The Razzies

Overview

The Razzies, the colloquial name for The Golden Raspberry Awards, are an annual mock awards ceremony "honoring" the worst work in the film industry in the previous year. They take place the same weekend as the Academy Awards Ceremony and feature many of the same categories as the Oscars.

Background

The Razzies were started in 1981 by American publicist John J.B. Wilson at a pot luck party in his living room.^[1] After watching the 53rd Academy Awards, he handed guests ballots to vote on the worst film of the year. The first Razzie went to Can't Stop the Music for Worst Picture of the Year.

Developments

Over the course of the following few years, attendance for the "Razzies" party grew exponentially and by the fourth year, CNN covered the event. To vote on the Razzies, one must be a paying member of the Golden Raspberry foundation. As of 2009, over 650 journalists, fans, and industry professionals voted for the Razzies.

Notable winners of Razzies include Bill Cosby, the first person to formally accept a Razzie, Paul Verhoeven, the first to attend the Razzies to accept his award (Worst Director and Worst Picture for Showgirls) in person, Tom Green, who attended the ceremony and accepted several awards for his 2002 film Freddy Got Fingered, Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock.

Additionally, some nominees of Razzies have been nominated for other notable film awards. For example, Stanley Kubrick was nominated for Worst Director for The Shining and a Saturn Award for Best Director at the 8th Saturn Awards for the same film. Several nominees for Worst Original Song were nominated for Oscars.

Criticism

Criticism of the Razzies has centered around some of the guidelines of how the nominees are chosen, such as the fact that voters don't need to necessarily watch the films to vote on them and that anyone can become a voter so long as they pay the membership fee to the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Other criticism focused on the targets of the awards, which are often major motion pictures. Critics have called the repeated shots at major motion pictures tiresome. Additionally, critics have noted the Razzies attempt to appeal to celebrities; in 2010, some argued they awarded Sandra Bullock the award for Worst Actress because she was going to be attending the ceremony.

In 2018, Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for Worst Actress for her performance in Darren Aronofsky's mother! The announcement led to debate on Twitter as many liked Lawrence's performance. The debate was covered by Twitter Moments.^[2]

Search Interest

External References