Decimated by hearth season, it appears unimaginable that the Los Angeles space may even start to consider awards season.
As the fires which have killed no less than 25 folks and destroyed hundreds of properties and companies proceed to burn, the thought of glitzy purple carpets, baggage stuffed with devices and arguments over who Should they gained greatest movie, they’ve the sensation of belonging to a different time, to a different world.
The coronary heart of the leisure business is devastated, actually and emotionally, and the true extent of the harm will not be recognized for months. So it is no shock that some have referred to as for the cancellation of the upcoming Grammys and Oscars.
Is it actually time to ponder celebrities flaunting borrowed diamonds and high fashion, giving rousing speeches whereas clutching coveted statues?
YES. Yes.
In current days, many companies and organizations, together with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, have postponed nomination bulletins and delayed or canceled different January occasions. The Recording Academy, nevertheless, introduced that the Grammys shall be held, as scheduled, on the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 2 — with, as they wrote in a letter to members, “a renewed sense of function: to boost extra funds to assist wildfire aid efforts and honor the braveness and dedication of first responders who danger their lives to guard ours.”
And regardless of a current inaccurate report within the British press, the Oscars will observe go well with.
“After consulting with ABC, our board of administrators and different key stakeholders in Los Angeles and the movie communities, we’ve made the rigorously thought-about resolution to proceed with the 97th Academy Awards ceremony as scheduled for March 2,” the Academy CEO Bill Kramer. an announcement to the Times.
“This yr’s ceremony will embody particular moments in recognition of those that fought so bravely towards the fires. We consider we should transfer ahead to assist our movie group and use our world platform to carry consideration to those essential moments in our historical past.”
The Academy, he stated, will proceed to watch the scenario intently.
“The spirit of Los Angeles and our movie group has at all times been considered one of resilience, and the Oscars signify not solely a celebration of cinema, however the power and unity of the business within the face of adversity.”
For some, the flexibility of those awards to assist elevate funds for the numerous in want is the perfect argument for making them occur. But, as Kramer factors out, there are different compelling causes too.
Whether you want them or not, the Oscars and Grammys stay essential rituals, dependable moments round which Los Angeles, the nation, and certainly the world, recurrently collect. Celebrate or mock, it does not matter. They are a everlasting a part of our cultural dialog and our calendar yr, and as we’ve found throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of such rituals solely provides to the sense of helplessness and demoralization that accompanies any disaster.
It’s laborious to think about asking those that have misplaced their properties to don a tuxedo or don sparkly clothes, however by no means earlier than will a sea of well-known faces be seen as such an act of defiance.
Despite declining rankings, the Oscars are essentially the most watched awards present on the planet; his trophy stays the definitive icon of success. Although postponed and rescheduled a number of instances in its 94-year historical past, the Oscars have by no means been cancelled. Not throughout the battle or the epidemic, not after the assassination or the September 11 assaults. To accomplish that now would ship a message diametrically against the historic resilience of each town and the business it represents.
We should at all times have fun the work that unites us and defines us, makes us snigger, cry, assume and aspire. Especially within the midst of tragedy.
And this work should proceed regardless of the destruction and ache. The fires are simply the most recent blow to many already struggling to seek out work, pay lease and feed their kids. For almost 5 years the leisure business has been battered, first by the pandemic, then by writers’ and actors’ strikes and the restrictions that adopted.
The economics of every awards season, even when toned down or modified to replicate nationwide trauma or native devastation, are essential to hundreds of individuals. To these concerned within the nominated works, the studios that produce them and the exhibits themselves – it takes about 1,000 folks to placed on the Oscars, not counting presenters and friends – in fact. But additionally for lodge staff, florists, eating places, development staff, taxi drivers, stylists, seamstresses, rental firms, cleaners: the variety of folks wanted to assemble, supervise and dismantle these huge occasions is incalculable.
Including all of the press concerned. The essential hearth protection you learn within the Times and different retailers is paid for, partially, by awards season publicity.
It could seem merciless and unimaginable to count on Los Angeles to bounce again and begin throwing nationally televised events in a matter of weeks. But I do know this metropolis. In the greater than 30 years I’ve lived right here, I’ve seen it endure fires, floods, plagues, civil unrest and a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that leveled properties and snapped highways in half.
Like the metal jacaranda that it’s, Los Angeles won’t ever quit. He will cry for what’s misplaced. And then she’ll dry her eyes, fish out some cheerful rags, placed on a little bit make-up and take a breath of contemporary air. He will stand, again straight within the rubble, greeting friends and handing out champagne into damaged teacups with a smile so dazzling that nobody will even discover something is fallacious.
So use the Oscars and Grammys broadcasts to boost cash and consciousness. Suggest that these firms that make a behavior of providing unique devices to A-listers make a donation to fireplace aid as a substitute. Recognize and honor all that the business, frontline staff, and metropolis have endured with a extra sober, although not too sober, ceremony, as a result of God is aware of we may use fun. Just do not speak about how they need to be canceled altogether. This would solely make the scenario worse.
The present is right here, similar to it at all times has been. And now greater than ever the present should go on.
