Academy and MTV movie awards comparison

Academy Awards & MTV Movie Awards

Comparative Analysis of the Academy Awards and MTV Movie Awards

Among the award-giving organizations extant in American culture at present, it is interesting to note the specific points by which these award-giving organizations differ or become similar. Two of the most popular award-giving bodies are those given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and MTV Networks, the Academy Awards and MTV Movie Awards, respectively.

These award-giving programs have their own niche and place at the spectrum of American entertainment. The Academy Awards' image differs radically from the MTV Movie Awards, though both programs enjoy popularity and renown not only in the entertainment business, but more specifically because of their influence in American culture. The Academy Awards' (referred to from now on as the Oscars) and MTV-MA's (MTV Movie Awards) importance is based, then, on their relevance to the entertainment business and the general public (as the audience and patrons of the entertainment business).

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Oscars and MTV-MA as award-giving bodies. The analysis discussed posits that both award-giving bodies have similarities and differences that arise from the culture, audience, economics (i.e., commercial value), and even socio-political relevance of the movies and processes that each award-giving body undergoes. In general, however, the analysis attributes specific segments of American culture as the primary driver that distinguishes the Oscars from the MTV-MA.

The first distinction between the Oscars and MTV-MA is the manner of generating the nominations and winners for categories extant in each award-giving body. Both bodies generate winners through voting; the difference, however, lies in the profile of the voters themselves. For the Oscars, members of the Academy, motion picture professionals themselves, become the juror and voters for the nominees and winners. Moreover, the voting process itself is a rigorous one. As stated in the official web site of the Academy, voting is done through a secret ballot, and audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Results of the voting process are not revealed until the Oscars night itself.

Compared against the Oscars, the MTV-MA has a lesser stringent process in generating the winners for the awards night. Unlike the Oscars, voting is made known to the public, and the results themselves are largely influenced by the audience/MTV fans. In fact, voting for MTV-MA is termed as "polling," giving the idea that the award-giving body gives premium to the role that the public plays in influencing the voting results and determining the MTV-MA winners. Voting is done through popular media, either through online registration and voting (i.e., voting through the Internet or SMS).

Another difference, and perhaps the most manifest difference, between the Oscars and MTV-MA is the kind of audience and atmosphere that the award-giving bodies cultivate. MTV-MA winners are decided upon mainly through a movie or a personality's popularity, which demonstrates that the kind of audience cultivated by the award-giving body is that of pop (popular culture). It has more variety and has a greater degree of flexibility in coming up with categories and awards to be given. In fact, MTV-MA is well-known not because of its choices of winners, but because of the program itself -- specifically on the degree of entertainment the MTV-MA was able to give its audience (Van Gelder, 2006). MTV-MA's leverage then, is based on its ability to entertain people -- not so much about its choice of winners, but on the performances and level of sensationalism of the performances given during the awards night.

Thus, in direct contrast to the MTV-MA culture, the Oscars give an air of prestige and exclusivity. From the invitations to the choice of winners, the Oscars maintains the image of choosing its winners carefully through a rigorous voting process, creating the prestige of being a credible and professional award-giving body. In fact, actors and actresses themselves respect this air of prestige and exclusivity, that an actor/actress considers himself/herself a seasoned and skilled artist just by being nominated -- more so if chosen as winner -- by the Oscars (Elliott, 2006).

The third difference that makes the Oscars different from the MTV-MA is that the former delves more into more socially-relevant films, thereby giving the choice of Academy winners a "political angle" -- that is, the degree in which the jurors/voters considered the film socially-relevant and significant to the entertainment business and American society (BBC News, 2006). The political nature of the Oscars is contrasted by the MTV-MA's strictly for-fun-only attitude towards the choice of winners. In an interview with actress Julia Stiles, she commented on the 'lack of politics' in MTV-MA, which she considered award-giving bodies are inclined to commit especially if an award-giving body, like the Oscars, maintains a specific kind of image to preserve its air of prestige and exclusivity (MTV-MA Stiles interview, 2001).

Though there are numerous differences between the Oscars and the MTV-MA, both award-giving bodies share similarities in terms of their economic motivations. That is, both bodies aspire for popularity for greater patronization of the audience, thus increasing the "marketability" of the award-giving body. It becomes inevitable that a popular and well-supported award-giving body will have the better business deals with sponsors and advertisers who seek the endorsement of actors and actresses, thereby enticing the public-audience to support their (sponsors' and advertisers') products and services as well.