2011 MTV Movie Awards: Legitimate Awards Show or Just a Shill for `Twilight Saga'?

When it comes to the "Twilight" movie series, you either love them or hate them. Apparently, those in charge of voting for the MTV Movie Awards love those vampires, werewolves and girls who look perpetually sad. "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" won the top honor at the MTV Movie Awards and, rather amazingly, Kristen Stewart walked away with the award for Best Female Performance. Pretty amazing stuff for an actress who has managed to make it through three movies, or four or maybe even five, without showing any emotion on her face that doesn't appear to be related to the register of wretchedness.

Stewart picked up another award that she shared with costar Robert Pattinson for the Best Kiss. Pattinson also walked away with an individual honor for Best Male Performance for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Yes, the MTV Movie Awards pretty much turned into a benefit for those addicted to the "Twilight" saga. But it wasn't all vamps and the girls who love vamps. Some other winners include Tom Felton for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I" and Reese Witherspoon for her career achievement. Yes, you read that right. Reese Witherspoon took home an MTV Movie Award for her body of work. Witherspoon is only in the middle of her 30s, but she can now retire gracefully.

Could it be mere coincidence that "Twilight" was the big winner at the MTV Movie Awards just hours before the release of the trailer for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I"? Technically, of course, the trailer and the MTV Movie Awards coincided since the television premiere took place during the broadcast. Could it be that the MTV Movie Awards for 2011 was really just a beard for its real purpose of promoting the latest in the series of sparkling vampires and angsty werewolves and girls who love them both but just can't smile? Is the 2011 MTV Movie Awards and its intertwining relationship with the "Twilight Saga" a vision of things to come? Will movie awards show exists solely as a platform for promoting the prefabricated winners?

Hardly surprising this would be, as Yoda might say. Suspicion has fallen upon the Oscars more than once or twice for existing as little more than a four hour long commercial for the nominated movies. The fact that a little known or seen or heard of movie rarely pops up as the winner at the Academy Awards lends credence to the idea that the whole enterprise is a collusive effort by all the movie studios to get together for utterly free promotion of their product.

And yet, the Oscars and similar movie awards still appear to have some legitimacy for honoring movies. The fact that movies unworthy of honor like "Titanic" have walked away with a shocking number of awards isn't even enough to undermine the sense of legitimacy attached to the Oscars. That legitimacy has never really been a part of the MTV Movie Awards nor has it been actively sought. This is one movie awards show that prefers to present itself as the rebellious kid on the block. Maybe one day honoring a movie that didn't make several hundred million dollars will serve to legitimatize that unearned presentation as a rebel when the truth seems much closer to the idea that the MTV Movie Awards are simply an extension of the public relations departments of studios targeting movies to an audience young enough to buy the lie that this is actually a rebellious awards show.