The ratings for Hollywood award shows have been declining for years due to the American people being tired of getting preached at by people who have no idea what it’s like to be a regular American. The land of pedophilia and rape telling us what is morally acceptable as they tell us our country is evil has long outlived its welcome.
What’s more, the entire thing has become unbelievably political. Not just in terms of supporting leftist policies, but in terms of how you win. Winning requires pleasing the egos of those doling out the awards and striking the right ideological chord. Talent hardly plays a role anymore.
American Sniper actor Bradley Cooper is one of the people who has become disillusioned with the award shows. According to the Daily Wire, Cooper noted in an interview with Interview Magazine that “vanity and ego” rule the award shows, not art:
Cooper said that the award season itself is set up to foster the kind of mentality that elevates vanity and ego over creativity, adding that the sacrifice for creating art is not done in the service of getting an award.
“That awards season stuff is a real test. It’s set up to foster that mentality. It’s quite a thing to work through, and it’s completely devoid of artistic creation,” said Cooper. “It’s not why you sacrifice everything to create art, and yet you spend so much time being a part of it if you’re, in quotes, ‘lucky enough to be a part of it.’ It’s ultimately a great thing because it really does make you face ego, vanity, and insecurity. It’s very interesting and utterly meaningless.”
Cooper noted that he first realized this when he didn’t land an Oscar nomination for Best Director with “A Star Is Born” back in 2019. According to IndieWire this was a massive “shock” to many, but it taught Cooper that he shouldn’t base whether or not he did his job on being given an award by others:
“I’m never surprised about not getting anything,” Cooper said when asked about the snub. “But it’s funny you ask this, because I’ve thought about this. I was with my friend at a coffee shop in New York City, and I looked down at my phone, and Nicole [Caruso, Cooper’s publicist] had texted me congratulations on these other things but didn’t tell me the bad news. And I went, ‘Oh, wow.’ And the first thing I felt was embarrassment, actually. Think about it. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t do my part.”
“Even if I got the nomination, it should not give me any sense of whether I did my job or not,” Cooper continued. “That’s the trick, to make something that you believe in.”
The politics of winning an award and the politics espoused during award shows are linked. Certain movies will win awards over others for their message alone. Moonlight, for instance, was a movie that Hollywood and critics couldn’t stop gushing over it due to its black, gay protagonist and the issues he faced. It famously took the Academy Award for best film in 2017.
Armond White at National Review put the reasoning for the leftist Hollywood’s obsession for the film best:
Pity has made Moonlight the liberal cause for this movie season. Critics, festival programmers, and filmgoers who don’t usually bother with movies about blacks or gays have rallied in unanimous praise for this film that makes them feel not only sorry for blacks and gays but better about themselves. Their self-righteous “diversity” keeps to the surface of black and gay experience.
Those issuing awards and the leftist bubble in Hollywood make awards more about confirmation bias, political messaging, and most of all, making those in Hollywood feel as if they are doing good in this world by supporting and glorifying films that signal “modern” virtues.
Cooper’s disillusionment is a good thing, and it should be one that is shared with the rest of his fellow Hollywood denizens. At the end of the day, it’s about the art, not the politics.
