here I am still continuing to tune in every time.

There’s a new term in the zeitgeist of buzzwords on the internet, and it’s called “hate watch.” It’s something you can’t stand to watch, but find yourself tuning in anyhow and talking about it even though you can’t stand it.

I personally find award show season to be my hate watch season. I know I’m going to be disappointed one way or another, but I still find myself live tweeting every award show even if I have better things to do. is ruined by the academy almost every year. with the diversity issue which continues to run rampant in the Oscars.

Award shows, specifically the “big four” which includes the Academy Awards for film, the Emmys for TV, the Tonys for theater production and the Grammys for musical achievements have all disappointed me greatly in my lifetime.

Starting with the biggest one in my life, the Oscars.

I’ve always been a movie fan, everything about the process of creating a film has had a huge impact on my life and seeing the excellent work artists produce is one of the great joys of my life.

While things have progressed since the Hashtag #OscarsSoWhite began in 2016, the year where all 20 Oscar acting nominations were white. There is still a long way to go before any barriers are broken with the ceremony.

Michelle Yeoh, best known for her performances in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Tomorrow

Never Dies became the first Asian woman and second woman of color, after Halle Berry’s win in 2002, to win best actress at the Oscars.

Halle Berry, after 21 years, continues to be to have won the award.

The Best Director award has only had three women win in the category, all of whom were white.

It seems to me that no matter how much the public creates backlash and voices their collective concern for the Academy Awards to break barriers, it doesn’t seem to happen. One step forward, 10 steps back.

I don’t see being the “first” as something to be happy for, while it is an achievement, it’s a bittersweet one. How has it taken this long for another woman of color to win best actress? How has another Black woman not won the award again since Berry?

The diversity issue also

Emmys and Grammys, with the latter continuing to award white mediocrity success, while leaving Black excellence in the background.

Beyoncé at the Grammys this year became the most-nominated female artist in the award show’s history, with a record breaking 28 wins, but when you see what those wins are, you’ll realize there’s more to these nominations.

Despite her being the most awarded artist in the history of the show, she has yet to take home album or record of the year, winning song of the year only once in 2010 for Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).

It’s an interesting fact to think about when you realize that the last Black woman to win album of the year was Lauryn Hill in 1999 for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Popular artist Lizzo won record of the year on Feb. 5 for About Damn Time, becoming the first Black woman to win in this category since Whitney Houston in 1994.

Beyoncé on the other hand, had to watch Harry Styles take the album of the year award home for Harry’s House, an album that I’m sure many Target employees would be glad to see burn.

Apart from the diversity problem in all of these award shows, including the Tonys and Emmys, another problem these award ceremonies face is the fact that to win the award, you have to campaign for it.

Oscar campaigns are where studios and producers start elaborate processes to sweeten up academy voters to vote for their respective films that have been nominated for an Oscar.

The academy is an incredibly secretive and large body of voters who are all part of the film industry, and choose what is considered to be the best of the best of the year.

However, what is actually the best of the best if you’re using money and incentives to make sure your movie wins?

In 2015, smaller movie studios shelled out around

$3 million to incentivize voters towards their movies, according to a Jan. 20, 2016 Variety magazine article.

Major studio figures were expected to spend $10 million, according to Variety.