This post is so unnecessary because it is an obvious lost cause. It really shouldn’t even be enough to get a rise, but in me, it just…does.
You know, once upon a time the MTV Movie Awards (which are voted on publicly) actually seemed to reflect an edge in America’s youth. Think about it. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” won the MTV award for Best Picture. “Menace II Society” won the MTV award for Best Picture. “Pulp Fiction,” “Seven,” “Scream,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “The Matrix,” “Napoleon Dynamite,” etc. Room was even made here and there for prestige pics that tapped a pop culture vein. “A Few Good Men,” for instance, or “Titanic,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Gladiator,” one of only two times the award matched the Academy’s choice.
And in the last five years? Scary. “Wedding Crashers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Transformers” and far and away the two worst films to win a popcorn statue: “Twilight” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” (Why, Bill, why?) What the hell happened to the MTV audience? What happened to the kids’ edge? Who are these people?
Truly, the first 14 winners could legitimately be argued as quality films on this or that level. But the most recent quintet, all garbage reflective of the worst Hollywood has to offer, the kind of thing kids used to rebel against.
When did MTV stop featuring music videos and begin scheduling the most awful TV programming available? I’d be interested to know and compare that to this considerable shift in what the MTV audience defines as “quality.” Seriously, you get back what you put out there. And what used to be an edgy alternative, a sometimes notable reflection of the tastes of the youth, is now clearly the complete and total opposite. Likely with more ratings (bing!).
I don’t know, I’m totally thinking out loud here. And again, it’s a pointless discussion. It’s all about advertising and what’s hot, so no surprise the nominees are always decided by producers and executives at MTV (a masterstroke of viewership manipulation). But it’s a bummer. A dark, depressing bummer.
I stopped and deleted my recording of the ceremony after Kristen Stewart predictably walked away with the lead actress trophy, the first award of the night. Because why bother?