It's Finally Over: A Post Oscar Reaction

By Sean Knight

The King's Speech Winners: Colin Firth, Tom Hooper

We can all breathe a sigh of relief.  It's finally fucking over.  No more campaigning, no more speeches, no more debates, no more hypothesis, and no more being stuck perpetually in the 2010 Awards Season.  The Academy had their say last night and, as predicted, it went to The King's Speech.  We all knew this was going to happen, but when the Academy started spreading the wealth last night I really thought that The Social Network had a shot, but it was not to be.  My opinion is known on this matter.  I can't change history and now The King's Speech will forever be known as the Best Picture Oscar Winner of 2010.  And that distinction is important because though it is the Oscar winner it is not my best picture.  It may not be your best picture.  It may be.  Greatness is in the eye of the beholder.  People tell me I'm a snob and I take this stuff way too seriously.  I admit I take the Oscars more seriously than any person I know.  They mean a lot to me and they always have.  The Oscars are important.  They are the shining light in a dark and continuously depressing world of filmmaking.  The Oscars celebrate the achievements of the industry and the possibilities of film can be.  The Academy nominated quite a few daring pieces of filmmaking this year.  They ultimately chose a safe familiar picture to them.  That's okay.  The Academy is never going to be what we want them to be.  In the end it's all bullshit anyway.  Awards have no worth except what we place upon them.  But I'm sure it's damn nice to get one.  Steven Spielberg put it best last night when he began naming classic films that have both won and lost the Oscar for Best Picture.  In the end he concluded "either way you are in very good company".  Some think this was a tacky and snide remark against The King's Speech.  I don't think so at all.  He was simply pointing out that in the end we all have a horse in this race and many of them go on to become classics of their genre.  Winning or losing doesn't necessarily matter.  It's all about getting there.  It was also a comment on the Awards Season as whole and how ridiculous it has become with each passing year.  He's probably right.  But I eat this shit up. I live and breathe Oscar season and for me it starts all over again today.  I begin looking ahead at the films that I am anticipating this year and begin predicting which ones may ultimately make a trip to the Oscar podium.  The movies are arguably our most majestic art form.  Cinema has the power to change lives.  It is an emotional and visceral visual experience like none other in life.  I may be a stage actor, but my passion has always been film and will always continue to be.  I may not be an active participant anymore, but I can still cheer the advancement of the medium on from the sidelines.  I could go on in this post and talk about how much I hated the telecast, what winners I thought were bullshit, what I loved etc.  But this awards season has been exhausting and ultimately what's the point?  It's over.  It's time to look ahead to the gifts that the movies will bring us this year.  Because in the end that's what its all about - The movies themselves and our love for them.  No awards voting body can ever change that.