I Hate Oscar Buzz

Sometimes I just want to give the Academy the finger, or maybe a swift kick in the butt. I know I may be alone in this, I know there are tons of people out there who revel in Oscar talk, even if 5 months in advance (thanks, USA Today article: "Never Too Early For Talk of Oscars"). I'm not one of these people.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Academy Awards. I love watching them, voting on the winners, and all that jazz. I just don't get "Oscar Buzz." What does it mean? Critics start "buzzing" around to each other that a certain performance or film deserves a nomination, if not a win. It's like beez buzzing about which flowers are sweetest. Problem is, not all the flowers are out yet, and this bee want to try them out for herself.

It seems to me the whole system is flawed. Critics see movies before regular audiences at private screenings, debuts, and film festivals. They decide what's noteworthy and tell the rest of us, sometimes even before all the films are out. How do they know there's not going to be 5 much better performances later on in the year to dethrown their current "Oscar-worthy" performance? The buzzing escalates until we don't know if we're agreeing/disagreeing based on the little whispers in our ears.

Some make a stand against being influenced. I am one of those. I don't want any insight, I don't want to be influenced in any way. I'm one of those that will potentially get violent on the occasion of a spoiler. I'm one of those that can't stand how previews to movies get more and more revealing the longer the movie is out. I'm one of those that doesn't care what the critics think; I want to form my own opinion. I want to enjoy a movie for entertainment's sake. I don't want some critic telling me a performance is Oscar-worthy, and therefore, influencing my reaction to that performance, without me even realizing it.

I choose to just say no to "Oscar Buzz."

Jesse