Oscar only loves West Coast nominees

In less than 20 days, millions of people from around the world
will be eagerly watching as Hollywood hosts its biggest party of
the year, the Academy Awards.

And why should I be watching when the Oscars were created to be
the film industry’s most self-indulging event, an award
created to be given to themselves for simply doing what
they’re already paid millions to do?

For those who don’t know, the Academy Awards started in
1929 as a small event open to the public. There were no bleachers
set up for the arrivals or even radio stations to broadcast the
first event. Winners were announced months in advance, and there
was no frenzied atmosphere of who was going to win or what an
actress was going to wear.

It started when a small group of filmmakers decided that they
needed to create an award to honor themselves and draw more
attention to their industry. Believe it or not, there were only
five voting members in the Academy at that time, and
coincidentally, most of those five received the majority of the
first seven awards.

That time-honored tradition of self-congratulation continues
today. Martin Scorsese, nominated for “Gangs of New
York” this year, and Spike Lee, for example, are both
excellent directors who have had a lifetime of amazing films, but
both are New York-centric filmmakers as well. Neither has ever
taken home an Oscar ““ and quite likely never will. The
history of the awards have shown that the giant L.A. clique likes
to keep Oscar to themselves rather than share him with East Coast
outsiders.

Granted, Scorsese had the misfortune of making films in years
when great actor-directors made theirs. In 1981 Scorsese lost the
award to the great director Robert Redford. In 1991 he again lost
the award to the great director Kevin Costner.

But there’s hope this year because Scorsese is not
competing with actor-directors, such as Denzel Washington, Nicholas
Cage or George Clooney. He got lucky, and it didn’t hurt that
Miramax head Harvey Weinstein, a West Coast mogul who defeated
Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” with the
best picture win for “Shakespeare in Love,” is using
his publicity muscle on Scorsese’s behalf.

So when the red carpet gets rolled out three Sundays from now,
root for your favorites, but put your money on the Westsider. And
never, ever, take seriously an award centered around the golden
statuette of a librarian’s uncle.

Yu will be hosting his own awards show the same night. Winners
will receive a copper statuette of his Uncle Dennis.

E-mail him at [email protected] for details.