The 2020 Golden Raspberry Awards 1137

The 40th Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, was meant to take place on March 14 in Los Angeles. The nominations in 11 categories were announced in February and some films had several nominations, such as “Cats” that was nominated in nine different categories and “Rambo: Last Blood” in eight, but the ceremony was unfortunately cancelled/postponed at the last minute by the Mayor of Los Angeles due to the spread of corona virus. Razzies is a satirical award ceremony to honour the worst achievement of the film industry during the past year. The first ceremony was held in March 1981 to prize the worst films of the 1980 film season. It was held in the living room of John J.B. Wilson, an American publicist, with about three dozen of his friends, after the Oscar Awards, but the event has grown a lot since then. The term ”raspberry” comes from “raspberry tart” – rhyming slang for fart. Members of the organization are filmmakers and film enthusiasts from different parts of the world and voting members come from all American states and every continent except Antarctica. They all vote online and select five top candidates in eleven categories. Many people have got a Razzie for being the worst at the same time they have been nominated for being the best for another award and three people won the Razzies and Oscars during the same weekend but for different films. “Wall Street” is the only film to win both an Oscar and a Razzie and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by the Aerosmith, the original soundtrack to “Armageddon” from 1988, was nominated for an Oscar for the best original song and a Raspberry for the worst. “The Bodyguard” from 1992 got seven Razzie nominations, but was a huge box office success and also got two Oscar nominations for the best original song. Many songs have received nominations for both a Grammy and Razzie, such as U2’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” and “The End Is the Beginning Is the End” by the Smashing Pumpkins. A new category from 2019 is the “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property” and the films nominated for it are: “Dragged Across Concrete”, “The Haunting of Sharon Tate”, “Hellboy” (2019), “Joker” and “Rambo: Last Blood”. The awards have been criticized for many reasons, such as that anyone can become a member of the Golden Raspberry Foundation and vote as long as they pay $40, the voters are not invited like the Oscars’ jury, and they do not even have to watch the films nominated for Razzies.

Read the text above and write questions to the answers below, please.

1. Do you think it is fair to vote for the worst film, actor, actress etc. of the year? Why/ why not?

2. What do you think of the films, songs etc. which have been nominated both for the best and the worst of the year?

3. Do you think films which have won an Oscar are good films? Why/ why not?

4. Do you think it was right to postpone/cancel the Golden Raspberry ceremony? Why/ why not?

5. Do you care if a film has got good or bad reviews if you want to see it? Why/ why not?