The business of selling the Oscar's ceremony

The Academy Awards were initiated as advertising -- movie attendance dropped off significantly in late winter and an awards ceremony would create "news" that advertised movies -- exactly what Daniel Boorstin termed a "pseudo event."  People might skip reading the movie advertisements but they couldn't miss reading the headlines.

In 1952, the Awards ceremony was out of money and was about to be cancelled.  At the last minute, RCA put up $100,000 to broadcast the event on their TV network, "NBC."

The stars thought this was a bit of bad taste -- TV was where the bad movies went "to die," according to Bob Hope.  It would be like a ceremony in a graveyard.  But movie buffs supported the idea because they didn't have to wait until the next morning's paper to find out how won.  They were there!

The movie stars soon realized how much bigger the "audience" was going to be, too, and as a result the  "drama" surrounding who won got a bit more dramatic, the wardrobes got a bit more outlandish, and, surprise, the acceptance speeches got longer.

And by 1960, the movie stars who got access to the stage were well aware that they were getting a rare opportunity:  a national (soon, international) audience to whom they could speak without being required to follow any script but the one they wrote for themselves.

Since then, the acceptance speeches have been a bit of a "pulpit" event with political causes chief among the  speech topics chosen by winners.

But the Oscar's are still really just advertising and getting people to watch by advertising the advertising is very much part of the pre-Oscar tradition.  Here is what passes for "news" during Oscar week:

L.A. Weekly has learned that [Chris] Rock has earmarked a segment of his standup to joke about George W. Bush.

Someone in Hollywood is going to make a political joke involving a U.S. President?  Yes -- the Award's ceremony is going to "blow up the status quo:"

at the Academy Awards this Sunday, you can count on the guy who may well be the funniest comedian working right now to break out of the mold of mediocrity that usually defines the broadcast’s opening monologue and blow up the status quo.

And it will be on TV.  That status quo changed in 1952, and the political commentary status quo blew up right after that.  The news appears to be that the Award's ceremony will be the same as it has been for the past half-century:  advertising cast as news.