Ben Affleck - Awards Snubs and Surprises are Great! What Good Does Winning A Golden Globe or Oscar Deliver?

Awards Snubs and Surprises are Great! What Good Does Winning A Golden Globe or Oscar Deliver?

When neither Ben Affleck nor Kathryn Bigelow had been nominated for the Oscar for Directing there was absolute uproar. While they are both wonderful film makers, what good would it do if they won all the awards for all the films they make? At this juncture, one must ask, what are movie awards even for and what do they want from a film? If it were judged merely fiscally, Taken 2 would be doing quite well, and that would truly be a travesty. No, awards are to reward those who are doing something that is beyond what was expected of them, and something that adds to their craft. Sometimes awards don't meet expectation, and while there are plenty of sore losers there are many more worthy winners. But what good do movie awards actually do? And who for?

At the risk of being completely obvious- it does a lot of good for the film makers. Aside from that heart swelling feeling of pride, as Reuters reports, winning a Golden Globe can sky rocket a movie's money making potential. "[F]ilms nominated for Golden Globes tend to do far better at the box office than the average film" they say. "A Golden Globe win is worth $14.2 million" while an Oscar win is lagging far behind, a win for which gains the production an average of $3m. For both these major awards, a winning movie is winning literally millions of dollars. 

Plus, of course, everyone involved in a winning movie has an instant boost in their career. For the small timers who do well out of nowhere, the sky suddenly becomes the limit. 2008's Slumdog Millionaire was made by Film4, which historically makes small budget, independent films, but it won 8 Oscars. It was Dev Patel's first major film role and his big break which has since thrust him into other large budget productions alongside some major stars, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel alongside British greats Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith. Likewise, Kathryn Bigelow had already made eight movies, but none of them had received any major critical response or awards. With Hurt Locker's enormous winning streak, her career now knows no bounds and her newest film Zero Dark Thirty, it seems, is about to receive the same glorifying treatment.

Finally, audiences win out. Movies such as Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty and Argo, all of which are tipped for some more major wins at The Oscars- all having done well at the Globes, are about content which may not seem to many members of the viewing public as anything of interest. However, with the exposure given by winning an award, everyone is party to the world's best films. And that's a win all round.