COLUMN: Rename the VMAs
It is probably time for MTV to change the name of their Video Music Awards.
At this point, those who tune in to something like the annual VMA broadcast know what they are going to get. Spectacle. Camera-hogging. Bieber.
You get a celebration of popular musicians. But, do you really get a celebration of their videos? If this is about the videos, why aren’t the awards given to the directors?
Why aren’t there awards for editing, cinematography or choreography?
Why is Britney Spears given a lifetime achievement award instead of David Fincher or Spike Jonze, who got their starts directing some of the most affecting videos of the last 30 years?
MTV wants to showcase its stars, I understand that. But rewarding them for the work of others as though it was their own is a completely hollow gesture, and undermines the thrill of an award show (except in the case of Best New Artist winner Tyler, The Creator, who directed his own video under a pseudonym).
I’m not asking for integrity from MTV. Everybody who tuned in to the VMAs Sunday, myself included, knew what they were going to get. The award show is a celebration of the corner of popular culture manufactured for the channel’s target audience. And that’s fine. It pulls great ratings for them.
BET does it. They give awards to the people that represent what BET is all about. They call it the BET Awards, because that is what it is. That is what the VMAs do. They give awards to the people that represent MTV’s whole creative direction, if you can use the word “creativity” to describe anything MTV does.
Call it the MTV Awards.
The Fans’ Choice.
The MTV Major Marketing Opportunity Oh God Will You Just Buy Some Taco Bell Already.
This may sound like nitpicking, especially regarding a network that thought allowing Chris Brown to work punches into his dance routine was a good idea.
But if the first thing we do is demand one tiny bit of honesty from MTV, before you know it they may relegate Snooki back to her underground cave and actually start playing the videos they purport to be rewarding.
