Award season: The Battle of Talent vs Popularity
By Karola Vargas
27 January 2025
Every year, the season of awards is an opportunity to celebrate the best of cinema, TV and theater. Often, it is also a reminder that visibility doesn’t always go hand in hand with artistic quality. This year’s award season brings us films like Emilia Peréz, which, despite an ambitious marketing campaign, has left much to be desired while projects like Wicked seem to have been unfairly ignored. Let’s start with Emilia Perez. It was promoted as a bold experiment, a mix of genres that promised to break molds: the result? A messy film, loaded with narrative decisions that led nowhere. Instead of innovating, it feels like the director was more interested in impressing than telling a solid story. How did it end up in this year‘s nominations? Maybe it’s a reminder that politics and big names still carry weight even if the product itself doesn’t deliver. On the other hand, Wicked, based on the iconic musical. not only captured the essence of the original story but elevated it with dazzling performances and impeccable direction. It’s an adaptation that respects while introducing the material to new audiences. Nonetheless, it’s absent in several important categories, making one wonder: are we awarding what really matters, or just what’s trendy? This isn’t just personal. There’s a real problem with mediocre films being showered with awards while works that actually contribute something to the cultural landscape are ignored. Award season should be a time to recognize the best that art has to offer not a popularity contest. In this sense, I think it’s worth questioning how much advertising campaigns and connections within the industry influencer results because as long as we continue to award mediocre projects over two gems the relevance of these events will continue to be questioned. Is this about art or politics? This season will tell but one thing is certain fans haven’t forgotten who deserves to shine.
