The MTV Movie Awards is now the MTV Movie & TV Awards. And with genderless acting categories and changing best fight to best fight against the system, MTV searches for relevance.<\/b>
\nStaging an awards show is an art form. A balancing act in maintaining relevancy without resorting to gimmickry, in creating social media buzz without taking away from the honors given out.
This is the task ahead for producers of Sunday\u2019s first-ever MTV Movie & TV Awards, to be hosted by \u201cWorkaholics\u2019 \u201d Adam DeVine. The network\u2019s revamped show, once limited to the movies, will now recognize content across visual platforms.
But the changes go beyond adding TV to the fold. The awards show is getting rid of separate categories for male and female performances, de-gendering its acting categories. And it\u2019s adding an element of politics to the show by changing its best fight category to best fight against the system.
\u201cWe\u2019 re taking a fresh look at everything we’re doing across the brand \u2014 the shows, events and the tent-poles \u2014 and want to lead culture, \u201d MTV president Chris McCarthy says. \u201cPart of that is acknowledging that this event was always about celebrating great content and stories and characters that our audience loves. With changing platforms and consumer habits, a lot of that content and those characters aren\u2019 t just in film anymore.\u201d
The first MTV Movie Awards took place on June 10,1992. Following a year when films such as «Point Break, » «Terminator 2» and «Boyz n the Hood» debuted, the awards show set out to be a unique space to recognize the best Hollywood had to offer from the fans’ perspective. No critics. No academies. No guilds.
In the show\u2019s 26th year, such an approach persists as the network\u2019s audience continues to drive the many changes in the show when it airs live Sunday on the East Coast from L.A.\u2019s Shrine Auditorium at 5 p.m. PT and on tape delay for the West Coast at 8 p.m. PT.
The addition of television shows, scripted and otherwise, is allowing for some unusual match-ups in some categories. In the best duo category, for example, Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg of VH1\u2019s \u201cMartha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party\u201d and Lakeith Stanfield and Bryan Tyree Henry of FX\u2019s \u201cAtlanta\u201d are nominated against \u201cGet Out\u2019s\u201d Daniel Kaluuya and Lil Rel Howery and \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u2019s\u201d Josh Gad and Luke Evans, among others.
\u201cAdding TV was a logical evolution of the show, especially around where our audience is in terms of where they’re consuming content, \u201d says Garrett English, the show\u2019s executive producer. \u201cThere are no borders anymore in terms of where content is delivered and how people are enjoying it and [we\u2019 re happy] to be able to support the evolution of those constructs as they become less relevant.\u201d
Some of the other shows landing nominations in categories with movies include ABC\u2019s \u201cFresh Off the Boat\u201d and the CW\u2019s \u201cJane the Virgin\u201d nominated with Oscar winner \u201cMoonlight\u201d for best American story; HBO\u2019s \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d and NBC\u2019s \u201cThis Is Us, \u201d nominated in the tearjerker category with \u201cMoonlight, \u201d and Netflix\u2019s \u201cStranger Things\u201d and \u201cLuke Cage\u201d nominated with \u201cHidden Figures\u201d and \u201cRogue One: A Star Wars Story\u201d in the best hero category. As always, blockbusters \u2014 often ignored by the Oscars \u2014 get MTV respect. \u201cSuicide Squad, \u201d \u201cThe Lego Batman Movie\u201d and \u201cLogan\u201d all have nominations, along with \u201cBeauty and the Beast, \u201d \u201cMoana\u201d and \u201cGet Out.\u201d
English points out that the awards show \u201calways was avant-garde, an irreverent celebration of film.\u201d
Now the collapsing of the best female performance and best male performance categories into two best actor categories \u2014 one for movies and another for TV shows \u2014 is being called an industry first. All performers, regardless of their sex or gender identity, can now compete together for the top acting honors.
To show the importance of this change, the best actor in a movie award will open the show and be presented by \u201cBillions\u201d cast member Asia Kate Dillon, who made news earlier this year after writing a letter to the Television Academy questioning the group\u2019s gender-specific acting categories. Dillon, who uses the gender-neutral pronouns \u201cthey\u201d and \u201cthem, \u201d identifies as nonbinary, or, as they say, \u201ca gender identity falling outside the boxes of man or woman.\u201d
At the Emmys, Dillon will be considered under the \u201cactor\u201d category. \u201cWhen given the choice, I use \u2018actor\u2019 because it\u2019s [historically] gender neutral. I use \u2018performer\u2019 when not presented with a choice, \u201d says Dillon, who calls MTV\u2019s decision to do away with binary categories a positive step forward.
\u201cBinaries, whether it be man and women, actor and actress, black and white, were created to separate us, to create an \u2018us\u2019 and a \u2018them,\u2019 \u201d Dillon adds. \u201cBut without binaries there’s only \u2018us,\u2019 which means we\u2019 re all equal. I’m excited about the breaking down of binaries as a move toward ultimate equality.\u201d
MTV\u2019s McCarthy calls gender-divided categories \u201cantiquated, \u201d pointing to recent studies that say younger generations are more likely to identify as LGBTQ than heterosexual. \u201cWe not only want to respond to that, \u201d he says, \u201cbut we want to reflect it and at our award show is the biggest way.\u201d
\u201cThis is historic, \u201d Dillon says about presenting the award, \u201cand that’s not lost on me. It\u2019s a history that I share with my family and coworkers, but also the trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, particularly those of color, who have been leading the way for change long before I was born.\u201d
MTV, English says, has \u201calways pushed the boundaries of what an award show is and what variety television should look like. This is again an evolution of that because our audience doesn\u2019 t see those gender walls the same way anymore.\u201d
That audience of coveted 16- to 24-year-olds also prompted the augmentation of the best fight category into best fight against the system, in which \u201cGet Out, \u201d \u201cHidden Figures, \u201d \u201cMr. Robot, \u201d \u201cLuke Cage\u201d and \u201cLoving\u201d are all nominated.
\u201cYoung people have a spirit of activism that we haven\u2019 t seen since the \u201860s, and we see great stories and characters transcending, \u201d McCarthy says, \u201cbecause they are fighting the system that is oppressing them versus just a physical fight.\u201d
With the changes \u2014 and performances by Big Sean, Pitbull, Noah Cyrus and others \u2014 the hope is that MTV Movie & TV Awards errs on the side of relevancy.
\u201cThe way you avoid [being gimmicky] is by making sure your show creatively is authentic with your audience, true to what they\u2019 re passionate about and interested in, \u201d English says.
McCarthy adds that they are constantly \u201clistening to the audience and hearing those early sounds of shifts in culture moving.\u201d
Perhaps the awards show is what the future of Hollywood\u2019s most cherished events will look like.
Where: MTV
When: Sunday, 8 p.m. \/ 7 p.m. Central<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 5.7<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 1.2<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 19<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 0<\/div>\n

TW likes: 8<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n