The Academy Awards and The Lowest Common Denominator

From the opening, you should have seen it coming.

“Over a billion people will be watching this event worldwide.”  Seth McFarlane delivers this line while licking his chops.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I’m not sure why he believed a billion would be watching.  Here’s the last ten years’ ratings, according to Wikipedia:

But I will be watching for the ratings when they’re available.  But clearly, this was the gig of a lifetime for McFarlane.  The shameless whore even trotted out his CGI Ted with poor Mark Wahlberg, who looked stricken.

And today, we are discussing whether or not he crossed the line, the incessant misogyny, racism, homophobia — you name it, he said it, went over the line, got the reaction.

 As I said, tonight’s ceremony is being watched by a billion people worldwide. Which is why Jodie Foster will be up here in a bit to ask for her privacy. — Seth McFarlane

I personally do not believe Seth to be a misogynist.  I believe Seth to be a quasi-shrewd businessman who has learned the skill of appealing to the lowest common denominator on the Fox Network — and wants a broader audiences for his own projects.  He doesn’t mind scandalizing us all.  He was an equal opportunity offender, after all.  No single demographic was safe or excluded as a target.  Maybe he wasn’t even trying to scandalize so much as tell his same, tired little jokes.  But hey, they must be working for him somewhere …

It’s the money, honey.  I assume The Oscars was hoping for huge ratings and increased advertising revenues.  Seth’s exposure goes up, too.

The one thing that has been lost in all of this is that films are an art form, and while the Academy has made its penchant for epic known, the awards are less about art, and definitely not about honoring the people who worked so hard for this reward, nor allowing them the time to enjoy their award in those moments it is handed to them, nor thanking the people they feel helped them get to that achievement.

(Cue theme from Jaws here.)

It’s about appealing to the lowest common denominator, the easy joke, getting the reaction, and hoping for ratings.

Am I offended by the tasteless jokes, the rampant sexism?  Not especially, though I likely should be.  I am used to adolescent humor and it pretty much rolls down my back, with one or two exceptions.

But call me an old-fashioned idealist —  what offends me is that this award has very clearly defined its direction in choosing Seth McFarlane:  that it no longer even pretends to have any interest in respecting  the hard work, the craft, the artists themselves, or the art.