Golden Globes

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQKiDXWUfk]

Via: Cartoon Brew

…And I didn’t even know until this morning when I opened the web browser. I suppose it speaks to how little I really care about awards season in general, which almost always snubs my favourite films of the year. However, last night at the Golden Globes, it was Justin Bieber who announced the award for Best Animated Feature (won by the the bookies favourite of course), with a girl whom I can only suppose was chosen because the two of them would look cute together or some nonsense like that.

I could rant on about how Bieber isn’t even worthy of announcing an award, heck, he’s somehow worthy of an auto-biography despite not even being halfway through his teenage years! But rather the focus of my attention is why in the wide, wide world of sports did the ceremony’s producers feel they needed to use someone under the age of 20 to announce the best animated feature award?

From what I understand, the Golden Globes are handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and while it carries a fair amount of gravitas (often being cited as a predictor for the Oscars), it is a somewhat less formal affair. At least the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tries to make the Oscars appear to be the pinnacle of a tasteful awards ceremony, in spite of the best efforts of the writers.

Having a kid (and according to my Dad, you’re not really an adult until you can grow a moustache) present the animated award says more to the public at large about animation than anything else the industry can seem to do to prove otherwise. This is despite the inclusion of The Illusionist, which sits firmly outside the mainstream Hollywood offerings.

It’s somewhat disheartening, I mean, it’s Justin Bieber, the kid who got famous from YouTube and whose record company is undoubtedly ripping him off as we speak, and why the Golden Globes?! The Nickelodeon Kid Choice Awards seem more appropriate, and even then they haul out a few big-time celebrities to present an award and get slimed.

If anything, the decision to use him smacks of laziness on the part of the producers, who obviously were looking for a kid-friendly host for a supposedly kid-friendly category. It once again brings to the fore the argument that animation is a genre rather than an artform and castigates animators and fans alike for even liking an animated film.

Thankfully though, animated films tend to speak in cash rather than gold, so while the artform may be continuing to struggle for recognition from adults, it can confidently say that on average, the films are far more profitable.