Will This Year’s Oscar Nominees Exemplify Postconsumerism?

The eighty-third annual Academy Awards are coming up on February 27th. In numerous ways, the event (though a guilty pleasure for many) exemplifies some attitudes of waste and opulence for a one-night event that we’d like to see downplayed. Grand and often wasteful parties, expensive gowns and jewelry worn for only one night, and let’s not even get into much of the wastefulness in the movie industry as a whole. However, increasingly, celebrities and stars have fortunately been using Oscar night as an opportunity to promote ideals and values that we appreciate. Now, we certainly don’t begrudge any Oscar nominees their own special night in the limelight, but we’d like to point out some very postconsumer activities that are going on this Oscar season.

Whether you love his movies or cringe at his ego, you can’t deny that James Cameron and his wife Suzi Amis Cameron work hard to preserve the environment and the many indigenous cultures of the world. To raise awareness about ethical and environmentally friendly clothing design, the duo are once again sponsoring the Red Carpet, Green Dress competition. Contestants pay an entry fee to enter their socially and environmentally conscious dress design for a chance at exposure on the red carpet. The proceeds benefit MUSE, an organization that strives to educate children and women in poverty.

Global Green Oscar Party

Founded in 1994 by activist and philanthropist Diane Meyer Simon, Global Green USA is the American Arm of Green Cross International (GCI), which was created by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future by reconnecting humanity with the environment. Increasingly, Global Green’s pre-Oscar party is the party to be at for celebrities who want to draw attention to environmental and ethical causes. In fact, it’s beginning to out-shadow many of the more opulent parties. Pay attention to which Oscar nominees turn out for the Global Green party. Then hope that they win!

As they give acceptance speeches or are interviewed on the red carpet, many celebrities utilize the opportunity to promote socially and ethically responsible causes. We’ve seen Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and an entire cast of celebrities take advantage of this time to promote worthy causes in the past. This year, among other celebrity endorsements we anticipate seeing, we expect nominee Mark Ruffalo to take his Oscar opportunity to discuss the highly concerning practice of fracking – a destructive method of drilling to extract natural gas far beneath the earth. We’re anxious to see which other celebrities utilize their Oscar publicity opportunity to raise awareness, or even funds, for valuable causes.

We hope that, if you’re an Oscar addict like some of us are, you enjoy your Oscar viewing party. We also hope that the Oscars transcend a night of expensive gowns and lush parties and include some valuable promotion and social messaging!

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