Can Awards Success Equal Superstar Status?

Writer Stefania Marghitu, over at the Indiana Daily Student (idsnews.com) brings up a valid point. Do the big time awards shows and the accolades we bestow upon actors, directors and musicians really make a difference throughout the life of their career?

Marghitu takes the position that these awards don't matter, and in the grand scheme of things they probably don't.....much. But in the wide world of entertainment, they do mean a heck of a lot more than Marghitu lets on.

Take Lily Allen for instance. She has released one album, Alright, Still (2006 in the U.K. and 2007 in the U.S.). This album earned Allen a BRIT Awards nomination, was certified triple-platinum on the U.K. charts and gold in the U.S. These are significant achievements in the music industry and with no sophmoric release to date we can hardly name Allen a falling star. In fact, she was recently nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the Best Alternative Music category, which she may even stand a good chance of winning (up against Bjork, The White Stripes, The Shins and Arcade Fire).

Another alleged victim of the awards show "curse" as described by Marghitu is Cuba Gooding Jr. In 1997 he was nominated and won the Academy Award for his supporting actor role as Rod Tidwell in Jerry McGuire. Since that time, various movies in which he held roles have gone on to exceptional box office success (which translates to marketability), including Pearl Harbor (over $198 mil.), As Good As it Gets (over $148 mil.) and critically acclaimed American Gangster ($46.3 mil in the first three days).

Because I have a blog which is entirely based on awards and awards shows, I may be a little biased as to whether or not they play a part in launching an artist into the stratosphere. I'd like to think that people tend to take notice when a performer puts on a kick-ass show on the CMA's or the Grammy's. Or, we're more likely to see a film that Felicity Huffman stars in because she won an Emmy for a role she played on TV.

Awards, schmawards [idsnews.com]