The more major awards shows honor liberal politics over quality content, the more people will tune out – both from the shows themselves and Hollywood material in general.
The four major Emmy Awards given to the HBO film “Game Change” last night represents the latest example of the industry’s politics trumping common sense.
“Game Change” is a mediocre movie at best, even if you believe every negative story ever written about Sarah Palin. The film’s cartoonish take on the 2008 election might have been a hoot had it actually been a comedy. Instead, it’s a factually dishonest movie with broad performances that hardly stacks up against even second-tier HBO programming.
To honor it with Emmys for excellence in directing, screenwriting and acting, as well as giving it the year’s best telefilm award, is to applaud its political posture over anything seen on the small screen.
End of story.
It’s hardly the first time a major award went to a film for reasons disconnected from content.
Al Gore’s 2006 global warming scare piece “An Inconvenient Truth” featured a charisma-free politician delivering a Power Point presentation on the global warming threat. The latter interviewed a morally compromised priest who described how he mentally compartmentalized his actions along with some of his emotionally scarred victims.
Guess which film walked away with that year’s Best Documentary Oscar?
It can be grand fun to watch awards shows. Who doesn’t thrill to the sight of hard-working actors who battled tremendous odds not only to survive in a ruthless business but showcase their very best work to the nation?
That joy diminishes when we know the fix is in, that politics matters more than performance.
Follow Christian Toto on Twitter @TotoMovies
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